Mechanics of Art

Nothing too exciting going on this weekend - just continuing to work on the project. I've been working on the intake manifold (described previously) removing flanges and grinding and reshaping. Still have a couple left to finish.

I spent this morning removing the casting/forging seams from the intake runners - the snake-like tubes on the intake manifold. These seams are produced by the mating of the two halves of the form dies used to make the part. They're not that noticeable or pronounced, but since I was going for a more refined look - it only made sense that I should take this extra step.

Here's an example of a before and after.



Something similar will be done to smooth out the inside of the runners to improve the air flow by a process called extrude honing. Attention to the outside is the form & attention to the inside is the function.