I am in the middle of fixing the intake manidol leak on my Z28. Anyway I've got it back on and all torqued down now. Im the process of cleaning the manifold when I had it off I took off this piece from the bottom of the manifold.



Well I forgot to put it back on and now the manifolf is back on the car. What is this piece and do I have to put it back on? Thanks a lot.

 

Not absolutely essential it's a cover for the bottom of the intake.
Meant to keep oil from heating the manifold & getting oil sludge deposits from egr spots in the manifold= heat.

 

How much of the manifold did you put back on??? I mean, is the fuel rail on and hoses and valve covers?? If not and you just bolted it back on I would take it off and put that back in.

 

Right now the manifold is just bolted down. All the bolts are torqued to spec and everything and the RTV is dry. The throttle body isn't bolted on yet and none of the vacuum lines are hooked up. If its just to keep oil away from bottom of the intake I don't think its going to matter. Judging by how much oil sludge was underneath that its not keeping to much out. I can't how that thing would keep that much heat away ethier. Any one ther opinons?

 

The heat shield helps to keep the lifter valley heat from the air/fuel chamber.

 

Its there for a reason...If it was me I would feel much better if I put it back on, when something goes wrong eventually you dont want to have to think about that..