Thread: Lower Intake Manifold

What, if anything can you do to prevent/slow the lower intake manifold leak? It has really started yet, but I know its going to be coming up. I'm at 106,000 and if I were to take it in it would cost 800 bucks. How difficult is it to do? I am a quick learner and pretty handy, just never have done this before.

Sounds like a plan. I intend on doing a lot of reading before I do any project that large. baggies are definitely a good way to keep track and label things. I just want to make sure it is worth all the time and effort. 800 bucks is waaaayyyyy rediculous though.

Is there any way to prevent more damage from being done? It really isnt leaking yet. There is a little oil in some tight spots but I feel like it has been like that for a long time. could have come from anything. But what about things like stop leak or similar products? Will anything help?

I just did my First LIM Gasket over the Christmas Hoilday, it took me one day to take it apart and one day to put it back together. I am fairly good with Cars and I watched the Video a few times to make sure there were not going to be any suprises. You didn't specify what year you are working on and that makes a difference, for my 94 I had to take the Push Rods out and re-install them when the gasket was put in due to the Guides being molded into the gasket, there are two different length Push rods, Intake and Exhaust --- you get one chance to put them back in correctly.

I used a small box to keep them in the correct orientation (put a hole in the box corresponding to their location on the engine), made a Note of which were long and which were short, and double checked them when I installed them, and All went well. I would Offer this tidbit, if you must remove the pushrods the oil inside them will leak out, before you put them back in put some oil back into the pushrod, I did not know this was needed and the engine made an awful screeching before they were re-filled through the oiling system ( I was extremely dissapointed and thought I put the PRs in wrong), it may have caused some wear also so fill them prior to putting them back in.

Also, I did not remove the Fuel Injectors from the rail and I left the Fuel lines connected to the rail, they weren't leaking before, and I didn't want them leaking afterward

Get a thermostat also, this is a very good time to change that, you may also want to think about the Heater Hoses that run through the Firewall, there is NEVER a good time to change them but you are as close as possible when you have all of the other stuff OFF and they are only a few dollars each

Good Luck

Originally Posted by MikeMac

I just did my First LIM Gasket over the Christmas Hoilday, it took me one day to take it apart and one day to put it back together. I am fairly good with Cars and I watched the Video a few times to make sure there were not going to be any suprises. You didn't specify what year you are working on and that makes a difference, for my 94 I had to take the Push Rods out and re-install them when the gasket was put in due to the Guides being molded into the gasket, there are two different length Push rods, Intake and Exhaust --- you get one chance to put them back in correctly.

I used a small box to keep them in the correct orientation (put a hole in the box corresponding to their location on the engine), made a Note of which were long and which were short, and double checked them when I installed them, and All went well. I would Offer this tidbit, if you must remove the pushrods the oil inside them will leak out, before you put them back in put some oil back into the pushrod, I did not know this was needed and the engine made an awful screeching before they were re-filled through the oiling system ( I was extremely dissapointed and thought I put the PRs in wrong), it may have caused some wear also so fill them prior to putting them back in.

Also, I did not remove the Fuel Injectors from the rail and I left the Fuel lines connected to the rail, they weren't leaking before, and I didn't want them leaking afterward

Get a thermostat also, this is a very good time to change that, you may also want to think about the Heater Hoses that run through the Firewall, there is NEVER a good time to change them but you are as close as possible when you have all of the other stuff OFF and they are only a few dollars each

Good Luck

Thanks so much for the advice. It definitely will help. And I have a 2003 grand prix se

Also, anything else I should do when I am completing this project? like new exhaust manifolds or any type of upgrade I can throw in?

Where do you get some of those 3500 manis?

So I found a front and a back. The back mani is from an "Impala R" and the Front is from an "Impala L".... What is the difference? How can I tell if they will work? They look like the exact same set up as my 3100..

Now these ones dont have that tube coming out of them. I am assuming that is a heater tube or something? What do I do about that?

Originally Posted by ctracer

they should be significantly bigger and have more a header-like quality to them compared to stock.

I found some:

06 07 08 09 10 11 Impala L Exhaust Manifold 3 9L Front 3 5 1 Chevrolet | eBay

06 07 08 09 10 11 Impala R Exhaust Manifold 3 9L Rear 3 5 1 Chevrolet Chevy | eBay

Will these do???