2.0 V6 intake manifold

[Rsnail]

Hello guys, about 1 year ago I noticed that both my vis motors were dead, took them out, tested the brown arm that moves the power valves and it was sitting perfectly tight in place and could be moved only inside as outside as normal, so it neither broken nor out of it's little holes where the bushes are sitting. One week ago, ordered new vis motors, fitted the butterfly first, all good, then, when took out the power one, the arm was down on the lower side of the manifold, so it is clear that it came out of the holes where the bushes are sitting or something happened, so my questions are now:

1. Can I find a new arm somewhere on the web with the bushes intact so that I can fit it in the inlet manifold?

2. As far as I know, I only need one new manifold gasket seal when taking the manifold apart, right?

3. Is it a hard job getting the manifold out and (if available) replacing the arm that came out of it's place? Maybe a how to on this on the forum here with the steps?

Thank you.

[Lord of Hog]

If the two bolts at the rear of the intake chamber are still there then it can be a bit fiddly but they can be accessed by removing a panel in the bulkhead to give you a bit more room. If, as is often the case, they've dropped off then it's easy.

Remove your acoustic cover, air box, battery and battery box and disconnect the wiring loom from the rear of the manifold chamber. Then disconnect the electrical connectors to your VIS motors and throttle body. Disconnect the throttle cable from the throttle body. Remove the breather hoses (remembering where they all connect to). Then it's just four bolts along the front of the chamber and prise it gently up until the O-rings stop gripping it. You should then be able to manoeuvre the the throttle body under the fuel line and lift the whole thing off without separating throttle from manifold. Have a look at your seals and O rings, but if they're in reasonable condition they can all be re-used.

As far as the arm is concerned, since it's nigh on impossible to do anything inside the chamber without doing permanent damage I'd seriously consider just replacing it with a decent second hand one.

[Rsnail]

You mean replacing only the arm or the whole manifold? Because that would be quite expensive I think Thanks for the info, very useful.

I was also thinking, if the bushes are really in a bad condition and if the arm is not broken, to put a small thin hole with a drill through each bottom of the bushes and through the little ball joints that sit inside the bushes, and put a alluminium wire through them at each of the 6 places where they sit, tighten the wire at the ends just a little so that the arm's 6 joints don't come out of the bushes and pretty much that would be it, this way, the arm's joints can never come out again of the bushes and they can freely move inwards and outwards on their normal trajectory, what do you guys think?

[CivilSteve]

Decent second hand manifolds aren't too expensive, try Tim at just MGRs. New can still be had but... That's where it gets expensive

[Rsnail]

Ok so took the intake manifold down, would try opening it to see if I can fix the arm inside it and sealing it back afterwards. Any recomandations? Also, besides the O rings which were in perfect conditions, there is no seal to be seen elsewhere, as said, only the O rings. Shouldn't there have been one between the upper manifold that I've removed, and the lower metallic one?

[Lord of Hog]

No. It just sits there. The only seals are the circular ones on the underneath of the plastic chamber which seem to last a long long time.

The plastic manifold CAN be opened up if you have a heat gun, a suitable blade (a large putty knife for instance), a lot of patience and a bit of luck. Otherwise it just fragments. Once inside there is really very little that can be done with the mechanism by way of repair or replacement. Everyone I can think of who has got this far has done so simply to remove the internal workings and have a car without variable intake.

As already suggested above, second hand manifold chambers aren't that expensive. I recently picked one up for £150 including VIS motors and I know there are cheaper ones than that around.