A7 RXY Inlet Manifold

[A7RXY]

About 3 weeks ago I decided to do the O rings on the inlet manifold ready for RR. Little did I know what a job this has turned out to be, having removed the carb, this turned out to be the easy bit. As most of you will know my car is totally standard, so to get at the nuts and bolts that hold the manifold in place I've had to remove most of all this side of the engine ie the air pump, all ancillaries bolted to the manifold, trying to remove the heatshield above the exhaust ( as I still have the thermo reactor ) is impossible so I managed to loosen it so could move it from side to side to get to the lower nuts and bolts. All came out/off except this one.



Not only can you not see this nut, I had to take this photo to see where it was, you can only get one finger on it let alone get a socket on it, as you can see from the next photo I had to grind some of the exhaust manifold, bottom left in this photo, when this photo was taken the heatshield has been removed as the inlet is out of the way.



But this was sized solid because of the leak. Well 3 weeks later Today I got the bugger out .......I've had to buy a 1/4 drive socket set, wobble bars, and lots of grinding bits for the Dremel.



Now to put it all back .......

Any tips about fitting the new gasket and O rings ie do I use Vaseline to hold the ring in place, I would also like to replace the bolts for new, are these special bolts ? or just 12mm.

PS I will not be polishing any of the parts before they go back just cleaned.

Dibs

[DKWW2000]

Good work mate, I bet that's a relief.
You have plenty of time still to polish

[ian65]

This is how I do mine Dibs....

Clean the debris out of the inlet ports with a vac ( the last thing you want is any crap falling into the housings) then block up the ports with kitchen towel or rag to stop anything else dropping in there. Be careful not to push it too far in.

Clean up the mating face on the engine where the inlet manifold bolts on.... it needs to be perfectly flat and clean... a Stanley blade and some brake cleaner is what I use. Pay particular attention to the round holes where the O rings site, that recessed lip needs to be very clean.... clean out any gunk out of the water channels at the same time.

Do the same with the mating face of the inlet manifold, not forgetting to clean any gunk out of the water channels.

I always put my inlet gasket on dry with no sealant but I do use the slightest smear of RVT automotive silicone on the O rings to hold them in place while I bolt everything up and also to help them seal.

The bolts are nothing special, just 8mm diameter with 12mm heads, although the ones I normally use ( just because I've got them lying around have 13mm heads... makes no difference.

The main thing is to ensure that both mating surfaces are perfectly clean with no old gasket or other debris on them and that the O rings don't move as you bolt the inlet back on.... a touch of RTV and take it steady and you'll be fine.

I feel your pain though, stock 1st gens that are still running the reactor and air pump are a sod to work on..... thank your lucky stars that you weren't trying to get the reactor off!

[A7RXY]

Thanks Ian, the reactor was the next thing off if I could not get enough access to that last bolt, but heat shield around it looked impossible to get off, so I gave it one last try and it came out, it was the corrosion no the threads stopping it from moving.

Dibs

[KYPREO]

I fixed the o-rings once. Now the first thing I do whenever I have an engine with the intake manifold off is throw the o-rings in the bin and whack in some brass welsh plugs, then I never have to worry about them ever again. Can't say I've noticed any difference in performance either. Technically coolant circulation will aid warm up of the manifold and fuel atomisation, but in reality this hasn't been a problem, particularly if you have the stock air cleaner housing and bi-metal valve which redirects warm air from the thermal reactor to prevent the carb icing up.

[A7RXY]

Well I've spent all day putting it all back together, thanks to Ian for his tips, they all worked. The longest part getting the nuts back on to bolt the carb down. Started almost straight away but with a lot of popping and banging, but after a bit of fetterling with the carb now running ok......... Boy am I glad that job is out of the way ...... How for RR .....

Dibs

[DKWW2000]

Well done mate, have a few

[ian65]

Nice one Dibs... put a good few miles on it now before RetroRides to shake it down and make sure it's all sealed up ok and that you don't have any leaks anywhere.

[A7RXY]

Nice one Dibs... put a good few miles on it now before RetroRides to shake it down and make sure it's all sealed up ok and that you don't have any leaks anywhere.

Will do ..... I don't want the same to happen as last year ...