so, that explains it...

[Jabba's Barge]

took the intake manifold off for the reason circled in the third picture. discovered why my oil level keeps rising. good ol' manifold gasket.

also may have found the reason i was getting a P0440. took the intake off and found this:

 

[blueflamed03]

yep, amazing those clear to mid 96's had intake issues...hope it fixed all your problems!

 

[AtomicHoe094]

shes a dirty one

 

[boble94]

whats the 440 about?

 

[Jabba's Barge]

whats the 440 about?

the orange connector in the center of the pic is not inserted all the way. that's the purge solenoid, i think.

i got another manifold because i don't know anyone who can weld. i'm off today, but i am on my way to work to use the parts cleaner for the replacement manifold.

i got a fel-pro top end gasket kit, so everything's getting cleaned up and replaced. tomorrow, though, cuz i'm pooped.

 

[retorq]

I had that nipple thing break off my 95 going down the highway one morning. Ditched all the coolant.

 

[bsamoul]

Yours looks exactly as mine did

 

[Jabba's Barge]

i hope there's a reassuring lining to that statement! it was running when i started, but the cleaning of the heads and block should make for an interesting re-start. not to mention this is only the third time i have had an engine apart to this degree. the other two were good to go. it's still early to call this one.

 

[kickitandholdit]

go ahead and port and polish

 

[Jabba's Barge]

everything's back together except the distributor. cap and rotor were a little toasty and the wires have seen better days. just gonna do delco parts.

have a slight issue though. the upper section of the injectors didn't pop all the way through the opening in the top of the upper manifold. the large connector can't click down on the tabs. almost but it's about 1/8" short. i'm thinking it might be because of the new gasket i put on it keeping it from seating correctly. thoughts?

 

[malones99]

Jabba, I was doing this Tuesday and Wed! I figured it was time. Anyways I put a small amount of vasaline (sp) on the new gasket on the big connector, as I was having the same problem "seating" it as you are. Finally it seated after pushing down. Hope this helps!

 

[Jabba's Barge]

are you talking about the gasket on the connector itself? i am talking about the gasket on the spider that goes up into the upper manifold.

slowly getting things back on track. sucks i can't drive my hoe... i replaced the plugs last night. i was right- the old plugs are Autolite coppers. i put the acdelco platinums in and hope they are worth it. i was getting super crappy gas mileage before. now, playing with the distributor to get it in the way it came out. I took some good "before" pics, so i should be ok.

 

[malones99]

Yep, The big "spider" connector, that comes out of the upper manifold, put vasaline on the gasket.

 

[Jabba's Barge]

i will see if i can get the upper manifold off without issue. if it's a PITA, i may just leave it.
i've been reading on the net that people actually prefer copper plugs to platinums for various reasons including lower voltage required for spark, cost, and the possibility that they may not noticeably affect the performance of the engine. i did not have any trouble replacing them, so that's not an issue for me. i already have the platinums in, so i don't know why i am asking this, but is there anyone here running copper plugs?