HELP!!!! INTAKE MANIFOLD BOLTS!!!

[jeepinchiro]

I am installing headers along with the newer "horseshoe" design intake manifold on my TJ's 4.0. Everything was going smooth until I tried bolting up the intake manifold. I got all the bolts except the middle two under the manifold..........they are damn near impossible and I was wondering how the guys that have done this, did it. Please help, I was ready to kill someone!!!

[AprilzWarrior]

I am installing headers along with the newer "horseshoe" design intake manifold on my TJ's 4.0. Everything was going smooth until I tried bolting up the intake manifold. I got all the bolts except the middle two under the manifold..........they are damn near impossible and I was wondering how the guys that have done this, did it. Please help, I was ready to kill someone!!!

Find someone with small hands... I cannot get my hands up there either...



AW

[TrojanMan]

Sometimes i'll have someone guide my wrench from above. You just have to snake your arm up in there and like AW said someone with small hands has the advantage.

[jeepinchiro]

You guys are letting me down, I was hoping for more help. I am a skinny dude and have small hands. I am trying to get the bolt in with a 3/8 extension, but it is hard to manuever it because it hits the bottom of the new intake manifold........you guys have to know how to do this....or I will have to call a tow truck to tow it to the local muffler shop.......No Jeeper Calls A Tow Truck!!!!!!!

[AprilzWarrior]

You guys are letting me down, I was hoping for more help. I am a skinny dude and have small hands. I am trying to get the bolt in with a 3/8 extension, but it is hard to manuever it because it hits the bottom of the new intake manifold........you guys have to know how to do this....or I will have to call a tow truck to tow it to the local muffler shop.......No Jeeper Calls A Tow Truck!!!!!!!


Ive used a 1/4" extension to fish the bolts in, but its still a PITA.

[Cue-Ball]

Yea me and AW tried on my stroker for quite a while and then Garrett tried and it still took him a few minutes but he finally got it in.

It truly is a PITA.

Mine was with the stock 96 intake manifold and an Edlebrock header.

Dirk

[jeepinchiro]

Seriously, who designs this shit!!!! I say we all band together, find the motherfu$@er and chop his balls off...............or at least take little chunks out of his hands so he knows how it feels!!! This is absolutely ridiculus!!! I have to get the fucker towed to a muffler shop!!:tease:

[jfowlzj95]

What about lifting the motor up some? Or would that just make it worse... probably wont go far cause of the motor mounts, but it could be tried.

[nate]

What's a horseshoe intake??

I didn't have any problems when I put a header on my Jeep.

[TrojanMan]

I quit trying to go in from above. I lay on the ground and reach up. I've had a lot more success.

[jeepinchiro]

Nate, the "horseshoe" intake manifold is a manifold that DC started putting on the 4.0's in 99 due to tighter emission regulations. In order to compensate for the loss of power due to said emission regulations, they employed a hell of alot bigger intake manifold. Now if you were to take this intake manifold and put it on a 4.0 that was made before 99, then you got yourself a pretty nice upgrade. It is said to be worth anywhere from 10, 15 even 25 more horses.

As far as the installation of the headers goes, the horseshoe manifold is a lot bigger and the space under the manifold is greatly decreased, making it hard to get a hand, wrench or anything else in there. I believe this is where my problem lies when trying to get the middle 2 exhaust/intake manifold bolts in.

I had to unfortunately tow my TJ to a local mechanic who has lots of experience dealing with these intake and exhaust manifolds. I will let you know how the new intake manifold performs when I get her back. In the meantime, check out the write up that member DJJORDACHE did on the manifold swap. It is pretty good.:supz:

[TrojanMan]

It is said to be worth anywhere from 10, 15 even 25 more horses.
I had to unfortunately tow my TJ to a local mechanic who has lots of experience dealing with these intake and exhaust manifolds. I will let you know how the new intake manifold performs when I get her back. In the meantime, check out the write up that member DJJORDACHE did on the manifold swap. It is pretty good.:supz:

Don't get your hopes up too high.

[DJJordache]

Don't get your hopes up too high.aww don't hate:D I said in my writeup why I got such a boost vs what other people have seen/felt doing this mod and my 4.GO is far more modified than most. All the mods working together allows for peak gain:driving:
The head shop that did my work has kept tweaking the 4.0L head and has almost gotten the same flow numbers as my head with stock valves! they are going slowly in phases to see what works best and when they are finished they will give me the flow charts which should be sweet!

[TrojanMan]

aww don't hate:D I said in my writeup why I got such a boost vs what other people have seen/felt doing this mod and my 4.GO is far more modified than most. All the mods working together allows for peak gain:driving:
The head shop that did my work has kept tweaking the 4.0L head and has almost gotten the same flow numbers as my head with stock valves! they are going slowly in phases to see what works best and when they are finished they will give me the flow charts which should be sweet!

