Whats your method for lining the intake manifold up properly?

[Matt300ZXT]

So far I've come across a Harley video on loosely bolting the manifold in place, then installing the carb and back plate and making sure the crossover pipe between the heads is in place to allow the manifold to sort of "self center", then tighten it a little, remove the carb stuff, and use a ball end hex socket to torque the 4 intake manifold bolts in place. It's all I've seen so far and seems pretty solid since it's from a bike mechanic school. Anyone have any challengers?

 

[SCC007]

Sounds right

 

[Mr. Wright]

That's the way I do it

 

[knothead]

Yep thats how its done

 

[Matt300ZXT]

Right on, well that doesn't seem so scary. Anyone know the torque figures for the 4 pain in the ass manifold bolts? Lol

 

[HMAN]

Its not exactly on my list but I would shoot for around 16-18 ft lbs.

 

[Mikeinjersey]

Check for vacuum leaks if your motor runs poorly (rich/lean) or your carburetor adjustments seem out of speck.

 

[Th3InfamousI]

That's a fine way to do it. It should never get out of place, the only time it will ever get out of place is when people don't use any type of carb support brackets. S&S always states to run carb support brackets for this reason, just the weight of a carb is enough that it will slowly start to sag over time with the riding and vibration. A lot of those cheap overseas spikes don't have brackets and just bolt on and people are running them, they will get out of square, cause leaks, and worse case scenario would be cracked intake manifolds. Cracking an intake manifold could lead to a very bad day.

Service Manual has 16 ft/lbs with BLUE. I would be more inclined to do 16 ft/lbs with just a smidge of RED should be hex head bolt on the bottom and SHCS on the top.

 

[Matt300ZXT]

I'm going to necro bump this since I have the gas tank off now and didn't have it off when I installed the intake manifold seals.

Since it's been apparently over 2 years since I installed these and not quite sure if I used Loctite (though I more than likely did) on the manifold bolts, am I gonna be able to get lucky and just run 1 bolt out at a time, put some Loctite on it, and put it back in snug and then just torque them all down, or am I gonna have to take the whole carb setup off?

 

[Mickmorris]

I'm going to necro bump this since I have the gas tank off now and didn't have it off when I installed the intake manifold seals.

Since it's been apparently over 2 years since I installed these and not quite sure if I used Loctite (though I more than likely did) on the manifold bolts, am I gonna be able to get lucky and just run 1 bolt out at a time, put some Loctite on it, and put it back in snug and then just torque them all down, or am I gonna have to take the whole carb setup off?

Did you have an intake leak? Or you just never torqued them down when you installed it?

 

[Matt300ZXT]

Did you have an intake leak? Or you just never torqued them down when you installed it?

The previous gaskets being old and worn is what I suspected played a big part in the bike running "meh" at best when I was riding it. When I put the currently installed ones in a couple years ago, I still had the tank on so it was tricky to really get at the 4 bolts easily, and I'm pretty sure I used a regular ol' allen wrench instead of a ball end socket type I could put on a torque wrench.

I chatted with Curtis as WSW some earlier about the situation and what I did, and I think I'm going to run it like it is. I was able to get all 4 bolts tightened fairly evenly and went side to side to get them even instead of cranking down on one side, then going for the other. I think I'm just overthinking it because of how much of a pain it was to do 2 years ago, but I am more familiar with turning wrenches on it now than I was, so if it develops a leak in another season or so, I can just redo it then.