I’ve been following this step by step and I’m to the point of removing the intake manifold, and I know you mention it’s easier said than done and takes a bit of wiggling, but mine won’t budge an inch! I’ve double checked that everything has been removed and I don’t see it connected anywhere else. Pretty sure nothing has been worked on since 2001, so it’s pretty locked in. How would I go about loosening it enough to remove it?

 

The plenum gasket is probably sticking. Use a pry bar to pop the seal and it should free up pretty easily from there. If it doesn't pop loose and feels like it's still tight after it starts to move a little, double check everything is actually apart. You should've removed 6 plenum bolts.

 

Thank you! I eventually got it out. The plenum gasket seems warped so I’m going to replace that as well. It seems like someone tried doing some engine work before and did not put things back together. Bolts were missing and the holding bracket was not aligned

One more question.. if I have a secondary air intake, can I (or am I supposed to) remove those metal lines between the bracket and ac lines? I can’t reach the wires otherwise.

(Please bear with me if these seem like no brainer questions. I am a complete newbie who got thrown into trying to pretty much replace this whole engine by myself with only YouTube and forums with you saints to guide me)

 

Oops, sorry, one more question (for now at least). Should there be some kind of gasket here? I notice there’s some gaps and metal on metal so I’d imagine that means it’s not sealing fully or is that how it’s supposed to be?

 

I can see a gasket in that red circled area. No need to mess with that, it never leaks.

Go ahead and remove the stainless tubing, almost impossible to get those wires out with it in there.

You might be interested in this: https://extinctmotorsports.com/the-e...g-perspective/