Another “15m job” - removing the upper intake with SAI is fun. Coil packs were a bitch to remove too. Hopefully it won’t misfire after all this. SAI was in the way real bad. Is there any benefit to it? I’ve seen some remove the system, but I imagine that requires some computer coding. Is it best if it get rid of it? I like the idea of a more minimal system to make things less maintenance.

How do you get the coils back in with the wires on them? I removed the wires to make it easier. It seems it’ll be very hard to put them back in with wires or put the wires on when the coils are in there. What a design… hope this pays off. Thinking I have to replace the valve cover gaskets while this is open since I don’t want to do this again anytime soon. The coil pack bolts are hard to get to also - the one on the driver side took some time.

Can anyone advise me if I should bother replacing the valve covers now or not? It seems it’s not that much more work, but this took me a while and it was frustrating at a few points… I’ll do it though. Just probably not going to attempt the head gaskets this time even though there could be an issue that was causing a misfire. I don’t know, maybe I should. There’s a good amount of burnt oil (?) in the intake. Is that bad?

 

Your truck having SAI is coded into the VIN. If you remove it, not only are you going to have to deal with codes but your VIN will no longer match your configuration. If you're in a testing state, that will fail you.
Like working on any vehicle, you have to get used to doing a lot of stuff by feel. The coil pack mounting bracket has four bolts, and they all need to be installed. Do the bottom ones first, but leave them as loose as you can so that you have some wiggle room for the top bolts. You'll need to get the SAI pipes out of the way to do any of this -- it looks like they're still there in your photos.

 

I got rid of the SAI and didn't change any coding/ECU stuff on my '03 and haven't had any issues, though it has greatly improved working room in the engine bay. You'll just have an intermittent check engine light and it won't pass emissions. I put a piece of electrical tape over the light, so it doesn't bother me (I'm in a non-emissions state).
If you plan on putting SAI back on, definitely replace the valve cover gaskets before putting everything back together. They're cheap and easy to do now (and a pain if you have to take SAI out again).

 

One significant issue with disabling or blocking the CEL is that you won't know if something else causes a problem.
Unless you have an Ultragauge (as you should), in which case you'll probably get constant alarms.

 

Yes, but if the light is already on, you won't know if you have another problem unless you scan it or have an Ultragauge as you stated. All it would show is misfire (flashing CEL). I don't have an Ultragauge (I should really get one), but I do scan it every once in a while to make sure everything is ok.

 

Thanks, I’m in California so I better just leave it. It was a pain to get around. I managed to get the coil pack assembly out but I think I need to get another set of wires and use the Extinct relocation system that puts them on top of the intake, which looks like it keeps things out of the way.

I better deal with the valley pan and valve cover gaskets now… Hopefully I can get the passenger valve covers off without fully removing the SAI. Is the front valley pan seal the same as the rear seal?

What else would you do when doing all of this? Recondition lifters if they’re sticking or just leave all that? I don’t think I should get all the way to the head gaskets now. I’d seen the temp gauge go up high when the thermostat was failing, but it didn’t overheat, the needle would just start climbing when stopped for a while, but that didn’t go on very long. I can’t be sure if it’s overheated in the past or if anything else indicates blown head gaskets. The oil didn’t appear cloudy when drained. There was a slight lifter tick, improved with 15W-40 oil. Exhaust dropped occasionally. Misfire every now and then in cylinder 5, but it ran pretty well from what I could tell.

 

I remember seeing a thread where someone had replaced the SAI hard lines with something flexible (I think the hoses were red?). This seems like an excellent idea that makes accessing things a lot easier, but I also recall a mention of it potentially failing a visual inspection since the parts were no longer OEM. (One of my bikes recently failed inspection due to having an aftermarket muffler, even though the one I have on there is quieter than the original.)
From memory the front and rear valley pan seals are the same.
I wouldn't worry about reconditioning the lifters if you only have a mild tick. You can often improve these by doing a top-end Seafoam treatment after it's all back together. Focus instead on cleaning up any burnt oil residue inside the covers and on the tops of the heads. Do the latter carefully -- you want to avoid getting any gunk into the cylinders or down into the oil pan. The amount of built-up material under the rocker covers can be used as a kind of indicator of how much buildup you're likely to have inside the cylinder crowns.
A quick temperature spike probably didn't harm your head gaskets, but remember that by the time the temperature gauge starts to move you're already approaching overheating territory. It's really more of a "too late" gauge.

 

Hopefully it’s alright still… I’d hate to skip the head gaskets and have it be a problem, but I’d also be unsure how to do that properly and it might just get worse if I don’t level things out right. If I knew I was getting into that I was told I should have replaced the camshaft but the timing chain and sump are back on and that was a pain outside with flies and mosquitos constantly attacking in the heat. Maybe I’ll just do the valley pan and valve covers, but I’m wondering now if there’s anything else to do while I’m doing all that. The CPS is fairly new and most of the hoses seem to be ok still (replaced most 7 years ago).

 

If you want it to be easy to change the coil packs with SAI then I would suggest getting the Extinct Coil relocation kit so you will never need to waste time fiddling around back there again.

https://extinctmotorsports.com/land-...elocation-kit/

 

Hell yeah I just bought it and another set of STI wires. I got the valve cover gasket kit and valley pan gasket/seals from AB today. I’ll get the bolts for the air intakes.

Just clean up the upper and lower intake with carb cleaner? Can I paint all the parts including valve covers glossy black with high temp spray paint or is that bad for heat? I figured it would look cool and make oil cleanup easier.

AB told me to clean the rockers/arms - should I remove them or just do what I can without removing them? Also plan to soak lifters in diesel then put them back in the same order.