im asking because i had been an idiot before and painted them both without removing them, and ended up with a crappy result. im curious because i want to remove them both tomorrow and redo the job properly.

 

Front valve cover is easy. The Upper Intake Manifold is a little more time consuming. You just need to have patience.

 

get a haynes manual, it has easy to follow instructions on R&R

 

Easy to do so long as you can read a Hayne's manual.

~THT

 

Slimer, Dave, Xander and I removed Slimer's last week. It's a little time consuming. Not really difficult except for a couples of hoses...

 

Oigh those hoses were crazy yo!

 

That small little coolant hose on the back is a biatch. So is the EGR valve gasket. For a first timer I'd say about 3 hours.

 

on 3 hours. Thats how long it took me but I took off the rear valve cover and replaced the gasket too. I really hated the 2 supporting bolts on the back of the plenum and the dang coolant hose.

 

Will the tools from a standard tool box handle this job or are there special extentions, clamps, sockets and gaskets needed to complete this? My tool collection is somewhat limited, but this is something I've wanted to do for some time....well clean the gunk outta my EGR valve and manifold that is. It be great to have everything needed before I start.

Thanks in advance.

Capitone

 

To do the valve job you will need both valve gaskets, high temp RTV, and the plenum gasket. A standard set of metric sockets will work, but you may want some deep sockets handy as well. Also you will need plyers to remove hose clips, and a gasket scraper. You may also want one of those extendable magnets for any dropped bolts/nuts.

Warner

 

Sweet! Just the info I needed.

Thanks Dubbya!

Capitone Out....

 

A u joint will help alot too. Its almost all metric 12 and 10 mm bolts.

I know its very vauge but start off taking off the intake. Then take off the entire wiring harness on top of the intake manifold. Unplug all of the sensors in the throttle body area, theres somewhere around 5 or 6. The harness will completely come off after you take out plugs for the sensors. Then take off your rear coils... and you can take off the manifold. The front bolts are easy, dont forget the EGR bolts, the 2 support bolts and that stupid little coolant hose. When everything is unbolted, dont try to just pull it off, you may break the small coolant hose. From there you can take off the entire intake and go onto the valve cover. Just remember to torque the valve cover down in the correct sequence when you get it back in place.

 

Dont forget about the stupid vaccum hose on the bottom of the throttle body. Mine had a kung foo grip. I had to twist it around the throttle body nipple to break it loose before it would come off.

 

This thread seems informative enough to be a sticky, IMO..

 

alright, thanks for all the info. i only took the front valve cover off today. the rear looked to like a b!tch and from what it sounds like, it is. it was easy to get the front off, and it's in the process of drying now. looks better than the last job i did one hundred fold. thanks for all the help!

i used the aircraft stripper to remove the old paint, and sanded her down nice n smooth. started looking like the polished valve cover some orgers have, but i went with a gloss black. i like the stealth look. also wanted to go that route with the IM, have that VI look. hehe. looks like ill wait on that part til i take a trip to chicago again, maybe hector, dave, slimer, and xander will help me out with. good reason to gather again!

 

Does anybody know how to find Nissan part numbers for various bolts? I want to replace all 10 of the valve cover bolts because I'll be polishing my VC and the bolts are rusty as hell. I also have various other bolts I'd like to replace but I don't know how to find them on online Nissan parts stores.