Is this Brace NECESSARY?

[Generation1JeY]

I'm just wondering if this brace does something constructive, it connects in between the throttle body elbow and the throttle body on the two bolts, and then the 1 bolt side bolts on to a bracket on the bottom of the head i think, i guess its just to secure the intake mani more, but its a pain in the ass to put my new throttle body elbow on when that thing is there so i just didnt put it on when i swapped elbows.

Any help appreciated.

 

[BUCK]

There are certainly a lot of guys running without this Little Bracket that have had no problems whatsoever - There are some reports of guys with BSE Kits having premature Intake Gasket failure that have blamed the failure on the lack of this brace & / OR the lack of the Big Bracket under the Intake that goes back to Block but who knows if they properly Torqued the Intake when they put them on?... I would definitely keep the Big Bracket & it seems to me that you'll have to swap out some fasteners if you delete this Little bracket due to excessive lengths but that's no biggy - I say do away with it in your scenario.

 

[mavisky]

unless you're pulling the motor it doesn't serve much purpose. i keep mine in my tool box since i don't hae the right bolts to keep it all installed. i simply pull the whole tb off if i ever need to remove the motor and temporarily re-install the brace then.

 

[sonicnofadz]

I've ran without this brace for probably a year, no problem. However I recommend that you either use THIS one or the intake stay (the brace that connects the intake manifold to the block) to prevent the intake gasket from failing prematurely. There really isn't any proof that not using either brace will cause any problems, but intake manifold gaskets are a pain in the arse to change and I rather just prevent the problem altogether by supporting the weight of the manifold with one of these braces. Although the intake manifold IS made of aluminum and doesn't weigh much, over time sometimes strange things happen, especially in an environment full of violent vibrations and wide temperature fluctuations.

BTW: Nice tiles!

 

[nukefission]

Get rid of it. It's a PITA and you can pull the motor without it. All you would need are some piece of strap steel with holes drilled in either end. Attach one end to the corner intake manifold stud situated below where that TB bracket would be, the other to the hoisting chain. No, the stud won't bend or break. I've done this on countless motors at the shop where I used to work.