I ended up screwing up my intake manifold on my car, mechanic shops are telling me its going to be $140 plus just to fix so i figure i get a new one. Now i hate buying things of ebay or craigs list beacuse i cant see what im buying. so i was woundering if anone has bought car parts of ebay and how much i should be spending for a intake maifold. I have a 88 firebird gta 305 auto, also if anyone here has one that there welling to sell send me a msg. Thank You

 

you need to post in classifieds. wtb

 

Probably find one on craigslist for less than $50.

 

How exactly did you screw up the manifold?

 

ended up busting a bolt (to the thermostat housing) try to get it out, now there is the e-z out hardend steel bit stuck in the bolt. The bolt is no longer sticking out and i have no way to get it out, mechanic shops are trying to charge me about $140 bucks to fix

 

Why do people continue to buy those worthless things? I have NEVER in all my days come across even ONE person who successfully extracted a bolt with one. Next time you'll know better, and hopefully someone will see your pain and realize that the "ez" answer isn't always the best.

Take a small drill bit, like a 1/16"; drill a whole bunch of small holes all the way around it; remove it; drill the remaining mess out to whatever is required for a suitable pipe plug size, such as ¼" NPT; install a brass plug - solid, NOT hollow - with a square or hex drive, NOT an allen; file it flat; drill & tap it to 3/8"-16 (stock size). Put the whole thing back together with stainless hardware which is readily available at Lowe's, but NOT Home Depot.

 

I use them and I'm good at it. They work well IF you know how to properly use them.
Sometimes they do break but its mostly due to a side load or a hole drilled in both the bolt and surrounding material.
I was trying to find my last extraction so I could take a pic of the easyout with the threads still on it.

Dont forget to use anti-size on the threads if they are going in aluminum or thread paste.

 

I used an ez-out a couple weeks ago on an M6x1.0 bolt in an aluminum head on a 2-wheeler. Worked well; I was dreading it not going well.

 

I had broken bolt head on thermostat housing and tried to use 'broken bolt extractor tool' and didn't work. However; before I went too far with it I decided to stop using the 'extractor tool' and drill (started from thin to thick drill bit) the broken bolt out and did a new thread. I was very slow in the process and took me about 8 hours.

 

I have bought a couple manifolds from ebay, I would not spend more than 50-75 dollars for a sock manifold. Personally I would look for a used aftermarket manifold. I got my Big Mouth for about 250.

 

If you're going to install it yourself you're saving the cost of labor, but if the shop will do the install it will probably cost more than $150 for the labor. If I charge that much for just one broken bolt, surely you don't expect me to charge less to install the entire intake, if it's a TPI get ready to dig deep into your pockets.
So dam if you, dammed if you don't. If you're going to pay labor, doing it for a performance intake makes sense, just remember domestic shops won't make themselves response for how it runs, they'll add charges for every little thing done to it unless you negotiate the whole job for one price. You'll need to provide all the parts required such as gaskets. This isn't their first intake job, they should be able to give an itemized list of what you'll be paying for. if it is their first go somewhere else.
So if you spend $250 for the intake and max $200 for parts & labor. That's $450.
If it's not done right, it'll be your word against theirs, so think about how you're going to prove your engine was running right before they "repaired it."