Turns out not only is my intake manifold gasket shot, but once we took it apart we discovered the intake manifold itself has a lot of corrosion in one corner (there's a small chunk out of it) and looks like it should be replaced. So what do I do?

Can they actually repair my old manifold by welding a piece onto it? Would that be smart?
If I replace it, what do i replace it with? A new GM one, an aftermarket one, or one from the junkyard?
Where do I get it from? I just did a quick search and couldn't find stock manifolds anywhere.
What's the cost difference between them?

Oh, and I don't want to do any big mods; I'm not going to spend $600 on some performance manifold. I'd just be happy if it ran like it used to.

Thanks.

 

let a good welder take a look at it first.

 

Does a gasket still seal to it?

If so dont worry about it, just run better coolant. Dexcool is rough on aluminum

 

Around the thermostat is where they usually corrode away first (aluminum intake). If that part is shot, forget trying to repair it.

Another stock intake or an Edelbrock Performer EGR- the only emissions-legal performance upgrade intake. And that's only if the part that chewed up even affects gasket sealing.

 

My intake manifold actually corroded in 2 places -- around the thermostat and on the back right corner.

FYI: If you want to replace your manifold with a stock GM unit, you won't find it in the regular GM parts catalog anymore. It's in the "Vintage" database. And the price is.....$900 dollars!

The good news: after calling 18 junkyards in the Los Angeles area and finding no intake manifolds, I checked out craigslist and picked one up for $25. It was the only one in all of Southern California and the guy just happened to live one mile away from my mechanic.

Sometimes you get lucky.