cool. thanks for the info. i really appreciate all the help you guys are giving me. i have a set of those disconnecter tools too. no more spent money. yay! the inside of my plenum looks just like yours. maybe worse. there is a nice thick coating of gunk around the walls of the throttle body. i have one more question though. i just thought of it. the big bracket for the alternator and ac comp looks like it is in the way. does that NEED to come off to get the plenum off? i was looking at it and i noticed that one of the bolts that holds it on is broke off. its not missing, its been twisted off. it might give me a bit of trouble getting it off.

 

i took the alternator and a/c off. i think? you'll have to.
for the A/C, disconnect the electrical, but leave the hoses attached and swing it over to the passenger side fender and wire it to the fender so it can't fall.
i just disconnected the alternator completely, but i was removing the whole front. you might get by with less.

there's a big power steering bracket on the front, you can probably leave that on.

where is the broken bolt? holding down the intake, or one of those brackets. you'll likely have to deal with it and remove it remove whatever it was supposed to hold down, maybe a stub will be sticking up to get ahold of with vise grips and pb blaster. (or acetone/atf mix)

tip for reinstalling the intake. find 4 old bolts and cut the heads off. screw them in lightly in the intake holes as alignment pins. lower the intake down over them. start the real bolts, remove the alignments.

don't forget the RTV in the corners of the intake gaskets. i put a very light coat on both sides of my rubber end pieces to keep the stupid things in place.

 

the bolt that is broken is one of the bolts for the big bracket under the alternator and ac compressor. it is all the way over to the right, if you are standing in front of the truck looking in. i dont think the power steering bracket will be in the way. its pretty low and to the side. i have everything off except for the bracket im asking about. the next move tomorrow will be to remove the bracket i guess and then i can take off the plenum. thank you for your help. im going to bed. good night.

 

That's a great thread dh.It would be interesting to see how much those parts cost now.

 

hey guys, i got the plenum off today and had a small mishap that mad me a bit mad. i was planning to vacuum all the dirt and crap off the plenum before i lifted it off but i was pulling on something and and it came up like nothing and it let some of the dirt fall down in there. what should i do? its a good bit. should i try to clean it out with a rag or something? i dont want it to get down in the engine. i just changed my oil about 2 weeks before i ended up needing to do this project. i wasnt planning to do this, thats why i changed my oil before. i also use amsoil. so, its not cheap. i really dont want to change the oil if at all possible. thanks guys. nevermind. i went and borrowed my friends shopvac. im going to see how well it does.

 

ah don't sweat it.
try the vac. it may or may not do it.
wipe out the lifter valley with a rag wet with brake cleaner or kero or diesel.
if you think any went down in they cylinders, remove the spark plugs and before trying to start it - run the starter with no plugs for several seconds to blow out the cylinders.

the first (and only) time i changed my plugs i didn't blow out the heat shields and about a pound of fine south carolina sand went down in each cylinder. dammit...

 

damn, that would suck. when i changed my plugs i had to scrape the crap loose and blow it out with compressed air before i could even get the socket on the plug. the shop vac worked pretty good. i taped a small hose on it so i could get in the smaller areas. it was going pretty good till i tried to get tha stupid screw out of the distributor. i got a hole drilled in it a put an eazyout in it and then it snapped of. i barely even torqued it. now its tuck in the hole. aaaahhhhh! i think im just going to do some cutting and grinding and modify it so i wont have to deal with it ever again. i got an idea already for it.

 

im just going to cut a slot in it and use a longer bolt for it. i will drill the cap so it will fit in it too. then just put a couple washers on it and a nut and tighten it down. good to go, hopefully. would be nice.

 

are you talking about the screws that hold down the distributor cap. i'd try real hard to get that mess out and end up with either the normal threaded screw or one size bigger. you'll never have better access to it than right now.

the only thing worse than drilling out a broken screw is a broken drill bit or ease out. they're even harder material.

 

oh, i know. those things are hard. im going to get the distributor out today and see if i can drill it from the other end. there is a nice chunk of eazy out stuck in the hole though. that pissed me off so bad. its a brand new set of eazy outs. i barely even turned it and it snapped. good thing i kept the receipt. im taking the junk back.