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Old 02-22-2012, 05:36 PM   #6 (permalink)
merccom
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ProDarwin View Post
Yes and no.

As a Mechanical Engineer who uses CAD all day with extensive experience in 3D printing (I owned my own printer at one point), I offer this: You could use it to test, but not as a permanent solution.

-It likely wouldn't handle the stresses.
-The ABS printing material also absorbs moisture, oil, gas, etc. which would seep out the underside of the manifold over time creating a mess in your engine bay.
-Many intake manifold have coolant flowing through them, at least briefly, which creates a whole new set of problems combined with the above
-Given the heat in the engine bay, the mounting surface/close to the head would be very likely to deform in certain conditions
so kinda but you would need to coat it in some kind of high temp sealer and probably need to use a phenolic flange that actually bolted to the head.

would also have to figure out how to deal with EGR.

i guess the other option would be to use it for a limited amount and then use it as a template or mold so you could cast a real one.
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