I'm close to pulling the trigger on getting my intake modified by RCR. How easy is it to remove and replace? Is it exactly as detailed in shop manual? When I had my 21 year old Mustang, I always seem to have bad luck breaking connectors when doing things under the hood.
Any shortcuts, i.e. things that I don't really have to do? Do I really need to drain the coolant?
It's very easy. No need to drain coolant. Modern LS engines do not have coolant circulating in the manifold. Remove air intake and tube. Disconnect fuel line on drivers side (best to use a fuel line disconnect tool). Disconnect electrical connectors (throttle body, fuel injectors). Remove 10 manifold bolts (8mm, I think). Carefully pull up to dislodge manifold and pull it forward a little, just a few inches. Disconnect two or 3 vacuum hoses on the rear of the manifold. Remove manifold.
Then there are 4 bolts holding the throttle body on. I think there a 4 bolts holding the fuel rail on. Then you can remove the fuel rail and injectors. This may take a little bit of persuasion but just take your time.
That's it. Just be careful when you disconnect the injectors. If I remember, there is a gray tab that you have to pull up first then you press black part of the connector in to be able to remove it.
I think there is also a connector on the manifold near the throttle body that needs to be removed also but I am not sure.
Thanks guys! Soooo much easier than the shop manual makes it out to be. I'll be installing 1.85 rockers and this combo should definitely wake the car up.
I'm Captain Slow so it might be more like an hour to 90 minutes. The shop manual says that the intake gaskets are single use. Are most people replacing them? If so, I'll grab some.
I did mine today, but I think I spent 30 minutes just trying to get all the clips off. Sign me up for Captain Slows platoon. It was a little harder because the car was on jack stands making everything harder to reach.
I did change the gaskets, I think they were about 36 bucks.
You will need that fuel line tool and the inch pound torque wrench.
I wasn't sure what the torque was supposed to be on the TB?, took it to 170 and called it good.
I also put a VCM intake on with a 4" housing and LS7 card along with the RC ported manifold. LT headers are next week with the updated tune, it should be a nice bump in power.
Definitely a great do it yourself project even for first timers, a couple of simple tools like a Comp Cams valve spring compressor will do it. I didn't even undo the fuel line from the rails/injectors just duct taped the fuel rail to the hood with the fuel line still hooked up while removing the manifold.
1:85 rocker with and RCR manifold and an RCR tune was one of my favorite mods. Car finally did not fall on its face up top. Talking about a day and night difference. Was running 12.8's with that setup with Kooks headers and exhaust. DOD delete and Little Lunati got me down to 12.3's, but the 1:85 rockers were a great mod for those not ready to "go all the way".
Dousail2, I'm thinking about going with that Luni cam too, do you have the low lift version or the regular one? I'm also looking to do a stall, maybe the circle d 278mm. I was hoping that would get me into the the high 11's though. Maybe the stall and the 3.27 I have will knock off 3 thenths. Did you deck your heads?
Sorry OP, this was a little off topic. Dousail, PM me if you want, I'm thread jacking a little here.
Dousail2, I'm thinking about going with that Luni cam too, do you have the low lift version or the regular one? I'm also looking to do a stall, maybe the circle d 278mm. I was hoping that would get me into the the high 11's though. Maybe the stall and the 3.27 I have will knock off 3 tenths. Did you deck your heads?
Sorry OP, this was a little off topic. Dousail, PM me if you want, I'm thread jacking a little here.
So, If the OP wants us to clear out we will, there stuff to be learned here. Have high lift LL would go low lift if I were to do it again for longer valve train life. The cam was a present from my son for helping get him thru college so he had it spec'ed out by Rick. The low lift is not much lower but low enough to allow you to use a more forgiving valve spring and I am a daily driver. The little guy doesn't need a stall. If you know you are going to stall, get a bigger cam like the Drag Sportsman to make use of it. I did 3:27 gears after the cam and have track times for both. The 3.27 actually slowed me down over the 2.92 thru the 1/4 mile. The extra shift time due to going into 4th was not made up for by the lower ratio, but definitely more peppy on the street. If you really care about 1/4 mile times do the 3:45 gears. I decked the heads .035. If you don't mind buying premium do it because these LS's love the extra compression (good power payback). I also did the LS intake valves so that I could spin it up a little higher. I'm shifting at 6850 rpm.
Hope that helps some of you thinking of camming. But back on topic, I cannot say enough good about the 1.85 rocker mod for those not wanting to go deep inside.
Thanks for the cam info. I was going with the smaller cam only because I'm in CA and wanted to be able to pass smog with the stock exhaust set up if I couldn't get a hook up. Still researching on what the biggest cam I could go with and still pass.
Even if can't go bigger on the cam, I still want the stall. I really like the way it smothes the shifts. I'm not too hung up on the numbers, my initial gaol was to get into the 11's. I think if you had a stall you would be there, based on your 60'.
I'm not a facebooker, whats the next best way to get in contact with Rick? I wanted that Ported TB to go with the intake. Looking at them side by side you can really see a big difference.
