Well I just installed the Edelbrock 3706 Performer Carb intake manifold and in retrospect it isn’t so difficult, but there are definitely some snags that you’ll run into along the way doing this swap, hopefully this little “article” can help your swap go a little more smoothly than mine did. If you’re going to use this as instructions to swap manifolds, read the whole thing first, it’s way easier to take the manifold to the store to buy the appropriate fittings and such than to have the manifold on the car and guess at sizes. Also keep in mind that this is not to be taken as gospel! I’m just a college student trying to help people who want to do this swap, even though I may say I’m smart, don’t believe me  take everything with a grain of salt.

To start off with, it’s probably useful to set the engine to 0* TDC firing, that way when you take the distributor out, you can drop it in and line up the cap fairly easily. Now take off all the crap on top of the engine. For the TBI, open the fuel cap first so the fuel pressure drains out of the fuel lines.
It helps to have your car sit around for a while so that the coolant drains out of the intake manifold and the heater hoses. When you take the manifold off, all of the fluid in the manifold will pour out into the lifter valley. Ideally, you want to drain the coolant out of the engine. When you’re taking the rear heater hose off, it doesn’t hurt to put some rags around the hose because there’ll always be some coolant left in the hose. Take that hose off and tie it aside with some zip ties. When taking the distributor off, note where the two plugs are pointing on the cap so you know where to line it up with when dropping it back in. Yank the cap off and note where the rotor is pointing so that it will drop in the engine in line with the oil pump drive. Gently lift the distributor and rotate the rotor to take it out, make note once again where the rotor is pointing when it’s all the way out. When taking the intake manifold bolts out, make sure to note which bolt goes where. If you put the wrong bolt in the wrong hole, the bolt might hit a pushrod and bend your pushrod and cause all sorts of fun problems. There’s no real other tricks in removing the manifold, just unscrew everything and yank it out.
Now put a plastic bag in the lifter valley and put paper towels in the ports and take a gasket scraper or a drill with a wire brush and clean off all of the old gasket material from the head and the china walls. Next, apply RTV to the China Walls and to wherever you deem necessary on the heads. RTV is really good for holding the gasket on the head, if your gasket is slipping off of the head; use some RTV to hold it on. Put your NEW intake gaskets on the heads and RTV the top if you want to. I’m not the guy to ask about RTV, I just RTV the crap out of everything, works fine. Now get a friend to hold the fuel lines and crap out of the way while you drop the intake manifold slowly into position. Put all the bolts back in the right places and torque according to the manifold’s instructions.
Cost: Manifold: $195.95, Gasket Set: $20

Now you’ll see where some of the problems come in:

Heater Hose: This is probably the easiest “problem” you’ll encounter. The stock heater hose goes to the rear passenger side of the intake manifold. There is a coolant port on the back passenger side of the 3706, but it’s not the same size threads as the stock manifold’s outlet is. The easiest thing to do is to take the stock threaded outlet and put it in the outlet on the front passenger side of the 3706. Now take the old heater hose, and cut a straight piece about 4” long from it. Take this piece and go from the new outlet on the front of the manifold using the old hose clamps.
Cost: Free

EGR Valve: This isn’t a huge problem either. You need to get a new EGR valve, the stock one doesn’t fit. Go to AutoZone and ask for an EGR Valve for an 87 Camaro with the LG4. I say that because 87 LG4 is a centerbolt car with a 305 which I’d assume is the closest that we can get to our application. If they give you a generic one with a bunch of washers, you have a few options discussed here: https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=211517 . I ran with no washer, works fine. One thing to note is whether the valve is a positive backpressure valve or a negative backpressure valve. Check this out in regards to that: https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=198133 . The valve I bought is a positive backpressure one, once again, works fine. You’re also going to need new EGR studs, unless you can take the stock ones out. Just take your intake manifold to the hardware store or a NAPA and buy either some bolts or studs for it. When the EGR’s installed, it will kind of interfere with the big wiring harness on that side of the engine, not a big deal, but something to note. The stock vacuum reference hose will fit to the valve just fine, it requires a little bending and twisting to get on, once again, not a big deal.
Cost: Valve: $60, Studs/Bolts: $1

Vacuum Lines: One of the “problems” with the manifold is that it only has one vacuum port, easily solved by putting a vacuum T-junction in the line. Go to the parts store and buy a universal T junction for a vacuum line with the stepped down cones so you can fit a variety of different sizes on it. Now put the stock 90* vacuum outlet in the manifold. Take the stock cruise control vacuum line, and cut an inch of tubing off of the end. Run this from the vacuum port to the bottom of the T. Put the remaining cruise control tubing on one side of the T. Now take the stock brake booster line and cut off the tube right before it bends around with a hacksaw or whatever, so it just drops from the black valve then goes horizontal. Run this tube by the throttle cables and use a 2” piece of vacuum hose/fuel line hose to connect it to the other side of the T junction. Make sure to trim the T junction to the appropriate size for the hoses. You can use hose clamps if you feel you need to
Cost: $2 T-junction, $3 Hose

