Well, I hope this is in the right place.

First, I think you can get this done without spilling coolant. Spilling coolant is *****!!! By jacking up the car and securing on jackstands, you can get to the underside of the manifold, which means you can get to the 3 bolts that are a pain in the ***, and you wouldn't need to remove the big coolant hose.

Quick tio, I use tape on the ends of bolts so they can't fall out of the holes they start out in- you'll see what I mean when you take the TB off, or the FPR or anything that's held by bolts. a little tape on the end means you know which bolt lives where and no searching.

Here's what you'll need :
3" socket extension
8mm wrench (for that little sensor on top of the plenum chamber)
10mm socket
10mm wrench
12mm socket
12mm ratchet wrench
14mm socket
pliers to break hoses loose

About 4 hours (mine took longer because I did it the way it's been described elsewhere)

Where to begin?!
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/at...id=49423&stc=1

Start by removing your strut bar (if you have one, 14mm)
Then remove your MAS and airbox/SRI/CAI . . . . take a quick look and remember that there's a hose that feeds into the intake sleeve
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/at...id=49425&stc=1

Good start, now we can see the TB and what's connected to it. Not that there are 2 hoses on top of the TB, one with blue lines, one with yellow. It's pretty intuitive when you're reassembling, but try to remember which one goes where. loosen the bolts on the throttle cable tensioner, and remove the cable from the throttle. Remove the wiring harnesses and the hoses (small amount of coolant will leak, just use a shop towel to catch the drippings). The hose that's underneath the TB can be removes after the TB has been taken off of the front of the plenum chamber. If you wait until the last thing to do on this part, it makes getting at the hose clamp easier.

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/at...id=49424&stc=1

Then go to the other end and remove the hoses from the plenum chamber. Remember which hose goes where.
FPR hose goes here: https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/at...id=49426&stc=1

The hose from the PCV valve goes here (where my finger points)
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/at...id=49427&stc=1

Uh oh, out of pics in this post. Next up....

 

so after you've removed those hoses, I recommend removing the panel with the hoses and harnesses in the middle. I didn't take this panel off until my hands werre all chewed up, I'll save you that misery. You might as well take the harnesses off of the fuel injectors while you're at it. Also, remove the wire loom from all 3 mounting points, 2 brackets on top and there's a weird attachment point on the engine lift bracket- use the pliers to squeeze the end and pull the loom off of the engine bracket. you'll also want to remove the right-most coil pack....

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/at...id=49428&stc=1

remove the FPR and the return hose on the other end. If you open your gas cap you'll release some pressure and you'll just get a little leak. The FPR is 10mm and I think the return hose is 12mm; this is where the extension comes in handy. A little fuel will come out, but you just need a shop towel to catch it.
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/at...id=49429&stc=1

now, remove the fuel rail DO NOT LOSE THE SPACERS!!!! and remove the fuel return line (the metal tube that's just underneath the fuel rail)
Look at all the room!!
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/at...id=49430&stc=1

Now take off the bracket with the engine lift point on it. There are 2 12mm bolts.
It's good to have a spare engine to play with The ratchet with the 12mm socket fits right in this space and makes it a breeze to get this thing off. Take the other bolt off, too.
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/at...id=49431&stc=1

Now the fun begins! I think we have all of the hoses and wires off, so lets start taking the bolts off. I started on the left side (as you face the engine bay) and used the 12mm to take that upper bolt off. That's the easy one. Then I went to the right side. There's a bolt under the fat hose that you can get to here. You may need to use the ratchet wrench but this one is also fairly easy, and it's the one I missed, causing quite the headache for about an hour while I tried everything I culd think of. Here's a "map" of the bolts for you.
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/at...id=49435&stc=1

 

Here's a look at the IM when all the bolts are off. The "bolt from Hell" is the one with the arrow. Look to the left and you'll see the bolt that I just had you take off. Now you're thinking "Hmmmm... those three nuts on top seem easy enough to remove" But save those for last.
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/at...id=49436&stc=1

Now get under the car. Use the 14mm socket to remove the bolts that are attached to that black bracket that holds the IM in place, there are 4 of them. Now use your 12mm wrench (ratchet or otherwise) and start working on those bolts! I don't have a pic, but you'll be able to see them from under the car. I have fairly large arms- blacksmithing and chopping wood everynight will do that- and I managed to get up there to reinstall the bolts. You can too!!!! Yes, you'll be flying blind on the bolt from hell, but you can't see it if you take the coolant line out, either, and this way is a LOT less messy. I hate coolant.

Now go back up top and remove the 3 nuts.
Let's count: left top, right top, right lower, bolt from hell, other 3 bolts and 3 nuts. Yep, that's all 10
The IM should pretty much come right off. It might need some persuasion, but it will come off. Be careful not to mangle the thin metal gasket that's in there!

