Making progress.

Keep it up.

 

so last night I got the intake out of the engine.... oil was EVERYWHERE, even on the bottom of the carbs. the good news was that the intake gaskets still looked good, but the plenum gasket had one tiny section that wasn't there at all. the rest of it looked good as well. ill post up pics later.

now onto the bad news, while fighting with the darn fuel lines, one of the injectors came off and I can't get it back on. me thinks its time I should replace all of them right? or maybe just that one? It was injector #5, and I soaked up all the fuel that came out using a rag. thank god the DIY i found told me to take out the fuel system fuse and try to start the engine, so theres no fuel pressure on the line.

also, what is the best way to clean up the intake and engine bay?

 

actually... i was so lucky, i didnt break any bolts. Only 1 bolt was tight, the rest I was able to unscrew with one hand. The bottom of the screws too were filled with oil, which I am sure helped a lot.

 

When I did my plenum I didn't have the tool to disconnect the fuel lines so I ended up pulling all the injectors. There b@st@rds to get back on. Make sure you have spare seals when you try to reinstall it, I went through a whole pack to get all mine working again. If there was nothing wrong with em no point in replacing them. Not sure on the cleaning.

 

When I did mine, i cleaned the intake with degreaser and a wire brush and then painted it with a cast aluminum-ish color high temp paint. As for the engine bay, i always coat everything down with scrubbin bubbles (i use plastic wrap anywhere i dont want water), let it sit, and spray it down with the hose. Works well for me. I would not reccomend doing that while the intake manifold is off though

 

He should just get new manifold bolts anyways, they are torque to yield aren't they?

 

That one is still being debated. The Factory service manual says nothing about not reusing the bolts though. On the various fasteners they DON'T want you to re-use, there is generally a nice, bolded, "Warning"! stating as much.

I think even Hughes changed their tune on this particular topic.....

 

So, essentially it's a preference of "reuse the old" or be "better safe than sorry"...Wouldn't be a tough choice if intake mani bolts weren't 30 bucks... robbery...

 

I always replace them, they are only $17 for a set from the dodge dealer. And while the manual does not say to not reuse them, they do stretch easy and i would rather be safe then sorry.

 

luckily the hughes set comes with new bolts!