Haha I'm not saying you didn't get a lot, i'm just saying people don't need to be under the impression that swapping that intake manifold is going to be balls to the wall by its self, my friend did a dyno before/after the intake manifold swap and barely got anything out of it. Your butt can only feel something like a 10% or more change in power so I want jeepinchiro or whoever does the swap to know that if you -only- do the intake manifold swap you might not feel it. I do agree that it is a great support mod in that it will support more air going in.. but it alone isn't going to be responsible for like 20 hp.

[Skyline]

I had to unfortunately tow my TJ to a local mechanic who has lots of experience dealing with these intake and exhaust manifolds.

There are some jobs where it's just worth paying a mechanic to do because they suck so much. This is not a job requiring a lot of skill, but certainly a PITA. As for me, I've never, ever started a job I couldn't finish, but there have been plenty that I've regretted starting!

BTW, did you try crow's feet sockets? I've found them quite usefull on header/exhaust manifolds in the past (never did a 4.0 though). If I have problems with a job, I will use that as an excuse to buy more tools....there's often something that can make a job easier.

When I decided to put headers on my DD, (a G35) I didn't even bother to try do it myself. You can't even imagine how tight on space the exhaust manifolds are in on that car, and there is no way to reach much of anything from above. As expensive as it was, the shop charged me "book rate" and it took them almost twice the time the book called for....a full 9 hours. It pains me to even think about how bad a job that would have been at home without a lift.

[jeepinchiro]

Actually Skyline, the whole job was super easy. I had the whole unassembled in under an hour. It didn't get tough until trying to put it those last two bolts. I took it to a local mechanic who has alot of experience with jeeps and he said the inline 6 is definitely a pain in the ass and there was a little trick he had learned to get them in. It took him about 2 hours to get them. As far as your car, I wouldn't even consider working on it. My girlfriend drives a civic and just changing the oil on that thing sucks!

[Cue-Ball]

My girlfriend drives a civic and just changing the oil on that thing sucks!

[shameless plug]
You should try running Amsoil it makes changing the oil so much easier :D
[/shameless plug]

[TrojanMan]

[shameless plug]
You should try running Amsoil it makes changing the oil so much easier :D
[/shameless plug]

:poke: :smt041


But I agree.

[jeepinchiro]

Well, the jeep is back and runs and sounds great!! The headers and new intake manifold definitely give it more "seat of the pants" power. I don't have access to fancy Dyno's like some of you, but I am happy with it. Going back to the benifits of the new horseshoe design manifold, I just wanted to say that another I did the swap was because I read that it increases fuel flow to the #1 and #6 cylinders which could be damaged from lack of fuel fflow from the old manifold. Just another ting to think about:smt017. All in all, I would reccommend the newer manifold to anyone and also a pair of headers if they had not already done that upgrade. Thanks to everyone for trying to help me with my "bolts crisis", it is greatly appreciated. Time to move on to the next project........anyone done onboard air?

[Cue-Ball]

What header did you end up with? If timing would have worked out I would have done the newer intake on my stroker, but like most things in my life timing sucked.

On my next stroker I will go ape shit and do all the trick shit.

As for OBA, AW did a sweet set up on NorcalJr's rig. he too has a 4.0 and they moved the battery around so they could do a Kilby on board air set up, came out sweet.

Dirk

[TrojanMan]

What header did you end up with?

I'm curious what you got too.

If you didn't get a borla long tube... you should have:best:

[jeepinchiro]

Well guys first of all you should know that my jeep should be sponsored by Ebay. I would have to say about all the major parts and upgrades I have added to my jeep have come from Ebay. Second of all, I am a Chiropractic College student, so I am on a pretty strict budget. That being said, check this out.....I am surfing ebay one day and see these headers at a dirt cheap price. The guy says he has no clue what brand they are but that they fit a 4.0. I paid peanuts for them and they were like brand new. They are nothing special, they are just regular 16 guage steel, not stainless or anything so I they can't be borla or gibson or anything like that. I also got my intake manifold off ebay. I know my headers are nothing special but my stock exhaust manifold was ROUGH, so I am really happy with the way my jeep sounds and feels.

On another note, does anyone out there have recommendations for bumpers? I need a rear bumper perferably with a tire carrier. Thanks!!

[violatedppl]

yeah that was fun trying to get that last bolt on your stroker their dirk. Weird I did mine in my drive way from the top. mybe a little contortion but it wasnt to bad. But I forget what I did that caused me the throw a wrench through the fence. that was hard to explain when my dad got home. It helped having the air box out of the way for a little better angle.