Long story short, I was removing the bolt that goes in the middle of the intake manifold and it ripped the thread out. So right now the manifold isn't held on by the middle bolt. Can I leave it as is for now? I'd like to be able to worry about it in a month when I've got more time.

The pic attached shows the bolt I'm talking about, although it's not that great... (used pic of someone elses car)

 

Looks like you are really choiceless in the matter. The thing does have 4 nuts holding it on. I guess you will soon find out

So how does it run?

James

 

If you're planning on fixing it in a month or two, I think you should be O.K. without it. Use some gasket sealer and don't over tighten the other bolts to compensate for the missing one, because you will just make it worst by pulling the bolted side down and lifting the unbolted side up.

 

It is preaty easy to re-thread the hole though.