i just got my lt1 intake today. i figured that since it was used i'd take it and sand/bead blast the thing. but upon further investigation i noticed that is gunk all up in the plenum and into the ports that go to the heads. how would i go about getting rid of all that as well. just throw some sand in there? do i need to be worried about scaring the metal?

 

I just had a used L98 intake base "hot tanked" to clean it up before I start to mod it. It cost $30 and came out realy nice; the guy at the engine shop said to not sand blast it as it's tough to get all the particles out. I think the plenum and runners would be a lot easier to remove the sand from though.

In the past I've just used carb cleaner on the plenum and runners prior to porting. In the future I'll go with the "hot tank" instead.

 

I thought you weren't supposed to hot tank aluminum parts.

 

Actually they used a warm solvent pressure spray, I just used that term too freely.

BTW, I didn't know it was tabou to hot tank Al parts, thanks for the info. Looks like I picked a good engine builder since he new better.

 

Yea your not supposed to hot tank aluminum parts. My friend just sand blasted his. Worked out really well. Just use compressed air to get most of the stuff out then power wash it. He just took it down to the do-it-yourself car wash and blew it right out.