I liked the stock location when I had water up past my head lights during Harvey. Being that far tucked inside the vehicle = they never got a drop of water on them.

 

Did you guys have to drain the coolant?

 

No, but you might use a rubber-jawed wood clamp to keep those tb heater lines from dumping more than a few drops.

Theres no coolant passages through the upper manifold though.

 

I've seen vids on youtube that do, but I will disregard. I will plug or clamp those.

Now, is it possible for one person to lift that baby out without risking damage to something? Or is it better with two people?

 

It's not bad. Only abut 15lb, maybe 20. I'm 5'6 and 130lb and can easily lean over the front and pull it up and out.

 

"If" you still have your throttle body heater plate installed then you'd have to add a step by removing the 4 8mm bolts holding it to the intake and then just sit the throttle body on the valve cover. Besides that zero coolant lines are messed with.

 

New gasket if I do?

 

My tb is more or less frozen to the upper. I tried to pull it off, quickly decided it wasn't worth it when a couple whacks with a dead blow didn't achieve anything. Have had similar experiences with other vehicles. Just putting that out there, that path may be more work than just unbolting and setting aside.

 

When I initially changed my plugs/wires I did it with the plenum on. Took 3+ hours and a lot of cursing/busted knuckles. Once I started it and went for a test run, I had 3 misfires. Turns out I didn't fully seat 3 of the plug wires on the coil pack.

My advice, remove the plenum and be done in the same amount of time with less cursing and fewer busted knuckles.

I replaced the plenum gasket but from the looks, it probably wasn't necessary.

Steve

 

I left the throttle body on the intake, and disconnected the hoses. Much easier.