Intake and Valve Covers

[fishtoday925]

I have an oil leak that is starting to get bad. My 91 s10 blazer4.3 is leaking like a pig all over the driveway and needs to be fixed. I just went out to go to wendy's and it sounded like the starter gear wasn't endaging on the flexplate, so that is another problem i need to fix. I think the starter is going out because of the massive oil dripping on it. Well I'll cut to the case. I was wondering about how long it will take to change intake and valve cover gaskets. I am estimating by the looks of things it will take between 4-6 hours. Any tips, suggestions, or anything else would be helpfull. Thanks

[OverBoardProject]

I just helped a mechanic friend of mine with the job on a miny van, so it's 10 times worst, and it nwas about 5 hours, so your pretty accurate. It was his first 4.3 with this job.

My biggest tip is have a wire wheel on a bench grinder, we had to clean a lot of bolts going into the intake manifold from rust. Plus have some sealer to seal those bolts.

We had to remove the throttle body, which was a had some hidden bolts, but I think that you can leave it on. Other than that it was pretty straight forward.