Right, so as Icarus went to all the trouble of writing a 'How To' guide on matching inlet manifolds on the 197, it was about time someone put it to good use. See link for Icarus's guide:

http://www.meganesport.net/community/showthread.php?t=18280

This weekend l made my first attempt at making a horlicks of this.

So after a bit of searching on ebay and £40 later, l had a spare inlet manifold (l wasn't about to use my original one as the test piece! :p):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/Image010.jpg

After a little measuring l found the runners of the top manifold half to be about 4mm smaller in every direction than the bottom manifold half. This was obviously creating a 'step down' once the two halves were bolted together. Not ideal and not doubt disturbing flow quite a bit. In the above picture the top section is the top manifold half. It might be my eyes but l reckon you can see the runners are smaller than the bottom half?

Also when looking at the two halves, the port shape on the top manifold half was significantly poorer than the bottom half.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/Image012.jpg

So, as per Matts guide, l got out my engineers marker and set about turning myself in to a smurf. Big side covered in marker blue then bolt the two halves together.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/Image016.jpg

When l split the two sections its more obvious how much work l've got to do. A Fair bit of material to merely match the runner sizes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/Image018.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/Image020.jpg

I won't bore you all with 100 pictures of me grinding, re-marking, bolting and unbolting manifolds but after a few hours l'd managed to improve on the original size differences. See Below. Still a fair bit to do but l decided to go to the pub for some well earned subsistence.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/Image038.jpg

Ok so back out this morning l set about finishing off the manifold. Notice the weather had taken a turn for the worse. There's nothing better than grinding and not being able to feel your fingers or toes! :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/Image036.jpg

So a bit more grinding and marking and l eventually got the runners to this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/Image037.jpg

I had difficulty improving these casting marks as grinding them out would have meant altering the shape of the runner and l wasn't certain what the wall thickness in these areas was either.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/Image040.jpg

Back in to the nice warm house and looking at the two halves together l'm reasonably hapy with the outcome.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/Image041.jpg

Now at this point Icarus recommends a parts washer to clean all the blue, loose filings etc. Not being a racing team, l improvised and used the kitchen sink. Obviously the other half was out for the afternoon! :D

Having cleaned them up, l'm happy with the outcome, l just need to get them skimmed to remove the burrs and then re-measure the port sizes. The top manifold half is now about 1mm each side smaller than the bottom manifold half but l'm a bit nervous about grinding any more as the marking technique used didn't show this difference. I'd love to know Icarus' thoughts on whether its worth taking a little bit more material off based upon this. Also l fgured this difference will be further reduced when l have the two halves skimmed?

I'm also a bit unsure about surface finish; it seems pretty good but would like to know an experts opinion on this?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/Image047.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/Image048.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/Image049.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/Image050.jpg

Obviously this is no substitute for getting a professional to alter the shape of the entire runner/plenum but hopefully it'll have a positive outcome.

Would love to hear some feedback on it from you guys in the know and thanks again to Icarus for putting the guide together in the first place. :)

looks gooood,and cars looking epic as ever. i'll get icy up ere on the razz soon and the day after we can bob to urs :D

Nice pics and write-up :thumb:

Hopefully it will be worth it!

Nice.

Fingers crossed it'll be worth it..............and if not it was a nice few hours getting my hands mucky :D

Naith - Sounds good mate. I need to get re-booked in at RST to have it mapped for the sports cat, resonator and this manifold soon. When you there next? No doubt he'll tell me to stop being a girl and grind those casting lines out! :p :D

Hopefully Icy will be able to tell me whether l've made a pigs ear of this or not.

No pigs ear there. Looks good to me! Don't worry too much about the casting lines - there isn't a lot you can do to remove those without getting very stuck in to the shape on both sections of the manifold.

Never fails to amaze me how poor the casting accuracy is on these manifolds!

When you get it skimmed get the smallest amount possible removed to avoid changing the heights too much.

Cheers
M

Cheers Icarus.

Do you think l should have another go at it to try to remove the last 1mm each side? As you can see from the final blue that l did, it didn't seem like there was anything left to remove and l wanted to avoid a 'step up' situation as much as possible. Just want to make it as good as possible prior to having both sides skimmed. :)

Oh and will my skin ever return to its original colour?! :D :p

Looking good mate. Your a braver man than me, I would never consider doing anything like that.

