Plenum gasket repair procedure

Originally Posted by chainz

When i did mine i got my wrench from harbor freight for 29 dollars i think.

Harbor Freight is cheap for sure, but i'd be afraid a wrench bought there might be torquing to zhàng/jīn instead of inch/lbs.

Thats funny ! And I'm Chinese ! Just joking. Seriously though, the wrench worked fine. I did mine in July I think and it's held so far, of course that's not too much of a tell, but the 20,000 miles I've put on since then are good enough for me.

Originally Posted by truckin289

Where are you guys finding in/lb torque wrenches... I have gone all over town no one has one.

you can use a ft lb wrench as well, it's 6 & 12 lbs that you need to torque the plenum bolts to.

I wouldn't recommend it though. Most torque wrenches (especially the harbor freight variety) have a poor degree of accuracy to begin with for the measurement they are designed for (ft/lbs or in/lbs). A good wrench will publish what their accuracy is within +/- some number (the lower the better), but most cheap wrenches won't even supply that info because it is so poor. It skews even more when you try to take a ft/lb wrench and use it for inch/lb work. I'd rather be off by 1 in/lb with a cheap in/lb torque wrench then to be off by 1/2 ft/lb (6 in/lbs) with a cheap ft/lb wrench. You could be off by a lot more then you think. Maybe for our application, it might be close enough I guess. I deal with very precise and calibrated torque wrenches at work, and I can tell you that I wouldn't do it that way is all.

The smallest increment my torque wrench goes to is 10 ft/lbs and that is equivalent to 120 in/lbs. I tightened them by hand with a 1/4 socket wrench. I think it will be just right.

It says to do:
24 in/lbs= 2 ft/lbs
48/in/lbs= 4 ft/lbs
84 in/lbs= 7 ft lbs

7 ft lbs is hardly anything.

Anyway job is done and truck runs a hell of a lot better.
Only problems I had were my vacuum lines kept breaking. The plastic tubing was so hard and brittle.

You can get new vacuum tube at post parts store. Can buy it by the foot.

Did that along with some of the vacuum hose connectors lol.

this plenum gasket thing could get nasty
on my dad´s ram van -99 oi lcomsumpsion got realy bad ,cyl 8 suckning oil past the gasket and made that cylinder a oilburner ,
shoot an ex-valve
had to rebuild heads after only 100000km

got the intake off my ram truck today ..just to repair it before it get to bad
anyone have any real dyno numbers on the "kegger mod"
have my truck most for towing ...need all low end tq from my little 5.2

No dyno numbers, sorry. I didn't notice any low end loss though.

Originally Posted by Silver_DodgeRam

No dyno numbers, sorry. I didn't notice any low end loss though.

your truck have a lot of mod´s
for realy low end tq the stock "kegger" have a few inch to short runners any way i think around 20" total
have put simular data in the pipmax program and 24"+ runner for tq up to 4000rpm

cleaning upp /deburring/ small porting would not do anything bad anyway
thank for allt the info here on Dodge Talk
i whill chime in when i get my truck together again

I have a pretty detailed write-up on modding a kegger on another forum. I can send you the link, but it is a competing forum to this one, so they usually sensor links like that. I can e-mail it to you though if you want. PM me if interested.

Originally Posted by truckin289

The smallest increment my torque wrench goes to is 10 ft/lbs and that is equivalent to 120 in/lbs. I tightened them by hand with a 1/4 socket wrench. I think it will be just right.

It says to do:
24 in/lbs= 2 ft/lbs
48/in/lbs= 4 ft/lbs
84 in/lbs= 7 ft lbs

7 ft lbs is hardly anything.

Anyway job is done and truck runs a hell of a lot better.
Only problems I had were my vacuum lines kept breaking. The plastic tubing was so hard and brittle.

My craftsman starts at 5 and goes up by .5 increments until it reaches 20, don't know the variance but they usually make quality tools.
I torqued to 6 & 12 as per the maint write up.

