You are right about where the leak is coming from. The question is, "is that the only leak" If it had been any other car besides a 90's GM car I would say put it back together. It just the lower intake is so common and you half way there,,,,,

 

agree with gorn replace lower intake gasket and the elbows. also any aged/cracking coolant hoses. i use a pressure sprayer for really dirty parts,(metal) then get the last of the oil off with brake or parts cleaner. use cleaners in well vented area and yes i use something to catch runoff cleaner. they make a parts cleaning pan that i use, pretty big with low sides.

 

Well I don't want to have to do this again anytime soon so I'll do the lower intake too. I know the car has an oil leak, can changing the gaskets possibly help that issue? Assuming that's where oil is leaking from I guess... That might be a whole different topic for a whole different thread, but I was curious.

 

Ok... so I got 12 bolts of the manifold. How heavy is this part? The plenum wasn't heavy.

I can lift the front of the intake up slightly but the back of it I can't get to move. So I'm kinda stuck. The only thing I haven't been able to take off is that bracket on the passenger side. I can't get the bolt off in the back. I have not removed the serpentine belt tensioner because the lower bolt won't budge right now... I was hoping I could lift the manifold up high enough to go over it.

What do I do now? How do I get this thing off? And as always, thank you guys for sticking with me on this...

 

there are bolts hinding inside some of the ports

 

I got those ones. I found the diagram that showed the order you tighten them when you put it back together. That helped me find all the bolts. I'm starting to think it's that bracket. I'm looking around at everything and feeling around and I don't know what else could be keeping it from coming off.

Can i spray the bolt on the bracket with wd40 and see if that helps loosen it?

 

did you get the elbows off?

 

double check for a stray bolt you may have missed, not sure what bracket but if its bolted to the intake and head or block better take it off. once you break the gasket seal lose it should come right off, not heavy.

 

to answer your question about elbows- I haven't removed any elbows. I haven't seen any elbows... I must not be to that step just yet.

I'll try again tomorrow to get that bracket off and check for any bolts I may have skipped over. The engine is so dirty it wouldn't be hard to miss one. So far I've found two nasty old cigarette butts and little twigs probably from tumbleweeds...

 

lol, ya they get dirty. plastic elbow is on the front. look here, shows it at about 50 on the meter.