I'm in the wonderful process of replacing my intake manifold, and I had a couple questions.

1. Can I get by without draining the coolant from the block? The Bleeder screw for it was almost stuck, couldnt get it to budge.

2. Is black rtv silicone good to use to seal the front/back of the manifold?

3. How should I torque the bolts from the manifold? I don't use a torque wrench ever lol, can I get by without using one? Just go one round of them (in order) a little past finger tight, then go back and make em snug?

Thanks guys!

And thanks to shoebox for his f*#@ing aweome website, I'd still be looking for the fuel pressure release valve now

 

1. Yes

2. Yes

3. No. Go invest in a torque wrench.

 

No need to drain coolant, use brake cleaner or carb cleaner where the rtv sits on the block and manifold so it seals good, any high temp rtv will work. Torque wrench good idea but I have never used one on my intakes before.

 

There is a tightening sequence.. Basically start at the passenger side, tighten 3rd from front, then go to driver and tighten 3rd from front... tighten the bolts in the middle first and the outside ones last.. 35 ft lbs. If you dont buy the torque wrench then 35 ft lbs feels snug/tight when using a 1/2 drive ratchet.
Black RTV works fine but I use The Gold Copper which says on the box GAURANTEED NOT TO LEAK and its rated for a much higher temp and resists it better.. But Black RTV will work. Apply a nice 1/8 bead of it across the front and rear of the block (make sure its clean). Make sure to apply alittle extra at the corners of the block where it meets the heads. Let it set for a day to cure.

Dont know why u need to drain any coolant??? no understanding that one.

 

1. No need to drain coolant.
2. I wouldn't use anything but the best, unless you want to do this more than once. I used Permatex Ultra Copper (stock number 101BR). There are others, and some will swear it doesn't matter. I followed the instructions from the Project TransAm website. I also was sure to let my repair sit for the recommended 24 hours. I wouldn't do it any other way. But that's me.
3. Properly, that's the only way to do anything. Using a torque wrench, I went around my intake using this sequence. The first time around I went to 20 ft/lbs., and then finished the job by going around a second time, taking the torque to 35 ft/lbs. I rechecked tightness at around 100 miles after and again at around 300 miles after.

Good luck!

 

i'm goin to put my intake manifold on soon and was getting everything prepared and cleaned up, do you think that I should drain my oil in case some little bit of grime or wutever go into the lifter valley and might spread into the rest of the oil....cause I've heard stories about dirty oil on these cars and just wanted to check to see if changing my oil would be a safety precaution which I should take

thankyou

 

Couldn't hurt to change the oil and filter. Run the car for like 10 minutes after the repair is made, then change the oil (after it's cooled down again), that should wash anything in the lifter valley into the pan.

 

Definately change the filter and oil. It all should be caught in the filter, but i dropped a chunk of pencil in my lifter valley and it freaked me out (do NOT use a pencil to guide on the IM, it will break off if not aligned properly), not to mention the other random debris lost that fell in.

 

thankyou, will do so