kaymin

iTrader: (11)

So I was looking for instructions on how to remove my intake manifold and found nothing very helpful. There was a reason for this. It's a super straight forward task that just takes a lot of time and will power. Despites this, I'm gonna write what I can to help other people have an easier time in doing this. Since I just got done taking mine off.

DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for any mistakes you make or any damages done to your car. I'm merely pointing out some things that I did. Thanks and please don't try to sue me


Most important thing: TOOLS and TIME
I'm kind of a noob mechanic so hang with me on these explanations

Have as many different tools as you can at your disposal. Borrow anything you can from people just to have more variety. This is kind of a weapon of choice task. Use what you're comfort able with, there's no specific tools that will help for sure.

Make sure you have at least 10, 12, and 14 sockets and wrenches

Have a breaker bar and every different sized ratchet wrench you can.

SWIVEL extensions are awesome. I'm not exactly sure what they're called but they're VERY helpful. It's an extension where the end is kind of rounded and allows the socket to swivel around a bit. Helps you reach those tight spots MUCH easier. Have as many different lengths and drive sizes of these as possible.

Basically, this isn't an emergency sized $20 tool kit job. It can be if you wanna mcguyver it a bit but that's a whole nother ball game.

Make sure you have a few days if you're a slow worker like me that likes to take breaks and party instead of working on your car. lol


Lets begin!
Ok. Here's all the steps that I CAN REMEMBER in order. There may be some things I missed. Let me know if I missed anything and I'll add it in.

Remove strut bar (14 mm nuts)

Remove your battery and battery tray

Remove your upper intercooler pipe

Unplug all sensors and vacuum lines on the intake manifold and throttle body (I didn't do this first because I didn't know how the stupid C clip style plugs came undone and it woulda been much easier if I had gotten them out of the way.)

(I'm not sure if you need to remove the throttle body before you take off the manifold but I'm sure you're gonna take it off anyways so you may as well do it now and save yourself a possible hassle)

If you have a stock throttle body then you have to watch out for the coolant lines, be ready to get messy (I had installed my Skunk2 already )

Depressurize your fuel lines and then take off the fuel rail and slide it out to where the battery was so it's out of the way

There are two brackets on each end of the throttle body that the motor has studs coming out of that go through the Intake Manifold and have nuts holding them. Go ahead and undo these brackets from where they are mounted. Do not unbolt everything from the driver side bracket as it's just extra work. DO NOT UNDO THE BOLT THAT HOLDS THE TOP OF THE ALTERNATOR it's a separate bracket and I made myself extra work with that one.

Now that we have all this room from taking out the battery and UICP go ahead and start working on the bolts that hold the IM to the head. Don't take them all the way out, just break them loose. The top ones are simple and you'll have no problem with getting them loose.
The bottom ones are the tough ones because they are directly below each runner of the manifold and you can't get them from the top, I went in from the sides. There is also a bracket that supports the throttle body underneath and it gets in the way. This is where the various tools come in handy especially the swivel extensions. I used a combination of swivel extensions, a breaker bar and a friend to hold the breaker bar while I lined it up with the bolt.

Once you've gotten all that loose then look around your manifold for anything that may be attached to it still. I know there is a bracket with two sensors on it by the bracket we removed earlier on the alternator side. This has two bolts underneath the manifold that need to be removed. You may unplug these also if you haven't already.

Now there should be only two bolts left that you haven't loosened. These two are attaching the manifold to that evil bracket that you probably want to just cut off by now. They face straight down and aren't easy to get. I used the same approach here as I did with the last few bolts we just did, Breaker bar to loosen up the bolts and then use a smaller wrench to get the bolt out.

By now, nothing should be attached to the intake manifold and you should be able to just pull it off. If anything is left figure out how to take it off and slide that puppy out of there!

I know this wasn't much help but I just wanna let everyone know how straight forward it is.


TIPS:
BAG UP YOUR BOLTS OR REPLACE THEM
I put every bolt/vacuum line I took out of the engine bay and put it on to the my new ported manifold or put it in a ziplock bag. Make notes/take pictures/mark the bolts and where you took them out of so you know where they go back into. I forgot to pay attention to the bracket bolts and now I'm not 100% sure how they go back together. It shouldn't be a big deal though.

Take your time, take breaks if you need to and don't get frustrated.

Also try as hard as you can NOT to drop anything in the evo engine bay there's so many spots that stuff just disappears into. I dropped one of the washer things for the fuel rail and couldn't find it till the manifold was off. Luckily I didn't drop any essential tools!

Don't lose your injector o-rings and bag them up to keep them safe

That's it for now. I'll update this in the morning with any tips or procedures I come up with for the installation of the new manifold!!!

hammilljr

iTrader: (3)

You should have done this and posted pics that would have been good! Ill be doing this in the near future, but thanks for the wrote up ill reference it, and I wont sue!!!

Nomad4g63

iTrader: (16)

yeah im going to use this soon to do my fuel and intake manifold upgrade