Hope it works out with good results.

You could maybe do mine if you like???

Well the way l figured it was that if l got a spare manifold and made a mess of it, the only thing of lost is a few quid and a weekend of fettling time.

I'd probably not have done if l didn't have a spare manifold, not on my first attempt anyway! As Icarus has said, its more about taking your time and being patient than actually being difficult to do.

Cheers Icarus.

Do you think l should have another go at it to try to remove the last 1mm each side? As you can see from the final blue that l did, it didn't seem like there was anything left to remove and l wanted to avoid a 'step up' situation as much as possible. Just want to make it as good as possible prior to having both sides skimmed. :)

Oh and will my skin ever return to its original colour?! :D :p


Best to leave it at that point. To remove it and still have a nice equal match on the upper and lower you'd need to do some work on the lower section as well.

You'll have blue hands for some time to come, we don't call it smurf poo for nothing ;-)

Cheers
M

Blue hands l can cope with. If only l hadn't touched my face...............! ;) :D

Wowee, the wandering from spec of those ports from the casting process is much more than i would have imagined. Renault must supply some nice wide tolerances to the foundry!

Well done for putting Matt's guide into practice, I think you've done a fair old job of opening up the ports. I'd probably say leave it as it is now, It's all too easy to keep dabbing at it with the grinder till you have nothing but a RenaultSport badge left :)

I look forward to hearing what you think of it once it's on the car.

Thanks for that. You're right, the temptation is always to nibble a little more away but l think l'll be pleased with the match once l get the faces skimmed.

As Icarus said in his guide, the differences in size are probably due to wear on the die's. The die for the top half could have been new and the die for the bottom half worn and on its last legs.

Hopefully, if Paul at RST agrees, l'll get it over to his for fitting and do a before and after RR run to see if its made any difference.

fancy doing mine? ill be very interested if someone can do mine!!

when you going to get them fitted?

Well l should be getting the faces skimmed in the next week then it'll be over to RST for fitting/RR before and after runs hopefully.

get your self an exchange service up and running!!!

excellent. im dying to see what the gains will be. i had this done on both of my old 172 cups. made a real nice difference to torque :)


i really want this doing!!!

Lol, an exchange service would be good but lets see how we get on gains wise with the first one. Plus l'm not sure l could cope with my hands being permanently blue!! :D

im excited! whens it going to RS?

Um hopefully before christmas but l've got to sort having the faces skimmed yet. I'll try and get a move on with it!! :)

Icarus would be able to tell you the sort of gains/improvements to expect as he's already done it on the BPM racecar.

im sure a box of gloves wouldnt cost that uch!

Um hopefully before christmas but l've got to sort having the faces skimmed yet. I'll try and get a move on with it!! :)

Icarus would be able to tell you the sort of gains/improvements to expect as he's already done it on the BPM racecar.

The logged data from the DL1/Dash showed a positive gain. Very small but averaging out 50 mins of data before/after with correction for air temp and altitude showed a positive trend.

At the end of the day improving the horrific standard casting match can only do good things ;-)

Cheers
M

when you free? ^^ ;)

Just another quick development. Seeming as the RS badge on the manifold got trashed whilst l was machining it, l decided to replace it. I knocked up this carbon version earlier on. Weight saving must be around 0.00000001g l'd imagine :D Pretty happy for a few minutes work. I've not stuck it down yet so thats why it looks like its not sitting flush. Gonna wait till its ready to go on to attach the badge.

Still struggling to find somewhere that can machine the faces of the manifold so if anyone knows of anywhere in either the North Lincolnshire or Manchester area that can do l'd love to know.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/DSC00668.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/DSC00670.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/DSC00672.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/poobah/Inlets/DSC00675.jpg

Top job on the carbon mate - that looks stunning!

Steve

Cheers dude, it could only be an improvement considering the state of the original badge! ;)

looks ace bud :)

Got a bit of spare carbon and a few high temp decals left so might make a couple more if l get time.

Got a bit of spare carbon and a few high temp decals left so might make a couple more if l get time.



oh reallllllllllllly? ;)

Just give me the nod welshy and l'm break out the jigsaw and the sanding paper. :D

Meh, they look alright like LOL!!!!