Intake manifold gaskit leak 95 Camero?

Answer 1

Leak is generally in the back of the intake next to the firewall. This occurs due too the design of the LT1 (engine in the Z28 and SS) heads.

The parts-

Go to local part house and get a new intake gasket for the LT1. Make sure to purchase the Fel-Pro brand. Also get a tube of Permatex RTV, either the black or copper blend. And also a fuel line separator. I just ordered my gasket, ran $15. RTV should be another $5 or so, and the fuel line tool is another $5 or less. Any question, ask the staff, this is all common stuff.

The fix-

Remove the intake inlet, this is the long black plastic tube that runs to the front of the motor to the metal piece. Crack the fuel cap on the driver's fender. This will relieve fuel pressure. Go back to the motor and find the joint between the fuel ine and the fuel rail. Place a rag or two under the joint. Separate the fuel lines with your new handy dandy tool. Any fuel leaks will soak into the rags. Next come the removal of eight bolts, four on each side of the intake. Gently rock the intake off from between the heads. Remember the heads are aluminum, so don't be abusive on them.

Once off, clean off the mating surfaces of both the intake and heads. Make sure to remove the old gaskets and dead RTV from the motor. As a helpful hint, stuff rags down the holes in the heads, and something in the oil valley tray (the area underneath where the intake was. This will help ensure no foreign debris falls inside your works.

Once the mating surfaces are clean, remove rags and install the gaskets onto the head. Lay a thick bead of RTV on the front and rear of the block. THIS IS IMPORTANT!! This bead is the make or break part of this operation. The reason you're doing this is because the factory bead wasn't strong enough to withstand the heat of the motor and heads. YOU WANT TO LAY A THICK, UNIFORM BEAD HERE. Give it time to set, get tacky. At this point, here is another hint: use a set of studs, or, like me, a set of cheap chop sticks from a Asian restaurant. Break into pieces and run a couple into one head or the other, to be used as a guide as you set the intake back on. Here's the hard part, but if you've done the chopstick part, it's much easier. Set the intake back on, with as little wiggling as possible. The chop sticks hold the gasket in place, then line up the bolt holes. Toss in a couple of bolts (some say to coat the threads with RTV before inserting), and you're golden. Finish the bolts, torque down, and wait about 24 hours to finish curing the RTV. After the wait, re torque the intake, and re install the fuel lines and air intake. Check the torque on the intake after a couple weeks of driving, and you're set...