Back to the topic the Ported intake....Did anyone do this mod as a Solo Mod or just with the TB? Did you notice it more on the top end or accross the board? I'm not going to be able to tell with so many other changes all at once.
Back to the topic the Ported intake....Did anyone do this mod as a Solo Mod or just with the TB? Did you notice it more on the top end or accross the board? I'm not going to be able to tell with so many other changes all at once.
I had my intake and TB ported at the same time last spring by Complete Street Performance on my 2006 GTO. I noticed an increase in power across the board. With my Kooks long tubes, the ported intake and TB, and the LS2 Stage 2 cam from CamMotion (very mild cam, some would say small), I am making 400 HP to the wheels (about 500 crank). The ported intake and TB is just a great mod to support your other mods.
There's no offense here! Keep the tech talk coming. As an Amazon Prime member, I signed up for their Chase card, and got $70 dollars that I applied to buying an intake off Amazon. It should be here tomorrow. I have to contact Rick to make arrangements. Once everything is installed, I'll sell my stock intake and throttle body unless anyone knows of a reason to keep them.
I did 1.85's and springs last spring. Makes the car really wake up and fun to drive. Pending if you have new or old stock, push rod length comes into play.
When installing the rocker, turn over the motor so you get each cylinder on the compression stroke and lifter are on the cam base circle. As you tighten the rocker bolt you will feel when the push rod get to zero lash. You then should have between a half and a full turn of the bolt to get to 22 ft/lbs. Less than half a turn and lifter pre-load in not enough and it tick . I used 7.40" CM pushrods and was just a bit over 1/2 to tighten the bolts. With my old original lifters I only get a little tick on start up then quiet once oil pressure is up. If you are not sure if you need push rods , do a test and install one pair before you do any other work and see if you get at least a half turn of pre-load. If not put the stock ones back on and order new rods. This way you don't have any extra down time.
Also a cheap upgrade to make the engine breathe is a low restriction MAF screen. as a stand alone mod you can feel the difference the screen makes for about $20. Everything that lets the engine breathe better you feel at the rear wheels. google Saxon PC. I went with the 5:1 screen. throttle response and top end pull is where you feel it.
Captain Slow here. I'm trying to take advantage of the warm weather here in Ohio this weekend. It took me roughly two and a half hours just to figure out how to get the injectors disconnected from the harness without breaking anything. I had a hard time getting the retainers off all the way and then ended up using a pick to get the connectors to disengage.
I have the fuel rail unbolted so tomorrow when things warm up, I should be able to flip the rail to the driver side with the fuel line still attached and the continue with the intake swap. Wish me luck and/or pray for me.
Just so you know, I said a prayer because it is so much more powerful that luck. I hung the fuel rails up on the hood that first time without unhooking them. But the little plastic tool that disengages the fuel line cost like $7 and is available at any auto parts store, so I just take it off now. Some of the connectors, fittings on things like trans cooler lines, vacuum hoses and things on this car can be a pain to figure out. Take your time ask questions and the people on this board will help you out.
Thanks for the prayers Ken. I seemed to be stymied by disconnecting electrical connectors and hoses at every turn. There should be a tutorial somewhere how to disconnect the various GM connectors out there. I'm stuck on these two now and I seem to be breaking off pieces trying to get what I think are clips to disengage:
There's a white clip and yellow tabs that seem to need some kind of action but I can't figure out what. Squeezing doesn't work nor does prying. Any advice would be appreciated.
I don't recall taking apart the yellow tab thing but the white tabs do squeeze or slide to the side to release the vacuum lines. Try pushing down on the side with the indent.
Ok. I made it almost all the way through. The only thing I forgot to connect was the throttle position sensor. It took me a little while to figure out that I needed to clear the codes before it would come out of limp home mode. I haven't reinstalled the injector connector retainers yet. Is it ok to leave them off until I get home from work tomorrow?
I don't trust the Harbor Freight torque wrench (inch lbs)I bought for the job as I never heard it click so hopefully I didn't over tighten the bolts.
Injector connectors unlikey to come appart on short trip but you will know it if they do. LOL About every 3 months Sears will put there torque wrenches 50% off so for $35 each. I have the the 3/8 inch lb, and both the 3/8 and 1/2 ft lb wrenches.
P.S. So now that you have done it once you should be able to do it in one evening evening.
I might just be able to do it in one evening now if I had to. The funny thing is that the part that I most worried about was the easiest - disconnecting/reconnecting the fuel line without experiencing a flaming death on the way to work. I did drive to work today with my fire extinguisher in the car just in case.
I will be on the lookout for a Sears torque wrench on sale.
Thanks again for the help and encouragement. We'll see how long the rocker arm/pushrod/valve spring change goes this spring.
Thank you for the offer of help. It took two days but I got the job done. Next stop will be the 1.85 rockers. Hopefully there will be fewer connectors I have to figure out. LOL.
I'm trying to install my RCR ported intake manifold, but I can't figure out how to remove the connectors for the fuel injectors. Anyone have any tips for getting these (grey connectors in pic) off???
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