Continuing on with my effort to smooth the intake manifold, I decided to copy my "gasket delete" o-ring technique to the joint between the lower and upper manifold sections.

This is the joint in question.  One gasket seals all 4 runners.

I mounted a scrap cylinder head to the table of the mill, which served as a perfect fixture. The mounting flange and sealing surface are exactly 90º apart.  Once mounted up, I indicated the sealing surface parallel to the machine travel and found the center of each runner hole.

In order to maintain a consistent groove depth, I faced the manifold flat with a fly cutter.  The surface was only flat to about 0.007", so I removed 0.008" in small skim cuts.

Milled flat. The surface finish isn't the best I've seen, but not too bad for a casting.

Next I mounted a hand-ground HSS face grooving tool in my boring head and set it up (using scrap test pieces) to turn a groove.  I am using a standard Buna-N -132 o-ring in a 1.700 x 1.950 x 0.084" groove.  The runners are about 1.600" inner diameter, spaced approximately 2.010" apart, leaving 0.050-0.060" of land around each o-ring.

After grooving, I came back with the fly cutter and removed another 0.001" to make sure no burrs would be above the surface.

Success!! Again, not the most spectacular surface finish I've seen, but it will work just fine.

Before removing it from the machine, I test fit the upper half of the intake manifold.  I made sure the mating surface was in full contact since the o-rings apply sealing pressure around the hole, which is not exactly the same as the gasket contact pressure as originally designed.

The next step will be match-sanding the upper and lower halves so they appear seamless once bolted together.

I decided to spend some time working on the intake manifold and throttle body.  Along with everything else, these parts will be sanded smooth and painted.  I haven't decided on the final color of these, but that won't change the prep required.

Here is the throttle body before getting started.  That raised text must go!

Bocar? Nope.

In addition to smoothing the parts, I'm working on the joint between the throttle body and upper intake manifold. First off, the throttle body is from an OBDI MK3 Jetta (1994) and the manifold is from a MK4 Jetta (2002), so the castings don't match.  And even if they 'matched,' they would not match exactly.  I plan on sanding them while bolted together to form a perfect set.

Another thing that must be considered is the gasket.  Unless I match all three pieces together (throttle body, gasket, and intake manifold), they will never align perfectly.  In order to eliminate one variable, I decided to skip the gasket and retrofit an o-ring seal to the throttle body.

Here is the gasket face of the throttle body, before modification.

The first step was to make a fixture so I can turn the throttle body in my lathe.  It's difficult to grip since none of the surfaces are perfectly round or square, so I decided to bolt it.

The fixture mounted in my lathe and turned true to the axis of rotation

The first step was to mount the throttle body and turn the outside face, which was originally just a rough casting.

After flipping it around and bolting it to the same fixture, I added a face groove for an o-ring.

Look at this tool clearance!!  I had to clock the bolts exactly right so they didn't hit the grooving tool.

Done. Now it will seal completely without a gasket.

I also noticed this ugly barb fitting, which I decided to remove.  The casting was just the right size for an SAE -4 O-Ring boss fitting, so I cut off the barb and added the features for a proper fitting.

With the barb removed, I found the center of the hole to prepare for the next step.

Done.  This will be much more clean than an ugly barb fitting and allows me to use the same AN fittings and hose I'm using in the rest of the engine bay.

Another project I had left unfinished a few years back was the coupling between the throttle body and intake tube. Here you can see it wasn't symmetric - the throttle body had a round bead and the intake tube was just smooth.  I didn't want to add a fancy coupling, like a Wiggins clamshell clamp, because it doesn't quite have the right look.

Fast forward to modern times, and I have a Kramer bead roller!  I bought this for a Fort Pitt Classic Cars project a little while back, and it's the perfect tool for the job!

I'm going to trim the length of my intake tube to make it even more symmetric, but generally I'm happy with it!  The outer diameters are within 0.010" or so when they're perfectly aligned.

I also found this K&N coupling for 2-3/4" tubing, which didn't exist when I started this portion of the project.  I think it will look just right in the engine bay - just the right mix of custom and OEM style and a nice shade of satin black.

Back to the matching of the throttle body and upper intake manifold.  This simply won't do:

I still have a lot of work to do, but it's already looking much better!

I finally finished my brake calipers!  They're not coated yet, but all of the hard work is done.

Here are the last few steps on the second front caliper:

And here are the finished parts! The next step is satin black powdercoat to match the paint I'm using on my engine parts.

I oiled them all up in preparation for shipping once I pick a powdercoat vendor, I'm still undecided.

In other news, new tools!  I finally took the plunge on a new cordless set.  I decided to stick with DeWalt and chose their 20v lineup.  My current 18v DeWalt lineup has been great, so it wasn't a difficult choice.  I decided to start with a compact XR drill, full size XR hammerdrill, and a 1/4" impact.

I haven't chosen a 3/8" impact yet, but I plan on getting one.  I picked up a set of Williams 3/8" metric impact sockets in preparation.

I also added another 3/8" Hansen organizer to the toolbox, I was able to cram two more rows in the mix!

Starrett 2-3" micrometers for an upcoming project, which will be detailed in a future Wrinklered post.

Snap-on 4-way angle wrench set in metric, for work in difficult spots.

The wrench drawer is getting quite full as well!

I also picked up a few measurement/layout trinkets at bargain prices on eBay and Garagejournal.