I was working on my car this weekend and stumbled upon the fact that our intake manifold is made of PLASTIC!!!! Was this just my eyes playing tricks on me, or is this true? I'm pretty sure that it's made of black plastic. I was just wondering if anyone else has noticed this.

P.S. if this has been posted and beaten to death, I apologize for the post. Let the flaming begin!!![IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]

hmm if its plastic then maybe we'll get some hp gains from chaning the manifold?[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

The intake manifold? You mean the part that holds the filter? Yeah, that and the tube leading up to it is made out of plastic. No problem. Remains cooler than metal would, it's easy to mold into any shape. Kinda perfect for the application.

Grey is right... I remember reading it in a mag. once

I'm talking about the intake manifold. You know, there's the exhaust manifold (header), on one side, and there's an intake manifold on the opposite side. On our car it is the large piece below the throttle body(in the back of the engine bay). On most cars it is aluminum. Plastic may be better because the air will stay cooler, which is good because as everybody knows, the cooler the better.
Take a look next time you have the hood open. I'll post a pic if you guys don't understand what I'm talking about.

Everybody loves pics! Post one...

The intake MANIFOLD is the part right up behind the engine. Those of you w/aftermarket intakes, that on the other side of the throttle body from where you attach the intake pipe. Also, the throttle body points upward. WTF is up w/that???

This is a picture of my friend's 97' Honda Civic.
The intake manifold is circled in blue. The Cold Air Intake or Short Ram Intake connects to the throttle body which connects to the intake manifold.(green arrow) The intake manifold then connects to the engine.(red arrow) You can't see where the manifold connects to the engine, but you get the idea. Now things are in the same order on our cars (CAI --> Throttle Body --> Intake Manifold), but the three components are in different positions. The CAI curves upward to meet the Throttle body, which is facing upward. Because the Throttle body is facing upward, the intake manifold is positioned directly beneath it. Hope this helps. If not, [IMG]i/expressions/moon.gif[/IMG]. lol [IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]



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[IMG]/forums/themes/orbitz/paperclip.gif[/IMG] intake.jpg (50 Kb)

Oh seriously? The intake manifold is plastic? I didn't expect that. I thought that you had the part names mixed up. Whoa! That's kinda odd. I wonder if this causes any problems in the application of a turbocharger? The air coming into the engine will be hotter without an intercooler, the pressure will be greater as well. I hope that plastic intake manifold can withstand those conditions. I need to take a look at that thing. I guess that's a good thing for air flow though, since they probably made it smooth and what not.

What the junk Billy! I never friggin noticed that. I will look under my hood in the morning, its too dark right now.

picture of the 7thgen intake... judge for yourself

Ya, I noticed ALL the plastic that Honda WASTED for the 2k1 and up intake manifold. My mom has a '99 Civic and her's is the same way.

Hmmm so what part on that above pic is the manifold?? I don't know that much about engines..hehehe [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/IMG]

yup... its plastic.

<< Hmmm so what part on that above pic is the manifold?? I don't know that much about engines..hehehe [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/IMG] >>



It's under the throttle body. The throttle body is the thing that looks shiny and is in the middle of the picture and has a hole for the air to go into.

yes its plastic, no, this is not a bad thing. If you understand motors you will know this [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

linkey, but i dont know how long this url with be correct

Most new cars, the intake manifold is plastic. Aluminum is so yesterday..........

Mike

aint plastic bad well if u have turbo anyways it will probably increase hood temperature to 100% and melt that plastic off ....
ooh i cant imagine if i lived in hot places or summer it will probably decrease performance 50% which our civics already lacks of..
my civic luvs cold air maybe we should move to alaska.[IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]

so alunimum , magnesuim , titainum manifolds bring them on
coz heat is plastic worst enemy instead of deflecting it ..it absorbs it
i hope it aint made in china..leftovers frum some toys plastics...[IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]

<font color=white style="background-color: 3E3E3E;">A swirl intake port design balances the horizontal and vertical vortexes inside the cylinder. According to Honda, this improves the air-fuel mixture "swirl" in the cylinder as it enters the engine and "optimizes even fuel dissemination for cleaner, more efficient combustion."</font ft>
wut the... its the tornado technology, honda stole there idea[IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]

<< aint plastic bad well if u have turbo anyways it will probably increase hood temperature to 100% and melt that plastic off ....
ooh i cant imagine if i lived in hot places or summer it will probably decrease performance 50% which our civics already lacks of..
my civic luvs cold air maybe we should move to alaska.[IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]

so alunimum , magnesuim , titainum manifolds bring them on
coz heat is plastic worst enemy instead of deflecting it ..it absorbs it
i hope it aint made in china..leftovers frum some toys plastics...[IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]