Upper radiator hose: No secret here, it goes on like magic, no problems, just get a new gasket for it.
Cost: $4 Gasket

Plugs: There are some extra holes on the manifold that aren’t used. Take the manifold to the parts store and get some coolant plugs from the “Help!” section for the coolant outlet on the rear of the manifold. There’s also a bolt hole in the front of the manifold that might go into the coolant passages (I didn’t check). So get a bolt to plug this.
Cost: $3 plugs, $1 bolt

Adapter: I bought a squarebore adapter because they had it in stock and I needed it ASAP, I’d recommend getting a spreadbore one though. Because the squarebore one tapers the bores in (a lot) I decided to port the living crap out of it. To do this, just put the carb base gasket over the throttle body side and trim it accordingly, now put it on the carb side of the adapter and trace the pattern on with magic marker and port away. You can’t trim out all of the material; you have to leave a little bit towards the rear of the adapter because it’s a little too wide near the back. Anyhow, just bolt it on.
Cost: $45 (some say you can get it for $12 from PAW, well I guess they didn’t like me)
Optional Cost: $40 Tungsten Carbide Dremel Bits

One of the major problems you might run into is that the IAC valve might hit the EGR valve. If this is the case, you may have to run a small spacer. I never got to find this out because I have a ½” spacer known as a nitrous plate . In that case you MIGHT be able to get away with stacking gaskets, or running like a ¼” spacer or something, once again I’m not sure about this one. Plus, my stack is TOO TALL FOR THE STOCK HOOD , maybe with a drop base, 2" filter it could fit, but once again, I'm not sure,
Spacer/Extra Gaskets: $30

Put the fuel lines back in the throttle body, and then bolt the throttle body on the intake. This is also a good time to put a fuel pressure gauge in. The TBI cars aren’t equipped with a Schrader valve from the factory, so parts store carry a FP gauge with a little adapter for TBI’s that you put in between the fuel line and the fitting on the TBI, so toss this on, it’s quite useful. It's called the Actron III GM TBI Fuel Pressure tester kit, Part#: CP7817
http://www.actron.com/cgi-bin/web_st...17.htm&cart_id , $40 + tax at Autozone. My FP is 10 psi at idle and 16 psi at WOT (actually a little too rich).
Cost: $44 (optional FP gauge)

Throttle Cables: The last major problem (that I remember) is the throttle cables; they were way too short. Some people get away with modding the throttle bracket, slotting the holes and sliding it forward or putting the throttle cable on the cruise control knobbie. I just took pieces of sheet metal and drilled two holes in it the appropriate length apart and put one hole on the throttle knobbie and put the other end on the throttle cable using a small bolt. Same with the cruise control, works fine. Once again, do what you will to extend the throttle cable. Yours might not need extension depending on if you get a TBI spacer or not.

Bolt everything back up and plug all of the vacuum hoses back in! Now it’s time to drop the distributor back in. Drop it in where you remember it being and it should go all the way down, if it doesn’t, move it over a tooth and try again. Put the cap on and align it where you remember it being. Put all the wires back on (IN THE RIGHT ORDER!!!) and then you can set the timing one of two ways. Either fire the engine up, or do it with the starter. To do it with the starter, hook up your timing light, disconnect the fuel injectors and have someone crank the engine. It helps to have the lights off for this one because it’s extremely difficult to see the line at such a low RPM. For what each mark is, look here: https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...ght=set+timing

I set my timing at 10* base and I haven’t gotten it to knock yet, use discretion when doing this, don’t just go for the big numbers right away, work your way up and if it knocks, pull timing out.
Some other notes:
-Aluminum manifolds have a fair amount of casting flash on them; it doesn’t hurt to chase all of the threads for the vacuum ports and coolant ports on a brand new manifold
-It doesn’t hurt to RTV/use sealant on all of the coolant fittings, intake manifold bolts, vacuum fittings etc., it’s fun stuff, play with it.
-It’s a good idea to let RTV dry for a while, I’m a badass and I like to just drive so…
-If it runs like crap, check for vacuum leaks, the most likely culprit is somewhere in between the TBI and the manifold. Don’t just overtighten these bolts, take everything off and use some RTV. If you do overtighten them, you’ll find out quickly how easy it is to snap one of those stupid 3” bolts in half and cause yourself a headache getting threads out. If this doesn’t work, spray carb cleaner around all of the potential leaks and see if the engine craps itself. There’s also the method of spraying soapy water on it and seeing where bubbles come up. My Vacuum is at ~31 KPa idling on WinALDL.
-Double check the firing order, it doesn’t hurt
-New sensors are really cheap; just buy a new CTS, IAC, and IAT while you’re working on it.

I’m sure I forgot some stuff. Once again this isn’t a complete guide to swapping, just a little blurb about some of the problems you may incur. I wish someone would have told me this stuff, it would have made swapping a lot easier (sooo many runs to the parts store). Anyhoo, good luck swapping, and happy horsepower hunting.

Tony