This weekend I replaced my cracked lower intake with an aftermarket OEM quality one (the the aluminum reinforced crossover). I was in a bind and needed one pretty quick so I bought one of ebay. If arrived in the mail a couple days later and the intake looked really good! I was happy with it, untill I tried to install it. It comes with a couple different alt. brackets so you can chose the right one for you application, wich is nice - but the one that fits the 99-01 is hideous and twice as large as it needs to be. The bracket interferes with the PCV line where it attatches to the plenum and the front of the bracket interferes with the upper radiator house where it attatches to the t-stat housing. And if thats not enough to piss you off, once the intake is on, right before you put on the fuel rails and injectos, I decided to re-torque my plugs.... the intake NOW interferes with the spark plug wells! I cant get a spark plug socket in all the wells! I can get them in 3/8 of them, which sucks!
PLEASE be aware when you order a lower intake that the aftermarket OEM quality ones are NOT GOOD.
on a side note, when I pulled off my cracked intake I realized that the coolant leak actually wrecked part of my head. It eroded away a little bit around the coolant passage at the front port on the drivers side head (behind the t-stat). I called the dealership to see what they said and after I got the car all apart they told me to bring it in and they would take care of everything free - AFTER I was half way done and had the crappy intake already in my hands. They didnt think they could replace the head but they would have to look at it. SO for now I filled in the eroded area with JB weld, and it seemed to work pretty good. I know its sad its ghetto rigged but I was out of options and I hope to get some stage 2 heads this spring... My luck sucks
PLEASE be aware when you order a lower intake that the aftermarket OEM quality ones are NOT GOOD.
on a side note, when I pulled off my cracked intake I realized that the coolant leak actually wrecked part of my head. It eroded away a little bit around the coolant passage at the front port on the drivers side head (behind the t-stat). I called the dealership to see what they said and after I got the car all apart they told me to bring it in and they would take care of everything free - AFTER I was half way done and had the crappy intake already in my hands. They didnt think they could replace the head but they would have to look at it. SO for now I filled in the eroded area with JB weld, and it seemed to work pretty good. I know its sad its ghetto rigged but I was out of options and I hope to get some stage 2 heads this spring... My luck sucks
You would be surprised how long that JB weld will hold up, as long as you cleaned the area you applied to good first, I'd be willing to be you'll never have another issue with it. I've got JB weld holding part of my transfer case together on my 89 bronco. It was supposed to be a temporary fix too, but the damn thing has held together for the past four years.
