i am doing the intake gasket on my malibu, i put the lower intake on, something didn't line up w/ the 4 outer bolts, i put the bolts in, 2 did not go in right(outer), not thinking i tightened them down, they wouldnt go all the way down, i pulled the bolts out and inspected, it appears the 2 bottom threads on the bolts are now fouled, in turn, fouling the threads in the holes.

now i remember hearing about something regarding new GM lower intake bolts.. are these available at any autoparts store, or only at the dealership? anyone have the part number, and does it have the same thread? i will have to fix the 4 outers holes, anyone know what i will have to do to fix the holes? i don't know the thread size to buy a tap. and do i really need these specific bolts, or can i just use any hardware store bolt, granted i drill and tap the hole to fit?

ANY help is appreciated, im highly aggravated and don't know what to do now


also... since i have already tightened the intake down once, I didn't just ruin the intake gasket did it? i took it back off, the gasket LOOKS ok, but with my luck, who knows

Well, first of all, you have about 12 bolts, including the 4 on the outside. The 4 outside bolts are shorter than the other bolts. So the longer bolts would never go all the way in. So now you have stripped the 2 bolts on the outside edge of your heads. You can probably fix the heads with them on the engine, but to fix them right, you might need to take your heads off and have the holes fixed - don't know. They can be fixed with heli-coils (you get a drill bit the size of the tap and fix it - instructions are in the heli-coil package).

You should get the Trouble Shooter lower intake manifold gasket repair set.

Take a good bolt to a hardware store buy new bolts the same grade and length. Should be 9.8 or 10.9 Pep boys sells bolts. Run a nut on a good bolt get the size and purchase a bottoming tap and retap the holes. If you can tighten it to the proper torque fine. Otherwise you have to drill out the defective threads and retap to a larger size. You may have to ream out the hole slightly larger on the manifold.
If you can't do this it is going to cost you a good buck.
I get a lot of bolts at the junk yard some give them to me when I buy something.

The only reason GM suggests new bolts is because they have pre-applied loc-tite on them. The original bolts are fine to re-use if you clean them of the old thread-lock and re-apply, so this isn't what lead to your problem. I assume you put the long center bolts in and snugged them before putting the outside shorter bolts in. This caused a deformation of the intake manifold, causing the outers to not line up with the holes. When you tried to install them, you galled up the threads. As long as the holes in the head weren't damaged, new bolts will solve your issue. Since it's a special bolt (an 8mm thread diameter with a 10mm head and integral washer) you probably won't find them in a hardware store (a typical 8mm threaded bolt will have a 12 or 13 mm head, too large for the tight spaces you're dealing with). Either go to a salvage yard and get some new bolts from a core engine or to the dealer and get new ones. Buy a tap and clean up the threads in the head to be sure they are still ok, and you should be fine. As long as the engine was never started, the gasket will be ok to reuse, as long as you didn't damage it.

I hope for his sake that you are correct. I had the opinion that he used a torque spec of 115ftlb instead of 115inlb or he used a new handy dandy 3/8 inch air ratchet or impact wrench bottomed out the bolt and pulled out the threads. Otherwise he could take a bolt to the hardware and buy a tap and clean up the bolts. They are a lot stronger than aluminum. Then retap the threads in the head.
I have made mistakes before and bottomed a bolt but didn't damage a bolt and didn't damage the threads.
I have also found a lot of stripped holes over the years mostly in Japanese or volvos they use more bolts of a smaller diameter.

did you get the updated gaskets? they have steel running thru the middle.
fel-pro is one. the dealers updated gasket kit comes with new bolts.