Is it time for a different intake or can something be done about these pits?

 

WOW that's some of the worst i've ever seen, sorry bout your luck my friend. Here's what i would do, since it's not THAT hard to get it apart and I am a cheap bastard.... Instead of jumping out and buying an intake i would coat the plenum with some RTV to fill all the holes and create a good seal with the gasket. Once the RTV is cured to the intake and the gasket it should hold. If it doesn't then yeah it's probably going to need replacement. Those pits are too deep to have them machined out without losing a significant amount of intake.

 

Clean it up, then put a thin film of RTV over the pitted surface. Allow it to setup fairly well before assembly. That should keep it sealed up properly.

You could have it machined. This is typically done by machining the gasket surface along with the lower surface that seals with RTV against the front/back of the block. That way the whole thing just sits a tad lower. A good machine shop could do it, but this isn't something that typically gets done anymore.

 

I've got another intake from a spare motor. I have not seen one quite so bad as this one. If the pits we not quite so widespread and deep might use the rtv but this is just not going to work for me with this one.

 

def go with a used one....or new but def replace it.

 

Replace it!!!

 

This intake looks much better. I cleaned it and smeared some rvt across the little pits. Did I do this right or should it be smoother?