I believe the issue is resolved. Two things happened that made things difficult.
1: Tony Mamo gave instructions on tightening the intake. In hindsight, I had to tighten the bolts much more than I thought was necessary. As it stands now, the leak has gone away and the car feels great. Throttle response is very crisp. Needless to say, I am pleased.

2: I bought a cheap power adapter for my lighter to power up my SM-AFR. The unit shorted and took out fuses and I believe my SM-AFR. I replaced the WB02 today and ordered another SM-AFR. Hope to finish tune over the weekend.

 

Way off topic, NICE AVATAR!

 

Thank God....LOL

Now you know why I provide the additional instructions and tips for the install. Also, I had a hunch you never "bottomed" the intake on the cylinder head when I asked you about that a few times.

Anyway...glad to see you got things resolved. Im going to be out dyno testing the next few days so drop me a PM and let me know how things go with the tune.

Regards,
Tony

 

Tony:

Thanks for the help/advise. 88 in/lbs won't seat the FAST90.

 

Way to go Dave !! You got her fixed. I knew it would work out for ya. Let me know how the dyno run goes.

 

Dave probably didn't want to crack the intake I know I wouldn't.

What kind of power are you making now, combo looks stout.

 

John:

Tightening up the intake made me pucker for sure.


Honestly do not know. Hope to dyno this Fall. My guess is aound 440 HP maybe and 390-400 TQ.

 

So if 88 in/lbs isn't enough, what is? 100? Or is just a fact that you need to make 3-4 passes at 88 in/lbs since each time it compresses the intake gaskets more and more?

Thanks.

 

More like 6-8 passes from the center working outward.

The bolts will get progressively tighter till you finally feel it get very hard to turn (the intake just bottomed against the cylinder head manifold interface at that point)....then go around the rest of the bolts until they bottom as well. If you have been going about the same amount for each, once the first bottoms the others arent very far behind. And forget about inch lbs....I bet its more like 12 ft/lbs.

The bottom line is the method I describe above doesnt require a torque wrench and has been working for me for close to four years now.

Tony

 

Thanks for the insight Tony. That's pretty much how I was installing my ls6 intake in the past. Screw the torque wrench, tighten it till it feels right, then another 1/8 of a turn for good measure. I'll be installing mine tonight and will keep this in mind. I got new intake gaskets as well, so I'm guessing it's the compression of them that is responsible for the multiple passes that is required to fully seat the intake.

Thanks again.

 

Yep....Exactly right

And the multiple passes allow you to slowly crush all the gaskets evenly on the way down. The first two or three times when you go back to cinch down the center bolts they will actually be loose. You want to go a little bit at a time here....its better to pull the manifold down evenly and slowly as some of this procedure is actually removing the warp common in these manifolds.

Cheers,
Tony

 

Thanks for putting that out there TONY. Good to see quality info posted and shared.

 

Just a little update. I was installing my intake last night and using a 3/8" ratchet that was 8" long. I tightened all of the bolts using just the socket (hand tight), then started to use the ratchet and would put a quarter turn on the center bolts and then tighten up the rest of the bolts.

I made about 5-6 passes and I guess I wasn't paying attention to how much pressure I was applying till I started to turn the center bolt on the drivers side and heard a loud pop. Scared the crap out of me, started cursing because I thought I cracked the intake.

So I checked the bolt and it snapped. Now I was pissed. Backed out all of the intake bolts, off comes the intake, and I see like one thread sticking out of the head. So luckily it was loose and I was able to remove it. Just for curiousity, I put in a bolt to see if maybe I bottomed it out, NOPE. Still had around 4 more full turns.

So now I replaced the bolt with another one, and start this again. I'm thinking it was just a weak bolt. Same procedure. Tighten them all by hand, give a quarter turn to the two center bolts, and re hand tighten all of the remainder of the bolts working outwards, giving a quarter turn each time. Did this 4-5 times and again, SNAP goes the center bolt on the driver's side.

So I remove the intake, AGAIN. I'm able to remove the broken part of the bolt, again (two times, lucky me). And re-install the intake.

This time I switch over to a 1/4" drive with only a 4" long handle and follow the same technique. The intake seems to be seated properly and all of the bolts are tight. I didn't get a chance to fire up the car because it was 9:30 and my 8-month old was already asleep.

Just be careful when torqueing down the bolts.

 

Ouch: Makes me want to go out and buy an in/lbs torque wrench.

I use a 3/8" drive when I do my installs and no issues so far.