F2uning did a similar set up for a 3.4 engine. They didn't weld it back together but used flanges on either side for bolt up. The pics might still be on their page. The whole thing was then powder coated red. They added a supercharger though!

You can get mandrel bends pretty cheap from JCwhitney

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/ProductDisplay/s-10101/p-8837/c-10101

I know a couple guys who have built intake manifolds for their DSM's with these.

>>>*Go for it! Neat idea, I think. We used to cut sections out of intakes for V-8's so we could get to certain portions that needed work real badly.

Never did weld one, though, we just epoxied them back together. I think I am getting senile, for the life of me I can't remember the name of the Epoxy. But we just applied it and stick the whole thing in the oven.

Sealed right up....*EB

Are you talking about JBweld?

Did you have to cut it? Couldn't you have worked with a flexible shaft and smoothed it out without cutting it up?

Hey Ganoid... Any update on this?!?!?!!?

UPDATE?!?!?!?!!? C'mon! I wanna know how it turned out!!!!

I wish I could post a pic for you guys but my source for getting pics posted is no longer available to me <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

To answer the questions .... Yes and Yes
Its finished I had it tig welded back together by Brian over at M&B cyl heads. He did a great job working with the thin aluminum that was left after I hogged the thing out.

You would think my gains would be all on top with that kinda porting but to my amazmant it made a more noticable impact in the 2000-4000 range. The truck just grunts a little better then before. The pics I posted above showing the difference between the ported side and the uncut side are exactly what I was able to do through the whole set of runners. The bends took me probably 4-5 hrs of cutting and polishing and the straight sections attached to the plenium took about half that. Everything matched up very well when welded back together. I pulled the freez plugs on the plenium and looked through each runner with a flashlight on the bolt side and a mirror in the plenium from the side.

I may get my TB ported in the near future if I can stand not driving it for a few days. I have a spare TB but its got the wrong throttle linkage on it. I also noticed AFTER I got the manifold welded and painted that I was going to have to modify a part to make the 88 manifold work on my 90 truck. The throttle cables attach in a slightly different alignment and the linkage bracket bolts on differently.

If some one wants to post a pic for e I will E mail it to them or heck just tell me where to go to get free pic hosting.

lets see if this works





cool it did work.
You can see the weld line across the manifold.

Now that my knock sensor has started working properly I must say this truck runs pretty darn good. I wish I could drive a bone stock 3.0 so I would have some idea of how much improvment all these changes have made.

I recently installed a Jacobs ICE pack ignition. It made a very noticable improvement in my 3500+ power. It seems like the truck is more willing to rev. Im thinking maybe a SMT 6 will be my next upgrade or maybe a ported TB since its alot cheaper.