AGH! Intake Manifold!

[Bonnefied_GM]

I think he was suggesting not using them if the LIM was pitted or something to that effect (I don't keep track of details very well). He said something about a steel gasket with a rubber coating I think, but that might not be right. He was giving me one of those "typically what I've seen" about the intake manifold work on previous 3800 cars.

[harofreak00]

Nothing about the sealing surface is different between the aluminum and plastic gaskets. The aluminum is only there as a frame. Felpro uses a steel frame on their 2nd design.

[Bonnefied_GM]

Well, the results are in. The car is finished and it only ran me 240 bucks in labor. As promised, here are the pics of the old crap that was, well, crap. The UIM didn't look too bad, but the LIM gaskets were *fook*.
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The car seems to drive just fine and temps stayed at comfortable levels (below 200). The coolant level after some hard driving was still above the line and holding and I'm not seeing any leaks so far. I also had the guy clean my throttle body since he was going to take it off (doesn't seem to have made any difference in anything though but it's just sensible to do). He DID use the aluminum gaskets that I supplied him so that's not a worry and he used the Prestone "mixes with any" coolant that I supplied and I have 2 gallons left over if I should need it. Either way, it's a HUGE relief to have this done and out of the way, which, now completes service of all 3 major fluids (tranny, oil, coolant) I'll keep touching up on the car and have more things to mess with but it's doing pretty good.

[myfirstbonnie]

I'll bet if you poke around inside the EGR hole in the UIM you will see it is weak and thin. Mine could not be seen, but Bill just poked it and it broke open.

Glad to hear it is fixed and running good.