I guess if you want something done right, ya might as well do it yourself - . so, I'm puling the intake off my 90 to repair a rear china wall leak. I've never seen such a mess! seems like some "genius" thought he would repair the leak by taking RTV, and using his finger, smear it on the seam i'm finding inconsistent torque values on a lot of the hardware, especially the plenum and runner tubes. the rear bolt of the thermostat housing was finger tight. how that thing wasn't leaking is beyond me. there was one place where "mr. mechanic" left half a gasket on a flange. never bothered to clean the mating surface - just slapped in a new gasket. there was missing hardware, and incorrect hardware all over the place. the front china wall is also a bit wet, so everything is coming apart for repair and cleaning. this is going to take a while. not sure what's been done to this car over the last 23 years, but the guy wrenching on this thing would be better suited flippin' burgers! good thing I enjoy wrenching on corvettes - somebody else would just scream! most things like this don't show up when looking for a car. originally, never thought the leak was that bad. things just snowballed!

 

Hey, don't knock the finger swipe of rtv on the back of the china wall. I've done it and it can work. I've even taken the distributor off and finished the job on the inside.

 

you're kidding, right? not to get into a pi$$in' contest, but do you think that's the correct way to repair or stop a leak? I can tell you that it did not work on my 90. granted, it's not under pressure, but in order to get RTV to stick to anything, the surface has to be clean and oil free. now you might get the the outer surface clean, but getting the inner surface (thru the distributor opening) clean enough to apply RTV - ??? - all I can say is, "THAT'S AMAZING!" might have to throw out the flag on this one. I would never consider such a repair - even a frickin' lawnmower

 

Like you said....that are just some things that you do it yourself to be sure that it is done correctly!

 

Oh my Lord, dont get me started on the PO's fine repair work! Most recent discovery was stripped bolts on the half shaft u joint straps. It amazes me sometimes how half azz he did things.

 

HEY DID SOMEONE STEAL MY CAR? If you want examples of "HOW NOT" to do something, I'd be here for days writing what I've found as I've torn this car down!!! I've had to try and bury my perfectionist hat as I go. Never could figure out why a Med. Grey Metallic car had blue carpet and house pad, but the Homie Depot tag on the backs of the carpet explained it.

 

Laquer thinner does clean oil off and it did work for me. It's actually easy to clean the area inside the china wall the the distributor out. The wall is right there. RTV will stick to RTV if it is clean. If it does stop a leak, then it is the correct way to do it. You've just saved over 2 hours. If it doesn't, then you're back to square 1. I was running a SuperRam. If you've ever removed or installed one of those babies, you'll understand why the finger swipe is a last ditch option. It's well over a 3 hour project to R&R an intake manifold with a SuperRam.

 

I understand and sympathize with that.

 

that's really stretching it, and I'm guessing we could argue the point until we're blue in the face. to each his own...

 

I'm not arguing. I just stated I had a china wall leak and I solved it the way I described.

 

This sounds like good ole fashioned ingenuity to me

 

At Least The Previous Owner Didn't Glue The New carpets Over The Old Like On Mine. Lol

 

 

- that is pretty ingenious...

 

Must run in the family. Mine came with home carpet pad and blue home carpet glued to the original dark gray. Even managed to stuff it under the lower dash panels.