<font color=white style="background-color: 3E3E3E;">A swirl intake port design balances the horizontal and vertical vortexes inside the cylinder. According to Honda, this improves the air-fuel mixture "swirl" in the cylinder as it enters the engine and "optimizes even fuel dissemination for cleaner, more efficient combustion."</font ft>
wut the... its the tornado technology, honda stole there idea[IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG] >>




scans for signs of intelligent life..... negative

swirl chamber and "tornado" are two entirely different things
plenty of peeps have custom turbos with plastic intake manifolds
its just as hot as a regular metal intake manifold, it bolts to the f'n engine.......

im juss talkin about the vortex swirl idea and wus only joke..

iron manifolds?? did i say anytin about iron manifolds? I checked no iron words came up!
also regular iron manifolds take in & absorbs more heat then plastics but plastic dont hold their form at beyond their capacities..also im takin about alunimums which is more resistant and prone and more adequate when u huv turbo or excessive heat producing.......i bet IF, your friends is racing in 100+degree weather w/turbo there peformance is 40% down or will huv probably take short breaks trying to cool the temp down...probably wont last more then 5 laps...no IC forget it ...But i guess ur "friends" doesnt autocross maybe they only live a quarter mile at a time..
[IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]

my friends dis
my friends dat
ur friends my butt ( Y )

so u kno a lots of peeps wid turbo and stock mainfold rite and stock clutchs boosting like 18psi
hmm yea i think i heard one of them just blew is motor a week ago[IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]

<< aint plastic bad well if u have turbo anyways it will probably increase hood temperature to 100% and melt that plastic off ....
ooh i cant imagine if i lived in hot places or summer it will probably decrease performance 50% which our civics already lacks of..
my civic luvs cold air maybe we should move to alaska.[IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]

so alunimum , magnesuim , titainum manifolds bring them on
coz heat is plastic worst enemy instead of deflecting it ..it absorbs it
i hope it aint made in china..leftovers frum some toys plastics...[IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]

<font color=white style="background-color: 3E3E3E;">A swirl intake port design balances the horizontal and vertical vortexes inside the cylinder. According to Honda, this improves the air-fuel mixture "swirl" in the cylinder as it enters the engine and "optimizes even fuel dissemination for cleaner, more efficient combustion."</font ft>
wut the... its the tornado technology, honda stole there idea[IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG] >>



now lets see, since when do you know plastic to conduct heat. sure it could melt, but if you would step into you kitchen for a moment the handel to hold your pots are rarley made out of metal, but plastic and for the longest time your distributor caps have been made out of plastic as well as parts of your radiator. hope that helps

also if you think about it the plastic should not of left any casting marks so you have a some what polished intake.

wut ru talkin about dood??? J/k
duh!! i kno!! .... im just high on life
most nonmoving parts are plastics
did u kno if it wasnt plastic, we would huv
never put astronuats in space..coz u kno
they need plastic toilets and spoons stuff.
To save weight!

ever been to one of those childrens playgrounds wid the plastic houses well it feels like u can cook a turkey there
i would rather huv one made out of alunimum das all......the worst of them all is sliding down a hot metal slide. it just plain hurts!


Well how is the children suppose to learn anything if they cant fit in...

do you speak like you write? do you take the short yellow bus?

You said "aint plastic bad well if u have turbo anyways it will probably increase hood temperature to 100% and melt that plastic off ...." and i said I know people with turbos, i never said they were running crazy boost amounts or racing anyone you idiot, i was just proving that turbos are a-ok with plastic manifolds

I said METAL, last time I checked aluminium was a metal.

u said IRON not metal
theres a big diff there

oops u did say metal ..i knew i saw iron there sumwhere..hmmm
but alunimum doesnt get hot as any other metals like steel or iron
plus it cool faster too ..thats why you can touch a alunimum pan after
it has been in a oven at 500deg for 40minutes..well its still hot but
cools very fast...


well first of all how efficient is ur freind running in 100+deg weathers
and the "plastic meltin off" was just an exaggeration....turbo does increase
ur temp under the hood and excess heat up the everything and cause ur motor
to take in hot air....and its common..... so its not a-okay! for me

there is a huge variance in plastics, from garden variety plastic lids to space suits. the all handle heat differently. i don't have the exact specs, but it's possible honda used a plastic with more suitable heat properties.

HEY!!!! Would you two calm down? I didn't post this thread for people to fight, I just wanted to let you guys and gals know that it was plastic.