I am a novice when it comes to engines. I just got a carbon fiber intake manifold cover. Upon reading the instructions, I am a little intimidated. Below are the instructions that came with the cover. I was wondering if any of this is unnecessary or if anyone has some tips that could help me. I'm not familiar with the described pressure release style fuel pressure gauge.

Instructions:
"Depressurize the fuel system by first removing the fuel tank cap and disconnecting the negative battery cable. Next, install a pressure release style fuel pressure gauge onto the fuel rail pressure test port and place the bleed hose into a fuel safe container. Open the valve on the gauge, bleeding the system pressure and any remaining fuel into the approved container. The fuel rail is now safe for removal. Please see the vehicle service manual for the latest updates. Now, remove the four fuel rail assembly hold-down bolts and lift the assembly up and out of the intake manifold. There is no need to remove the fuel feed line. Be extremely careful not to allow any dirt or debris to enter the injector ports while they are exposed. Leave the protective plastic covering on top of the carbon fiber intake cover (for additional protection, also use a shop towel), and then slide the cover under the fuel rail assembly and into position on top of the intake manifold. Once into position, remove the shop towel, lube the injector o-rings with a small amount of engine oil, and insert the fuel rail assembly back into the intake manifold making sure the carbon fiber intake cover tabs are on top of the fuel rail mounting tabs. There will be quite a lot of manipulation required to perform this task. Finally, install the four fuel rail assembly hold-down bolts and torque them to 89 lb-in."

 

Looks like there's a mechanic in your future.............

 

Sounds cut and dried, Just follow the instructions, It sounds harder than it really is. I bet it won't take 15 mins to do, If you don't have a fuel pressure gauge/Release there are other means of releasing the pressure. Kinda like letting the air out of a tire.
Bill

 

Hi Mark...
I bought the same cover, along with the radiator shroud cover and the FRC covers. I'm putting them on next Tuesday. If I run into any problems I'll give you a post. Every install looks very simple, even though I'm not a mechanically inclined person.

 

Where is the fuel rail pressure test port? Any pictures?

 

Here you go, It is on the front of the drivers side rail.
Bill

 

Having just done this recently (I'll get around to posting pics eventually), I'd say it's almost as complicated as it sounds, and in some ways, it's MORE difficult, depending on the age of your vehicle.

The question is, how many miles does your car have? Mine has over 72K, so when I first took the fuel rail off, and then reinstalled it, one of the o-rings started to leak fuel all over the top of my intake. I pulled the fuel rail again and examined all the o-rings. Many of them were not in the best shape.

One of my injectors broke somehow in the repeated manipulation, and I wasn't sure where the piece the broke off went (little orange plastic ring), so I pulled the whole intake, which was a good chance to replace my passanger air check-valve and my oil pressure sensor.

So I ordered a rebuilt injector from RockAuto and a pack of o-rings (injector was $30 - bag of 16 o-rings was $50!!). It turns out, removing the o-rings from the injectors is virtually impossible to do without cracking the orange plastic ring (not replaceable), so I ended up breaking 2 more injectors. At that point, I just decided to replace all 8 injectors with rebuilt ones (since they come with new o-rings) and return the o-rings.

Anyway, what should have been a 1-hour job, turned into about a 16-hour job. I can't help but wonder how much longer my o-rings WOULD have lasted, had I know been fooling around with the fuel rail. Who knows?

I am pretty mechanically inclined (although mostly carbuerated engines), but this was definitely a pain. I'd say, if I had to do it over again for a purely cosmetic mod, I wouldn't. Now, if I were upgrading the intake -- sure, it's worth it. Of course, now I could easily to it in 15 minutes, like Bill says.

TKO Performance does make a 2-piece version that doesn't require removal of the fuel rail. It looks just as good as mine (which looks GREAT, btw)...

Good luck!
Vaughn

 

Bill K.....you do know you are going to catch a lot of crap for how dirty your engine is....I can live with it but I just know you are gonna hear it lol.

 

I must have blind luck, I just popped the fuel rails and slid the cover under. Cleaned around injector ports, a little dielectric to lube the o rings and all was well.

 

It isn't as bad as the picture looks...lol.
You have to remember I live in the desert.lol
Work in progress.

 

Bill, thanks for the pictures of the test port. Beautiful looking fuel rail covers!

 

Dumb question, but what should be used to oil the o-rings? A little Mobil One? 3 in 1 oil? WD-40?

 

OK, I'm confused. I removed the cap from the fuel rail pressure test port. When I push the valve nipple in, nothing happens. I was expecting a decent amount of fuel. I didn't get a drop. Does that seem reasonable? Is it OK to remove the fuel rail now?

 

I am surprized you didn't get any, Has your car been sitting for a while? It should of has some pressure. If you are sure there was no pressure take off the fuel rail.

 

so how did this installation turn out? I'm about to embark on the install myself....and am hoping for "blind luck".

-Steve

 

Great post. It's nice to see some real honesty here. I can and have done a lot of projects over the years and it seems as though something almost always goes wrong. For example, I recently removed my sun visors to fix the mirrors and after reinstall, the driver's visor would not lock in place. When ever I rotated the thing to the side window, she'd come back out and fall . . . Took me another 3 hours of playing with the thing to get it to work right again.