Ok so I havn't checked my plenum yet but from what I have read on this site it will more than likely go out anyway. And the fact that my truck has 170,000 miles im betting its bad anyway.

So my question is should I just go ahead and upgrade to an air gap?

 

Depends on what you use your truck for, and if you wanna spend 600 bucks on a manifold......

 

if you have an extra $500 laying around... go for it. if not, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

This is a no brainer for me. You got $600 bucks to spare? If so, swing the bat! You can always sell the old kegger to help pay for the upgrade...

 

blah nevermind im pretty sure I looked up the wrong part. What I thought was an airgap was only 180 bucks hahaha

well that answers my question Plenum gasket here I come. Looks like hughes is the brand of choice on here. Anyone got any good or bad opinions on them?

 

lol yea... unless ur just looking for a quick band aid replace the belly pan...

but if u just want to do it once and forget it i would save up the 600 and get the air gap

 

I was planning on it. doesn't hughes sell the whole kit?

 

It seems to be a persistent myth that the plenum pan gasket failure is somehow due to the differing thermal expansion coefficients of the steel pan and the aluminum manifold. The math doesn't bear this out at all. The problem wasn't dissimilar metals but bolts that were a smidgen long for the bores they inhabit, with a 20% to 30% failure rate due entirely to normal manufacturing variance. A good gasket with shorter bolts will fix the problem forever. Or at least until you dive in to do an engine rebuild, anyway.

But if you want to dump money on Hughes, go for it. The airgap is a good manifold (an Edelbrock Performer RPM modified to accept injectors) though a bit spendy. The replacement aluminum belly pan, well... if it'll bring you peace of mind that the original steel piece won't then it's worth the money.

 

No the issue was the metals. Metals warp at different temps. Mixing steel and Aluminum are bad when they are used in high temp applications.

 

lol now im confused. I see valids points in both of your posts but I would like to see this argument out