Here's what the stock IM looks like compared to my ported IM:
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/at...id=49439&stc=1

You can see the buildup on the stock IM, this is obviously just getting in the way, so I ported it off.

Install is the reverse of removal and is MUCH quicker (you've seen where the bolts are once and how to get at them, this is the easy part!) Get all of the hoses and wires reattached. Use the pics to guide you back to the beginning. Don't forget to reinstall your coilpack and the MAS. I forgot to reinstall my strut brace (damn I'm tired!!) and lost one of the nuts. Now I have some ghetto *** Lowe's nuts on the strut towers

My car started right up once the fuel rail filled. It's not like strapping on a turbo, but there's a noticeable difference above 3K RPM.

Enjoy!!!

 

forgot to mention that I also cleaned up the plenum chamber some. Mostly ground away the buildup and the casting inclusions.

 

Product looks beautiful, install looks daunting. Can't wait to literally tackle this install.

 

I so think I'd be sourcing this install out. I'm too lazy for all that. Thank god my friend already put one in...

Great write-up Kris!

 

nah, not at all. honestly, the install is only slightly more difficult than a header install. just keep track of all the stuff that came off and where it goes, and the rest is common sense.

i removed the IM, TB, and fuel rail, swapped, and installed new IM, TB, and fuel in about 4-5 hours.

 

yeah, it's just a lot of hoses and harnesses - but when you're going to put everything back together you can easily figure out where things go. They left just enough room for the hoses to go from point "A" to tab "B" and the harnesses are pretty much color coded.

If you guys think the write up makes it look hard, try doing it the way it's already been written up- you have to deal with coolant, ultra tiny gaps for your hands and tools to even get at the bolts and did I mention coolant everywhere

Honestly, if I had to do another one, and I went from underneath, I would save myself almost 2 hours!

I lost one of the fuel rail spacers when I was going to put them back in.... sigh.... good thing I have that spare engine I'm trying to source nylon spacers at my local home store so if another gets lost there's a known cure. I didn't think to bring any measuring tools or the fuel rail with me when I had to get the replacement nuts for my strut towers, so I guessed and was off by maybe 1/100th of an inch. I'll definitely let everyone know what I find!

 

How noticeable was it? Has it knocked your socks off?

WADAD

And I noticed you have the 3000Gt Kn filter on there. Were there any flat spots present before that were improved with the Manifold?

 

Man I was SO exhausted last night when I got the car started that I nearly fainted with joy that it turned over Then I had coolant cleanup and strut bolt replacement to worry about. It did feel like it had more punch above 3K RPM

I'll be taking it out for some runs with my dyno-scan tool and I'll see if there's any measurable improvement. And now that I'm coherent I'll be in a better position to say how noticeable the improvement is on the ol' butt dyno

 

how much did your coolant leak? for mine, as soon as i popped off the line leading into the TB, i just folded them over and taped the off, with only a few drops of leakage.

i got the biggest leak (maybe .5 oz) when my buddy removed my radiator cap, equalizing the pressure in the system

 

I lost quite a bit when I disconnected the large hose next to the engine bracket.... if I hadn't I wouldn't have been able to get my hand under the runner....
Here's the pic:
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/at...id=49501&stc=1
now, if I'd taken off the small greenish tube I prob wouldn't have needed to remove that particular hose Oh well. It's all cleaned up and it's in the past.

Also, if you look to the left, you'll see the return side of the fuel rail. The bolts are held on with blue masking tape. That's what I was talking about earlier.

RE: gains. It turns out I forgot to reconnect the hose that goes to the Exhaust Gas Recirc valve (the valve thing on the side of the mani) so I had a CEL pending. It came on today when I went to the store. So I'll get a better idea of power the next time I get out of the house (CEL = limp mode = no eManage = )

 

a little OT: ooohhh, i forgot about that for the CEL. would something like that affect the rrm piggyback, cause my light has been on since i got my headers and i don't want to waste money on a PB if it won't work

 

when do u actually get to the coolant part? i'm hooping to do this install in the spring.. and man my engine bay is so clean! i want to to do this install with minimal spillage... so any tips in that department would help...great write up by the way

 

the only lines you have to remove that have coolant are the 2 on the underside of the throttle body (the ones that have clamps on them). like i said, as long as you don't equalize your pressure in your system, it won't spill much at all just because its vertically above everything else.

if you brought out a towel or something, and you were quick to plug the lines, then you shouldn't have any coolant spilled

of course you could just drain the whole system before hand and flush it out, then you wouldn't have to worry about that at all

same applies to the fuel line: i've read if you unplug the pump, start the car and let it die, you won't have pressurized fuel lines so no spillage