The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop How do I clean carbon buildup in intake?

I had to remove my manifold to replace a broken stud on the exhaust, while it's off I thought I might clean it up a bit. It's covered with carbon and is there an easy way to remove the buildup? Or should I just leave it alone?

You can take it to your local machine shop and have it baked and shot peened (sp?). I took a grubby looking cast iron manifold off a SBC in and for $25 if came back looking like brand new inside and out.

The other option is to use the electorolytic rust removal technique described in the tech tips section. I've used it on manifolds before with pretty good results.

Thanks for the quick reply, I think I'll take it to a machine shop.

Thanks

I second what Texmo said. I brought my intake and exhaust manifolds (separated) into work and used our cabinet blaster. You wouldn't believe what came out of the exhaust manifold! It was a huge, nasty, rusty cloud inside the blast cabinet for at least a minute. It really felt good knowing that I was taking 50 years of garbage out of the manifold. Make sure they blow a lot of air through all of the ports to get any residue and blast material out. Then I painted the manifold with Cast Blast paint. I think it's rated to 1,500 degrees. It looks like brand new. Good luck.

You don't really have to clean it all that well if you don't want to, the carbon is not really hurting anything. It will just build back up again. You can wash it out with hot water and that will get a lot of it.