here's pics of the visible cracks, obviously there's a crack in the lower portion that's allowing oil into the intake. Sorry for the crummy MSpaint job.

 

and the pic of the splitting around the injectors:






Anyone notice a huge split on the back of the manifold?:


Clearly it isn't sealing anymore, and there's not much I can do with the current intake.

Let's see what the junkyard wants.

 

Squirrels, I apologize if this sounds presumptuous, but do you use a torque wrench and follow the factory procedure when torquing the intake? What does that "MAX TORQUE" lettering say on your intake? I don't think mine has that cast in it.

 

12 ft/lbs. for the manifold to head bolts, 84in/lbs. for the belly pan to manifold bolts

I followed it to the letter. All 3 times I had it off.

The way the manifold is splitting looks to be along machining welds. The splits in to runners near the injector bosses are too uniform for it to be random cracking.

The manifold was never dropped. It is possible that it was weak from the factory and cutting the runners down made it more so. The damn thing looks like it's flying apart.

 

Yeah, that torque spec is the same for mine. Must be just a crappy casting. Does it say "Hecho in Mexico" on it....lol..

 

I dunno, no habla.

I've always been very careful with the intake as I know that 84in/lbs. for the gasket and 12 ft lbs. for the whole manifold ain't a whole lot. I've never seen nor heard of this happening to anybody before.

Well, I've got some bad news and good news.

Local junk yard wanted $350 for a new one and I'd have to be put on a wait list. My jaw dropped. They said (and I knew this, just did think it would be a reason to run up the price) the PCV is on the driver's side and that was only done in 2000 and 2001. They don't get that many of them in as they aren't that old of a truck yet and most of them that they do get snatched up immediately by the body shops. Sometimes it sucks living in a big metro area. The gaskets and bolts from rockauto were over a hundred bux alone.

"Screw that!" says I. I can get a new one ported at Hughes for $465.

BUT I DIDN'T DO THAT.............................................. .............

I called KRC, and Marty cut me a sweet deal on his floor model Edelbrock 2bbl air gap intake and all the gaskets 'n bolts. No more plenum gaskets and cutting runners and smoothing out runners and injector bosses. Just 20 more ponies and 12 or so less pounds. Plus Marty said Sean should be able to advance the timing even further after I bolt it up and make sure the ping is gone. Total cost $555 shipped with everything needed to install it.

 

i thought that was a single cast piece, with machined surfaces for mating, mounting, bolting, etc. i don't think there are any welds or seams. it looks to be cracked like an egg.

maybe-- possibly, that w/o the runners its like a balloon, and has no strength ? but for whatever reason, that one's toast.

how soon till we see the new intake on there ?

 

Marty's in GA right now. Probably home for Thanksgiving. They'll ship it out on Monday, and hopefully I'll have time next weekend to do the install. Should cut about 2 hours not having to clean gasket surfaces, torque plenum pan, etc., but we'll see....

I hope the old mani lasts long enough.

Funny thing is, I've seen runners cut wall the way down to the bottom (well, top actually) of the intake and never this damage. Weird...

 

sorry to see the pictures with the cracks.... ouch !

glad to hear Marty at KRC helped you
... he has helped me too

 

Yeah Hank,

This'll be one of those quirky problems for the archives that you'll mention a year and a half from now in some obscure forum or conversation when it happens again to some random person.

On a random note myself: I am truly amazed at the resolution of this Canon SD500 compact camera I picked up about 3 years ago. It's a 7.1 effective MP resolution and when you open the pics in MS paint, you can zoom right in on portions of the photo and see them clear as day.

I highly recommend one if you find a great deal on Black Friday. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!