Might as well change the water pump too. I didn't when I did the plenum work, 6 months later is was new water pump time

 

+1....you will already have everything out of the way!

 

I take it that its not a good sign for the plenum gasket when you take all the bolts off and the steel plenum plate falls right off lol. Gasket appears to be the original gasket because its hard and still stuck to the plate and its very very thin, but oddly enough the engine had new felpro intake gaskets & completely made of permatex front & back intake gaskets. I'm guessing they figured the intake gaskets were what leaked and to cheap out they bought just the intake gaskets and totally ignored the real problem out of ignorance, the plenum gasket!.

6 of the 8 intake ports were filled with an oily residue and the plate itself has clumps of dried out oil on the bottum (as seen below). Also my misfire seems to be because of a completely eroded cap & nearly disintegrated rotor tip & coroded distributor cap contact points. I've installed the new cap & rotor and will clean & put the intake on tomorrow. So far I have an hour & 10 minutes and 4 beers into the job lol

Heres the plenum plate :

 

I purchased the Hughes Plate replacement, and the gasket for the plate the kit comes with is VERY thin too.. Almost thin enough to wonder why they even send a gasket.....

But it seems to work!

 

An hour and 10 minutes? That must be a record! Dd any intake bolts break off? THAT may be a reecord as well if none broke! 4 Beers....not a record....

 

Not a single bolt broke when I did mine! In fact, I purchased a can of PB Blaster just for that job and NEVER had to use it....

 

This is my 4th time doing one of these (1st time on a truck I actually own) my sisters 2000 Ram had a few problems with her plenum, then the lifters on seperate occasions so I've done it a few times and had some practice! lol. I already knew the sizes of most of the bolts & process of what all is needed to remove it, To my suprise the intake bolts came off very easy, I think it was due to the previous owner having the intake off before, so the bolts weren't completely crapped up so I was able to break them loose then remove them fast with my fingers. The hardest bolt was the last bolt in the rear of the intake on the passengers side, it was a bit rusty so I wasn't able to remove it with my fingers like I did the rest. I also didn't remove the fan shroud and only got bogged down on the bolt behind the bypass tube, it took a little extra time because of how close it is to the tube.

As for the bolts, I sprayed some WD-40 in the intake bolt holes & soaked the bolts in it as well. They appear to be in great shape.

As for the beers, they were 16oz Coors Light pints if that makes any difference lol. I'm also still very High from the carb cleaner I soaked the intake in. Intake is going to get a bath in kerosene in the parts washer!.

 

Got the plenum done...love the response & power now!.

 

When I did the plenum in my Durango a few weeks ago I didn't break a single bolt either. In fact it all went very smoothly, though this is the 3rd plenum gasket the Durango 360 has had. LOL.

Because I stared at 6:00 AM there was no beer counting, but I took my time and cleaned up a few things and changed the plugs and wires I was happy with my 2.3 hour turnaround.