I tore my engine down and have my intake out. Fixed the plenum gasket, but I'm now stuck about how to reinstall it. every thread I read just magiacly has the intake reinstalled. I don't have any dowels for the front and rear cork gaskets. I don't know if I should add Black RTV to both sides of the cork gaskets. My felpro kit came with no instructions inside. its on a 1996 5.2L 4x4.

I'm worried about how i'm going to get it back on with my distributer there and not moving my gasket in the process. Any insight would be nice, I'd like my truck back!

Dallas

 

Did you get new manifold bolts? Cut the heads off 4 old bolts and thread a bolt in each corner.(just a thread or 2 so you can still grab it and unscrew it afterward.) This will help guide the manifold back down properly, I put some black rtv down along the front and rear especially where the manifold hits the heads and then put the cork gaskets down. I think I put some down around the water ports also. Havent had any problems yet.

 

You put RTV at the end of both end seals where they meet the heads. The end seals are the ones that sit on the block and touch both heads. Mine were rubber which is good because I don't like cork gaskets.
When I replaced my plenum gasket and when I replaced my intake manifold I didn't use any dowels or headless bolts. I set the gaskets on the heads (they sit in place without moving just fine) I put the RTV under and over the ends of the end seals and grabbed the intake manifold by the throttle body ports (without the throttle body attached) then gently placed it back on the engine.
Since your cork gaskets don't have the little nubs to keep them in place you will have to be extra careful and make sure you go straight down (after you get the back of the intake under the distributor without touching the heads or rear end seal) so you don't move them.
The point of the RTV is to seal the space between the tips of the end seals, the heads and the intake manifold since the gasket can't squish into that space completely.

 

I would not use the cork gaskets either. Get an intake kit for a 98 and it will have rubber front and rear cross over gaskets with a dowel. You should have the holes already. Just clean them out good.

 

crap zman, its to late for this round! I got out of work early, read what I suspected, and made my own dowels. I should have had a mirror though, because I just wasn't sure I had the rear seated the right way, and was having a hard time using just my finger to tell. But I put everything back together tonight. Started it up, and it ran like crap. I shut it off, started it again, reved it, and it was still running like crap. Of course I thought I had a leak, so I took starter fluid and sprayed it in the general direction of the rear seal. It made the engine idle go down. So I was really bummed, but I thought I might as well use half a can of sea foam to see if it did any good when I pull it apart. I ran the foam, let it sit for a while, started the truck for 5 mins. Still running like crap. I close the garage up, go in and wash my hands, but I couldn't go to bed I was so pissed. So I walked back out in my slippers and tried it again. I was going to put the straw on my starter fluid and make sure the fluid was at the back of the engine instead of going into the open TB. but when I fired it up, it ran good!!!

 

when I go out after breakfast, should I expect my truck to run the right way, or like garbage and to tear it apart again?

 

hard to say. last night was your first start up, so you could write it off as computer reset, contamination, oil in the wrong place, etc.

if you suspect the front or rear is leaking, spray it off clean with brake cleaner, and put a generous bead of black RTV across the seam.

 

dhvaughan, I used a good amount of black RTV on the cork sides when I assembles it. Would you put the rtv on with the intake still on? I'm sure that the front is good, but it's the back that I'm worried about.

 

Get a mirror and a flashlight and check things out back there (pinched wires/leaks).
Check out all the spark plug wires on the distributor cap (unplug and reseat, make sure they click into place).

 

if i thought it was leaking across the back i'd apply a generous bead across the back seam to try and avoid pulling it back off.