Hello everybody,
I have never replaced a plenum belly pan before, and the service manual I have does not describe it well and doesn't have any pictures. So, I was wondering if somebody could provide me with the basic steps, maybe some photos of when you did it. Also, I heard that changing out the thermostat for a cooler one helps reduce fuel knock and helps the engine overall. Any ideas about that? Thanks in advance, Keagan

 

Read the section on Intake manifold R&R. That is basically what you are doing. Pan bolts to the bottom of it. (yeah, brilliant design....)

Opinions are all over the place on whether a 180 thermostat helps or hurts..... you may lose a point or so fuel mileage with the colder stat....

 

Stay with the stock Tstat . Get a Haynes manual also. And read the plenum thread on top of the forum . It's long, but has info in it about the too long stock bolts(as does some other threads) and what you need to do if you dont want to put an aluminum plate on it.

 

@ HeyYou, Great name... love it! "Brilliant design"... it's called engineers who are not mechanics!! I decided to leave the thermostat alone, and just fix other problems first. But just one quick question... Do I have to drain the coolant to replace the belly pan?

 

Yeah. You can do it before you pull the intake, or, it will happen anyway WHEN you pull the intake.

Change your oil afterwards either way.

 

Why change oil?

 

Because it really doesn't matter how careful you are, you WILL drop crap into the valley, and it will find it's way to the oil pan. If you get coolant into the oil, you REALLY want that out before you run the engine. It's kinda bad for bearings and such.

 

Okay, makes sense now.