Intake Cleaning HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bizzy]

I took my entire intake apart today to clean out all the crap. And it really needed it. so I put it all back together, and for some reason the intake won't fit back onto the engine. it's like it is twisted or something. I took each part apart and laid it on the gorund in kinda the way they were when it was together.

I don't think I put anything back together wrong, but is it possible that I put the wrong runners on the wrong side? I don't wnat to force anything back together, but this it really wierd. I followed the directions on the SHOtimes FAQ and I'm kinda lost cause of this "twist" that the intake seems to have.

Anyone have an idea what I might be doing wrong?

Please help, with all the crap I got outta the intake I really want to drive my car.

 

[BlackOnBlackATX]

hey man, i never took my runners off but i would think that they are identical, looking at the gaskets i have it doesnt seem like it should matter if you reversed them, but then again, who knows, try reversing it with the throttle body off, i mean just physically turn it around and see if it seats, then youll know, sorry man. let us know what happens.

 

[pjtoledo]

Your fixed point of reference is the cylinder heads. Loosen up all the connections, set the intake on the heads, then tighten everything up.

Perry Toledo,Ohio

 

[gosho89]

Hopefully the directions say not to tighten the clamps until you have it installed and torque down. Once that is done you can tighten all the clamps.

 

[Bizzy]

Ok so I should loosen all the clamps on the runners? I have them all tightened down from when I was working on it inside my apartment. The thing that is odd is that it almost seems like the intake is just twisted so that I can't get a good seat on the gaskets. I noticed that some of the black came off with the intake, so hopefully the really awesome Ford parts place here in town has the gaskets in stock, otherwise I have to wait till FPN can get them to me.

I'm gonna attempt this again in the morning and hope that I can just get by for the week with the less than perfect gaskets on the intake. Perhaps I should order plugs and wires too if I have to buy the gaskets from FPN.

Anyone near albany NY have a set of intake gaskets they'd like to loan me till I can give you a new set from FPN? I so badly wanted to drive my car after cleaning all the crap outta the intake and lower intake.

 

[luigisho]

Yes. Loosen all the runner connectors, bolt the main part of the intake to the head, retighten the runners.

 

[Bizzy]

what about all the connectors that have nuts on them to where the secondaries are? I took all that apart too, to clean them as well. My intake is now clean enough to eat off of. So if I just loosen the clamps on all the runners, and the end tak and front part of the intake it should just slide into place the right way?

Thanks everyone for your help. It should be a piece of cake to get back off when I get some new gaskets.
I know they are shot cause I seen metal in like 3-4 places where it appears it should be all black.

Are the Felpro ones any better than the OEM ford ones as in longevity of removal and reinstall? Or should I just get the ford ones and call it a day.

 

[SHOZ123]

I know they are shot cause I seen metal in like 3-4 places where it appears it should be all black.

Just use some clear or any color high temp engine paint on the old gaskets immediately before you install them. Works great. Learned that trick from FPS.

<small>[ December 08, 2002, 07:09 AM: Message edited by: SHOZ123 ]</small>

 

[sdpatt]

You loosen only the hose clamps and maybe the top 12mm bolts on the crossover tube brackets.

 

[Bizzy]

well in the 26 degree weather with occasional bouts of snow I got everything back together. Actually once I loosened everything up it went quite quick. I sucked out all the B12 from where the valves are in the lower intake, and it sounded like **** when I started her up.

After looking down there at my valves I have serious doubts about the power of any "in the tank" cleaner for anything other than the fuel system itself. The valves had a nice pile of caked on crap. But that might be a project for another time.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, she's outside right now warming up so I can take her for a nice long drive and get any looseened carbon blown out the engine.