Originally Posted by Tfish

anyone have any real dyno numbers on the "kegger mod"
have my truck most for towing ...need all low end tq from my little 5.2

If all goes well I'll have some before & after dyno numbers for you in about 2 weeks. The intake is finished and sitting on my work bench, I am just finishing up some other projects before I get to the truck.
Your gains may be different than mine due to modifications, but it will show if there is a torque loss or gain at what RPM.

ok dyno numbers would be nice

needed to get my truck running so i put it back togheter
couln´t resist porting it a litttle
and when you have the "kegger" off change cap and rotor ...mine was junk so if the truck runs better ther the reson

damn your intake is clean.
Make sure you locate the dist cap in the same position, otherwise your fuel sync will be off.

how did u get that thing so clean??

Originally Posted by 95 ram 15004x4

how did u get that thing so clean??

have a engineparts cleaner at work .
70deg c /high pressure water inside



didn´t move the distributor just change the cap /rotor

I'll add my images from doing the intake in my 2000 Ram 5.9L last year. Not so much to help, just that Im a pic whore is all LOL.

Here's my approach....

I started by ordering the complete kit from APS Precision. To that I added a new bypass hose, thermostat gasket, fuel injector O-Rings, and intake gasket. The APS kit has all the new bolts for the intake, new longer bolts for the belly pan, Fel-Pro gaskets, thread locker, and instruction manual. I only needed the torque specs myself but it does have good explainations for the noobs.



I started by pulling the battery Neg lead, air filter, fan and shroud, serpentine belt.



I then pulled the alternator, the AC compressor (which you put a towel on the passenger side fenderwell and lay it over there), upper hose, throttle body, accessory bracket, and engine harness. I taped over the intake hole (dont really know why, I was in disassembly so it doesnt matter, the intake's going to be opened up and cleaned anyway, just that damn details thing I have lol) At that point I soaked everything down with Simple Green, and pressure washed the engine bay, making sure to get all the dirt from between the heads and intake. You dont want dirt and other abrasives stuck around that area because when you pull the intake up, that crap will fall down into the lifter valley and intake/exhaust ports of the heads. Tiny gasket bits that might get down there arent abrasive enought to hurt anything, but do take extreme care to keep EVERYTHING clean and FOD free (look up FOD in wiki....)

Poor truck puked up its intake lol.


No photo unfortunately of this, but I used aluminum foil immediately to form a protective pan from head to head, and to both ends of the lifter valley, where the bits of intake gasket could land, and nothing could fall into the engine. Works great, and when you're ready to go back together, you carefully fold the foil from the sides to contain the FOD, lift it out and can it, leaving the lifter valley spotless.

I use Mobil-1 10W30 and Mobil-1 oil filters, changed every 3K. Sure shows with as clean as my engine was when I opened it. Underside of the intake had almost no buildup after 80K.


I took the pan off to find the gasket still in place, but it was only stuck to the steel pan, so it must have been leaking between the gasket and the aluminum intake. It wasnt coated in oil like I expected, but I was burning 4 quarts every 3K miles. It was getting rediculous. And the ping, it had to go.


This was inside the intake prior to any cleaning. If you run a good K&N filter, that's well taken care of, this is how clean your intake can look after 80K. Not hardly a spot in there.


Using a gasket scraper, I cleaned off as much as I could manually, being very careful not to gouge any sealing surfaces. I then used my right angle die grinder, with a 3-M Roloc backer, and a 3" 3-M Roloc Yellow Bristle Disc, to clean off any remaining bits of gasket, and then polish up all the sealing surfaces spotless. After that, I took about 4 cans of cheap O'Screwme's carb cleaner, and cleaned out the intake runners and the plenum chamber. It'll take at least 4 cans to get it spotless.


