I pulled the plate off last night and it was the gasket. I wiped the oil off and had the keg upside down for a while so I wouldn't have any leak onto the gasket when I pulled the belly pan off. When I pulled the pan off, the gasket was wet in about 3 or 4 different places. So now I'm thinking that the fel-pro plenum gasket is junk. When I set bolts to their proper torque I do it by the book to make sure I won't get a leak, but this time I did (in just a few thousand miles, WTF).

Anyway, I don't have to worry about that retarded intake design anymore.
I just need to drill a hole for the IAT and fill it with coolant to be done.

Here's some pictures. Maybe someone will get motivated and insert some of these pictures into the plenum DIY.











A little tip for anyone doing the plenum gasket, put the bolts you take out back where they came from and it'll keep you from losing them and having to play a guessing game on which bolt goes where (see accessory bracket location).



















You can see why it's called an air gap. I don't understand why Dodge didn't do it like this in the first place, most vehicles have an intake like this. My T-bird and Camaro both have this style intake (the runners are separate from the lifter valley with air in between them).













I used a brass wire wheel for the drill to clean up the bottom of the thermostat neck and I'll never scrap RTV off again, that thing worked in seconds.



You need to trim the bypass hose a little bit to make it fit.















You have to wallow out the hole for the AC compressor bracket because the new bolt is too big.

You have to grind a little bit to get the throttle body to sit flush.

my clips broke, duck tape can't stand the heat so I used the second best thing.

 

Looks real good.



Not certain of the approach, but I would allow the bypass hose to touch the intake rather than trimming it short.

Overall, I can't wait to read what your impression is with it in real world driving. Too bad you don't have a Fastman TB.

 

No, Sheriff was right, the bypass hose must be trimmed. What you can't see in that photo is there is a large "nut collar" in that brass fitting that allows you to tighten the brass fitting into the manifold. You can see it in the 12th pic down, it's the same fitting as the heater hose, just bigger.

The collar stops you from pushing the hose on anymore, and if you leave it stock length, and connect it to the water pump, it bunches up and cuts off flow. Plus it's a PITA to try to get the manifold lined up on the gaskets.

 

Once again, you show what a fart smeller you is! Thanks for that info.

 

Sheriff, I had the same thing happen after a while on my injector clips. If you start to get random misfire codes that you can't pin down, you'll need to cut those clips and wire in new ones. It took me a while to figure out where those misfires were coming from.

Ballenger Motorsports has a much better clip that hasn't gotten brittle on me yet.

http://www.bmotorsports.com/shop/pro...roducts_id/601

They came fully assembled,I just had to splice the wires in.

 

Splice or reconstruct? Removing the pins and such from connectors can be a chore, but it's possible. I found a tool that addresses up to 8 different styles. That's how I redid my fuel pump when using parts given to me for free.

 

Nope, I actually cut and the injector wires and striped and used weatherproof butt connectors. That's what Tony at Ballenger suggested to do. I was hesitant, but he assured me it would be fine. So far, (knock wood) it has been.

 

I had the intake torqued down before I put the bypass hose on. It's still pretty pliable because it's only a couple months old (and I had it cooking in the sun all day). I just folded it in the center then got it started on both fittings and pushed down on the center and it slid right on.

Thanks for the link too, I haven't had any misfire problems with the zip ties yet but I would like to replace those clips.

VW, it's still gonna be a little bit before I get an accurate feel for it. I'm not going to pass judgment on it until I run at least one tank of gas through it.

 

^^ That's cool. So long as you come back with a report is all I ask.

 

So demanding.

You know I'll let everyone know how I like it on my pig.

And I do have a fastman, kinda. It's the same size bore with no air flutes and a radius cut on the top edge of the bore, I just don't have that flat bar that his have.
I just need to get on mcmastercarr and order some button cap bolts for it.