Anyone have any tips or advise for removing the intake manifold?

I am planning to remove mine to replace the o-rings and gasket to address a coolant leak. As far as I know the intake manifold has never been off the engine.

 

you don't have to disconnect the carb from it's linkages, fuel lines, etc. But it makes life very easy if you do. You have to disconnect the OMP linkage though, and don't forget to reinstall it. You might have to remove the Air pump, but I can't remember if you do or not, because that was the first thing I removed from my car, along with the rat's nest, and ACV valve. I later had to replace o-rings and gaskets when they started leaking.

 

your probably already aware but drain the coolant to save a huge clean up, it holds a lot of coolant above the manifold, and will make one hellova mess!
clean the mating surfaces well so that new gasket will adheare properly, i checked the torque on the bolts after a few days to make sure no leaks reapeared, it required slight tightening but not much to get to the required torque(14/19ft-lb)

 

There are 6 nuts, not 4. You may have already knew this, but I didn't, and I was trying to pull it off for a minute with no results, so I felt underneath and found the other two. Get 2 20MM frost plugs and put them in the holes for the coolant. It will save you having to drain the coolant every time you blow an O-ring, or want to take the intake off. Use JB Weld on the mating surface and the outside edge to hold them in place.

 

I just took mine off.Bolts came out no prob.I am taking the emissions control off while i am there.

 

Not a good idea, freeze plugs should be pressed in only. There function is to blow out if the coolant/water mixture was to freeze in the engine. They blow out to prevent parts in the engine from cracking under the pressure of expanding frozen liquid.

In other words, dont use the jb weld in conjunction with the freeze plugs.

They will take a little skill and a little cussing to get them in, but it is worth it in the long run.

 

If we wanna get technical, there's 4 bolts and 2 nuts ( two studs )

The coolant drain plug is located bellow the oil fill neck on the center iron, use it!

 

I took mine off recently as well. Go to a parts store and pick up a cheapo set of metric wrenches. Then take the 12 mm and get a torch on it. Bend it fairly well, and you should be able to take off the lower left bolt and the upper right bolt really easily with that. The rest can be removed via ratchet. I highly recommend the freeze plugs. Just take a larger socket and tap tap tap the plugs in evenly, don't forget the silicon lube, giggity giggity, alright.

 

Why not use freeze plugs to block your coolant passage into your intake, if that is where your leak is coming from? I believe they are 20mm.

 

Hi Guys, first post on this website. Got a UK car with 12A engine. As you know, we had no options in UK. The RX7 was the Rx7, was the RX7.
Just a little observation here - when checking over the engine every week or so, I always look across from the left(your driver's side) of the car onto the back of the carb mounting/inlet manifold. Any coolant pooling up here is an early warning of O ring failure. Sorry if everyone knows that but I thought I'd say it.