im saving up some money to fix my plenum my neighbor is real good with engines so hes gonna help me...wen i replace the gasket should i use the stock plenum plate or a aftermarket aluminum one bc i cant find any aluminum ones

 

I bought mine on e-bay for about $50. Hughes gets $80 plus shipping I think.

 

http://www.hughesengines.com/Index/p...p?partid=26190 should i get this

 

Cheaper on e-bay, and get a fel pro gasket set. Save $50.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DODGE-JEEP-A...item3a6e1ff1fe

He went up a few dollars. Not much.

 

He still needs to get the intake gaskets and the intake bolts. YOu CAN NOT reuse the intake bolts.

Hughes sells the bolts for 14.95 and the gasket set. I would just get the hughes plate and kit (I actually did) with the bolts. It costs around 140 bucks shipped.

I would not trust some ebay one that some guy cut in his garage. But if you want to save a bit...

 

Get that, and make sure you get the intake bolts. They are torque to yeild, and cannot be reused. THey are the first part under recommended parts.

 

Already mentioned the fel pro gaskets......and the one on e-bay? If it was cut in a garage, I wish I had that garage. It is either plasma or water jet cut. Mine fit perfectly. And i bought new intake bolts from dealer....and they were not any higher than Hughes. Every time I can save $50, it is $50 I can spend on something else.

And I intake bolts are TTY, they are different ffrom any other TTY bolts I have ever seen. Never seen a TTY that is threaded all the way. And as an engineer, I have seen lots of TTY bolts.....but that is another discussion.

 

Why not just use the shorter plenum bolts with a new gasket and stock plate and save the money?
According to Dodge tech bulletins the real reason the original gaskets fail is the plenum bolts they used where too long and bottomed out before fully compressing the the gasket. the Hughes plate is just thicker than oem so the longer bolts dont bottom out. otherwise theres no proof they do anything better than the OEM plate.

 

I wondered the same thing, but never saw any reference to anyone hav ing done this successfully. I decided not to be the guinnea pig. In theory, if the bolts were shortened and torqued properly and the plate held sufficient pressure on the gasket between the bolts, the original pan should be good.

 

If I ever have to do it, I'll be the guinea pig. Along with all of those thousands of others who've already had it done at their dealerships.