Replacing lower intake manifold

If you can turn a wrench and have some mechanical abilty, it is quite doable. You will need to remove A/C mount and power steering pump mpount to to get to some of the bolts to removed it. There is only 8 bolts actually holding it on motor. two in each end corner. I do suggest finding a after market non plastic gasket for intake gaskests though as factory plastic one is troublesome and prone to leak sometimes.

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

SPC,

I just did the same work on my '97 Tahoe and it is a nasty work. If you know a good GM mechanic I wouldn't hesitate to bring it to a shop.

If you decide to do it yourself make sure to use the "better" gasket from Fel-Pro (MS98000T). The cheaper ones from Fel-Pro and other companies are made from plastic as SnowMan already posted.

Regarding the A/C bracket this is a little bit tricky and with the repair books you will never find out what bolts and nuts to loose. Their are 3 bolts and 2 nuts in the front and one nut behind the steering pump to lose. You don't have to remove the pump as you need to move the bracket just a inch to access one of the manifold bolts.

There are some very helpfull posts in the newsgroup to get this work done.

Hope this helps,

Oliver

The only part that will require a little ability is putting the distributor back in. You can mark it to the manifold, and the rotor to it's position in the dist. and put it right back to that and then check the timing. Or you can just get the engine up on TDC of compression stroke and put it in with rotor facing to #1 then check timing. Make sure you get it to drop into the oil drive rod. (dist goes all the way down to manifold). The manifold itself is a very easy job, just make sure you torque it in sequence.

All great responses... be aware the torque spec's on the manifold are in INCH pounds and not foot pounds... the Fel Pro gasket set is great (costs about $56), it was made specifically made for this change out... and comes with a nice little explanation of the torque procedure. It's done in 3 steps.. Good luck.

Is there a difference in the replacement manifold that I get. I went to Auto Zone and they have different types and prices. So my question is, much like the type of gasket to get, are there different manifolds to get or stay away from?

thanks again, SPC

This sounds strange. In

is just one lower intake manifold from Dorman available. I would assume they mixed up upper and lower intake manifold. Did you check the online catalog of Autozone ?