Went to the shop today to replace my cracked oil pan and the mechanic said I also need a new intake manifold gasket and valve cover gaskets.I forgot to ask him how much it would cost.Anybody have any idea?

 

Approx $30?

 

labor also

 

Do it yourself!

 

nooo thanks.....

 

2 hours labor @ ~$60-70/hr + parts

 

most shops will be more like 3 or 4 hours labor to do an intake. depending on your mechanical skills, its not hard to do. good time to replace broken/rotted out/brittle vacuum lines too.

 

Hop to a "real" parts store first and buy FelPro's "intake gasket kit". $30, comes with every gasket you'll need to take the intake off. Throttle body, plenum, intake gaskets, valve cover, etc. I think it might even come with a thermostat gasket... not sure. It comes with a little tube of RTV (for the "china wall" area of the intake manifold) but if I were you, I'd just buy a separate tube of either blue RTV or Ultra Copper sealant. And you could use the Blue RTV for the valve covers instead of using valve cover gaskets... it'll work fine and probably better- just make you wipe all the oil off the surfaces first. Brake Cleaner is great for this!

"All" you gotta do is-

Pull distributor
pull upper plenum
pull fuel rail
pull lower plenum
pull distributor
remove upper radiator hose (could leave thermostat housing bolted onto intake)
pull intake manifold
reverse to install

Oh you'll also need the fuel injector o-rings, part #SK-9, made by Standard, contains enough o-rings (costs $10 or so from a "real" parts store). Might as well put a new o-ring on the distributor, too.

But you really shouldn't hit any rusted bolts; everything's threaded into aluminum. Oh yah torque for steel bolts into aluminum threads is only 12-16 ft/lbs, maybe a little more depending on the size of the bolt- so don't overtighten anything cuz you'll strip the threads; use a torque wrench!

If you have a Hayes manual, you could probably do this on the weekend.

But otherwise, my guess is along with the other guys; probably $300 to do. It's not "hard" work, it just takes a while.

 

It comes with the thermostat gasket, only way I've been able to buy one of those, and it comes with the tube ot rtv sealant.

 

i just did my intake mainfold and it wasnt bad taking off the intake mainfold, clean it was the thing that sucked...... I spent alot of money on my car that week and i did my self and spent about a $100 (gaskets, new distribitor cap, rotor,and plugs,and had to change the oil too, and antifreeze)

 

Nocturnall, thanks for the confirmation on that! Hey if I think of it when I get home; I'll get you the Felpro part # of the thermostat gasket. That way you don't have to keep buying $30 gasket sets