I installed my new Evo3 intake manifold this weekend, and in the process figured out a couple of tricks for getting those pesky lower bolts out of my stock 2g intake manifold. In the Evo3 intake thread, folks speak of having to go at these bolts for hours, and from all sorts of crazy angles, and I was really dreading it. Not any more!
First, you need to remove the battery, and then almost everything else from the manifold (coilpack can stay). I unbolted the TB, unplugged the TPS and ISC, and removed the throttle cable, but left the coolant lines attached and just moved the whole works out of the way. I removed the EGR valve and all the vac lines for it as well. The fuel rail/injectors get pulled, and the wiring harness gets moved over towards the passenger side once everything is unplugged (this harness ends at the ac compressor on a 2g). Pull off any remaining vac lines and the support brace, and the bolts are the only thing left now. I had never done all this before, so I took my time, labeled all the plugs, and I got to this point in about an hour and fifteen minutes.
So, those lower bolts. I could not get a ratchet/socket on them at all, and I don't own a swivel, so no luck there. I do have ratcheting wrenches though, and those were my saving grace. I got the bolts out in about 10 minutes from this point. This explanation will sound confusing, but I have plenty of pictures to show what I'm talking about
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Place the ratcheting end on the bolt head, and feed a looped length of heavy electrical wire between the runners to grab the other end of the wrench (open box end on mine) so you can pull on it from above. From under the manifold, I could not get enough torque on the wrench alone due to the crazy angle at which my arm was positioned, so pulling from above seemed the next best thing. You can't use this method on the #4 cylinder runner bolt because of the 2g mani shape, so I used a 10" ratchet extension and a 14mm socket (to cup the wrench head) pushing down on the wrench from above for that one. Once they are broken loose, you can easily unscrew them by hand. To replace them, after finger tightening them, do the exact opposite...use a wire loop for the #4 bolt pulling up, and the socket extension for the other 3 pushing down to torque them down. Of course, you cant actually get a torque wrench on them this way, but you can get a feel for how tight they are supposed to be by tightening a couple on the top row first using a torque wrench, and guesstimate from there.
