im reading the plenum replacement in the DIY section and i have a question. i see theres a stock plenum pan, and in the DIY it says he did the plenum kitwith an updated aluminum pan. whats the difference in the stock pan vs. the stock one? is the pan the problem or the gasket the problem? what exactly is needed to fix this problem, gasket or pan?

 

both. the stock setup is a lightweight sheet metal pan and wimpy gasket. it expands at a different rate than the aluminum intake.

the hughes/etc replacment is 1/4 in. aluminum with a reinforced gasket. its expands equally.

 

reinforced gasket? just thicker, or is it a different compound, how much of a difference is the aluminum plate?

 

If you use the aluminum plate, you won't be fixing it a second time. I was going to just replace the gasket and use the stock pan, but after reading so much about the gasket failing due to the pan design and I will be keeping the truck 'til it falls apart, went for the upgrade. Going through all that, you won't want it to go out again.

 

i'm not sure, cause i don't have one yet. the reputation of the Hughes kit is that its a permanent solution that does not ever fail again. i don't know if the gasket is like intake gasket material or something else. somebody help me out.

 

I have a 96 sport with, 318 ,my truck starts to shake like its missing ,ituned it up , put new injectores,scanned it,cant figure it out ive been reading aboutthe gasket, plenium,so ive bought that but havnt installed it yet,anyone got any ideas

 

I have a 96 truck, between 40 50mph,now its worse,ive tuned it up and put new inject. ive heard about this gasket under the manifold , can anyone help me ? oh it makes my truck chug , alot . help help

 

my truck did the same thing but instead of doing the gasket i got the m1 intake and the difference is awesome...i recommend it to anyone...i also recomennd underdrive pulleys for people that do alot of traveling

 

There is a ton of info on this in the forum already. I read it all, but I didn't really "get it" until I got the intake off and found it for myself. The first pic is the gasket protruding far enough that I could pass my finger between it and the intake. Second pic is the tracks left after a mild cleanup. Major vac leak, wonder why she was running so rough and pinging like crazy? Third is the oil pool after laying the intake on it's back. That's how much ran down the sides of the intake while I took off the plenum pan. There was a lot of oil, it covered everything. Last two are the hughes plate. The gasket is reinforced rubbery substance.

Whole project was around $225. That includes the hughes kit with intake gaskets and stretch bolts, 180 tstat from hypertech, new copper contact disty and rotor, new autolite 3923's, cleaned tb and iac, new air and oil filters, plug wire rerouting tsb and a 5-80 ft-lbs torque wrench ( i saved the $35 over a comparable inch-lbs wrench and did the conversion on my own. Northern tool part #558265)

Almost forgot the most important thing I got out of this project, the confidence to know that I can fix anything that goes wrong with this truck with the help of this forum and a few phone calls to the best mechanic that I can afford, my father. I hope this helps you guys turn the corner and fix the problem, it really wasn't all that bad. Shoot, if I can do it...

EDIT: After trying unsuccessfully to link pics tothe thread, I went this route, sorry for the redirect. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2586448