I used carb cleaner, and blasted out the plenum bolt holes and blew them dry with compressed air. I used a rag soaked with some carb cleaner, and did a final wipe down of the gasket surface, and blew it off with compressed air. I also wiped down the sealing surface of the new plenum pan. I blasted off all the new plenum bolts with carb spray to make sure they were free of any oils. This is a very important step! If you want threadlocker to work, the fastener and it's corresponding threaded hole, have to be oil free!! Same for RTV!!! Using a small bit of Permatex Ultra-Black on the end of my finger, you smear on a thin layer of sealant, covering as evenly as possible. You dont need it to be thick or it will goosh out and make a mess. You want it to be about half as thick as the gasket itself, just for a visual guide. When you've done this as long as I have you just kinda know how much lol. Once you've gotten the thin layer spread around the intake sealing surface, lay down the gasket and lightly press it down all the way around so it's stuck in place. Then smear on another thin layer on the other side of the gasket. The gasket may slide around a bit just push the bolt holes back in line and she'll be fine. Once the second layer is nice and smooth all the way around, drop the pan on carefully, making sure the bolt holes are lined up. Put one drop of red loctite on the threads of the new bolts a few threads from the tip of the bolt, and finger tighten it. Do this for all the bolts. Now, here's the trick to getting a good seal on RTV. Just SNUG the bolts up juuuuust until you start to see a bit of RTV squeeze out all around, then STOP. Bolts will barely be snugged down but not tight. This is also very important!! Now, walk away and have a few beers. Wait an hour or so. This lets the sealant stick to both surfaces, and partly set up to a rubbery state. NOW you can step-torque the bolts per the instruction's pattern and torque steps. This compresses the partly set-up RTV instead of just squeezing it out, and makes a perfect seal.


When you put the intake gaskets on the block and heads, make sure it's cleaned the same way. Clean the holes out on the sealing surface of the front and back walls of the lifter valley, this is where two aligning tabs will have to fit on the new neoprene gaskets so these have to be open. In the corners of the lifter valley wall and the cylinder head, put a glob of Ultra-black in there, and across the block's lifter valley walls. Set in the intake to head gaskets, and the valley end neoprene gaskets, then put down another small glob of Ultra-Black in the four corners and across the tops of the valley end neoprene gaskets. Using a couple bolts with the heads hack-sawed off as aligning pins, put these two somewhere near the center of the heads, one on each side, just to help line it up as you set it in. Carefully and as level as possible, set the intake down making sure it does not come down on one end or the other first, it has to go down flat or it might push one of the end gaskets out! Once it's set in place, you should start to seem some good sealant squeezeout in the four corners meaning those corners are well sealed. Now, do the same thing with the intake bolts as with the plenum pan bolts. Barely snug them up according to the instruction manual's pattern, then go have a few more beers lol. Come back in about an hour, and step-torque the intake bolts in about 4 steps, starting at 25 percent torque, 50 percent, 75, and final torque. In inch/pounds, not ft/pounds.





For the injector O-Rings, just pull them out of the intake attached to the rail, pull the retainer clips that hold them in the rail and remove them from the rail, remove the o-rings, put the new ones on, using the tip of your finger put a small film of engine oil on the top o-rings and push them back into the fuel rail. Pop the clips on. Once they are all back in the rail, put a film of engine oil on the bottom o-rings, set the rail and injectors back down on the intake, and push them down into their bosses again and bolt the rail back down.

The rest is just normal re-assembly.

One last thing, DONT use tap-water in your coolant. Go to Wal-Mart (or if your rich go to Kroger lol) and get a few gallon jugs of Distilled Water. Use that to mix your 50/50. Tap Water will destroy the aluminum in your cooling system. (See: Electrolosys)

ok I know I'm going to get crap for this, but I'm cheap and the truck has over 300,000 miles. Has anyone tried just gluing the gasket in place with gorilla snot (3m weatherstrip adheasive) and using the tin pan over and if you did, did it last??

oh not my dakota a freinds ram

If you want to go through the labor and time, only to skimp on the parts to save a few bucks, by all means go for it. Just seems like a total waste of time to pull it all apart just for a fix that will last all of a few weeks or a few months maybe. If the engine has 300K its probably about shot anyway and needs a rebuild. 135 bucks or however much the APS kit or the Hughes kit runs, is small change in the overall price of the most likely needed rebuild. It's also pretty cheap when you factor in the labor it takes to do it.