Whats the best way to get at it on a 97? Is it just kind of a blindly tooling thing or is there a way to see what your doing? I know its tucked back in there and all. Also kind of concerned about getting RTV all over the place if i'm blindly trying to get the block off plate on the hole and possibly messing up the seal at the same time...

 

an gear wrench is your friend, and can make this job take 5mins. you can get a little mirror and a light to put in the back if you'd like to see what you're doing, but if you've got a gear wrench all you gotta do is put it on the nut and loosen it just by feeling it. and as far as getting the plate on there, i'd just use an egr gasket like whats on the valve, not any sealant or silicone. that's what i did.

 

What size were the bolts if you can remember

 

The nuts for the EGR valve and pipe are 1/2" head. Once you break them loose, they should easily spin off.

 

the block-off plate will get aligned by the studs, so as long as you put RTV around both sides of the holes on the plate and put it on carefully you should be fine. I knelt down around the front of the engine bay and worked blind. If you just feel around carefully you shouldn't scrape up the RTV bad enough to screw up your seal. if you can get a little mirror back in there though I'm sure it wouldn't hurt.

 

I actually ended up reusing the stock gasket. It was still in one piece - you might not be so lucky though.