I recently acquired an original Slingshot manifold that had been a friends wall hanger for at least 40 years. It looks to be seldom used. Back in the day were the cast aluminum manifolds ever polished? I am building '35 Ford Panel and plan on polishing the aluminum heads and the Slingshot. Kinda hate to ruin the originality. Is it a moot point?
for show the manifolds were polished, for street the manifolds have a "sandblasted " finish. I bead blast, sandblast, run through the dishwasher, then use engine clear paint.....
moot mo͞ot/debatable, open to discussion/question, arguable, questionable, at issue, open to doubt, disputable, controversial, contentious, disputed, unresolved, unsettled, up in the air "a moot point" mute myo͞ot/silent, speechless, dumb, unspeaking, tight-lipped, taciturn I'd say it's moot. But I don't like creepers, so wtf do I know....I may just be mute.
if you want a nice finish that looks good and will last with out turning yellow try this. clean the manifold then glass bead it. next find a store that sells Krylon spray paint. you may have to have them order this, you want Krylon Metalic Dull Aluminum. spray a light dusting coat on,let it dry.install the manifold.when it gets hot the first time you run it it will cure the paint. we do all our manfolds at work this way,they look like new foryears fuel stains and greasey finger prints wipe off.unlike clear it will not turn yellow.
Your Edelbrock slingshot intake is one of about 100 slingshot intake manifolds that were ever cast by Vic Edelbrock. You could polish it if you want, but if it is in really nice original condition it would look just as good just the way it is. Maybe you could add a pair of chrome air cleaners or some chrome stud covers on the heads if you wanted to get some extra sparkle in the engine bay. Vic Edelbrock didn't sell any of the slingshot intakes polished. As previously mentioned some Edmunds intakes came from the factory already polished, some Weiand intakes came factory polished, and for the most part Evans intakes were factory polished as well. Mail order started to appear in the late 1940's and all the flathead speed part manufacturers were all trying to make a buck wherever they could as there was a lot of competition among them. The labor in polishing an intake would be cheap compared to today's prices, and a polished intake would likely sell ahead of the next guy's intake that was left unpolished.
Polishing that original Slingshot intake will likely devalue it, if that matters to you. If it were mine I'd clean it up properly and leave it as-is.
Good advice here. I shall leave it as it was made seventy-five years ago. Will buy a new Slingshot to polish.
I don't know any Polish jokes but do you know how many Irishmen it takes to screw in a light bulb? One to hold it and the other mates to drink until the room spins.
What's the difference between a pole and an Irishman? The Pole will take take the dishes out of the sink before he pees into it.
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