Ive been working on my truck doing the plenum, timing chain, rear main oil pan water pump etc and I got to thinking, what exactly is the point of our notoriously bad plenum? What purpose does the plenum pan serve? why couldn't the keg just have been designed without one? The only thing I can think of is greater access to the inside of the keg if you needed for some reason. Other than that I'm stumped.

 

To ensure plenty of business for the service department's in the future. It was probably designed as a 2 piece intake to save $ in production somehow.

 

i would guess it makes the intake cheaper and easier to make.

 

I just did my plenum fix today as well, and was thinking the same thing. A one piece design would have saved us all time and money. It might have been cheaper for mopar to manufacture it this way. No other logical explanation comes to mind.

 

It's expensive and error prone to cast a piece that encloses (or very nearly encloses) a large void, and difficult and expensive to inspect them properly if you do.

 

Could be, but intake man. manufacturer's have been doing it for decades.

 

The only reason is cost. Ergo take it up with the bean counters.

 

but they also use to make them out of steel instead of aluminum up until 91. have you ever lifted a steel intake? they are heavy.

 

You've seen massive plenums like those within our intake manifolds since before the small block Magnum? I haven't.

 

I can think of another reason...when at the dealer the other day getting some stuff in preparation for my plenum fix the parts guy said the Highway Patrol brought in a Dodge Ram that the dog sniffer hit on in the engine compartment and when they took it apart they found 2 kilos of coke in the plenum, he also said the truck ran poorly when they drove it in the shop. Haa!! No sheeet!