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Hello everybody, after a very painful and frustrating process I installed the BBK SSI 5004 Intake Manifold on My 2002 Corvette C5 with LS1. The instructions were god awful and I wasn't sent all the bolts for the throttle body. I bought the intake only, not the one including the throttle body. It is well known the stock throttle body IS compatible with this intake, but I'm starting to wonder. My car will not run now, it will sputter, and cut off, and during the process I smell hot coolant. I believe this to be related to the throttle body in some way, shape or form. Does anybody have experience installing these on Corvettes? I saw a couple posts online that showed not all hardware that is needed to successfully install this on a Corvette isn't included, which is absolutely unacceptable. I am very upset about this, I am a probably 7/10 in terms of mechanical ability I've done a good bit of work to cars in the past. Can anybody help? Short of getting a tow to a shop I really don't know what to do. Thanks in advance.
Based on general knowledge, not experience with the specific intake -
If you dont have all the bolts....
it is possible some of the missing bolts do double duty as seals/plugs for the water jacket. Without the bolt, you have an instant leak.
alternately, the area without the bolt(s) are looser than those with, and the loose area is allowing coolant to seep by.
There’s are two coolant hoses on the bottom of the throttle body. Are the clamps tight?
Make sure the all the connectors are securely seated like the TPS on the throttle body, the MAF connector and the injectors are each securely plugged in.
There is a coolant channel through the throttle body unless you bypassed it like a lot of us. Sounds like maybe you broke / tweaked one of those tiny coolant lines running to it. That wouldn't explain the no-run condition however, as your engine should happily chug away while you **** out all your coolant. Start by reading the codes. They might give you a hint. Double-triple-quadruple check all the electrical harnesses. You might have folded a pin in one of those plugs or maybe you're just not getting a good connection in one of them.
Thanks for the responses guys. Here are some pictures, note the missing bolts. I literally received nothing that could fit these holes. I was able to find at lowes a close match for the two topmost bolts and that extra piece I am referring to, but not the side bolts. Could the lack of the side bolts be causing me my issues? (Note, in one of the pictures it shows one of the intake manifold bolts missing, yes that bolt has been placed and fastened. This particular picture was taken prior to completing the task.) Also, the topmost bolt to connect the throttlebody cannot be secured entirely due to the height of the new plate at the end of the intake manifold, the end of the screw pushes it. Can be seen in pictures. I called BBK and they assured me they would send a new hardware kit, but I fear the worst in that it won't include the correct bolts. Seems really messed up to me they would refer to bolts that aren't actually included in the package.
Could the lack of the side bolts be causing me my issues?
It depends on if those holes are blind or not. If they're going clean through that intake, then it's possible that they're introducing enough of a vacuum leak to keep you from idling. Can you just plug them up and see if it'll crank up and idle? Also, can you keep it running by giving it a little pedal?
Update, I have retraced my steps and pulled codes and there are no codes with a C but plenty with an H. So nothing learned there. I plugged the two holes on the side of the throttlebody, and the engine will idle, but I get an odor that I can't really describe, and legitimate knocking/popping sound. I have checked my spark plug wires and all fuel injectors, coolant lines, and etc. It will idle, and crank when I give it a little gas, but it sounds extremely painful and I fear for my engines health. No more leaking coolant however. I believe I fixed that issue. Frustration level is rising so I'm thinking it's getting close to opening up the old checkbook and calling a tow truck and having it moved to a garage, and spending the $400 or however much it costs to redo everything I've done.
Last edited by FireManVette1987; Sep 9, 2018 at 10:32 AM.
Are you getting a loud vacuum leak sound as well as a knocking/popping when it's idling? It is possible that the intake is not sitting correctly.
I know you are getting frustrated, but you might just have to uninstall the intake again and start over.
I took the entire manifold off and reseated it, and reconnected everything once again. And once again same problem, gonna pull it off and put the stock one back on. Thanks to everyone for your responses and attempts to help me
You need to find a shorter bolt for here(yellow arrows) or at least stack a few washers under the head of the bolt to be able to tighten it up one last time before removing everything.
If the throttle body is not tight, it could be one source of your problem.
Thank you Gusto. I was able to successfully remove the BBK SSI Intake Manifold, and reinstall the original stock intake manifold without any problems, took just over an hour. Car fired right up, I've never been happier to be at square 1. No tow required and I can still drive the car now. It's puzzling to me how something can be listed as compatible and instructions can be so far off on certain elements. I took a few videos of the noises and symptoms of my car while it was running with the new BBK Manifold. Thanks everyone for attempting to help me.
This may be a no brainer but I repaired a major vacuum leak in my PCV system one time and the car ran like crap afterwards. I thought I had really messed something up, after some googleing I learned that I needed to disconnect the battery so the car has to relearn everything to run without the vacuum leak. It ran great after this so I am just throwing this out there as an idea.
Help! My corvette won't run now
