Lower Intake Manifold Off. Now What

[starla3366]

1992
3.1
100k

This car was running just fine before I started this job. Reason I'm doing it is because I just bought it for 300 bucks and it's 15 years old, and there was visible oil seepage all around.


Ok, well, I have got as far as taking the lower intake manifold off. I'm kind of hesitant of going all the way to the heads.

When I removed the lower intake there was still some coolant setteled in the holes and some of it may have gotten down to the cams. I'm really worried about that, but, as far as I know I should be able to drain the oil and maybe flush and drain one more time. Any suggestions on that.

Also, it's a friggen mess once you get the intake manifold off. Tons of dirt and grime all over the place. What would be the best possible way of cleaning all this crap off thats around my valves and cam openings. I really don't want anything abnormal falling in these holes. I have already shoved lint free rags down in each opening but I'm still worried about all that crap thats around. Does anyone have any good suggestions as to what chemical to use to clean this area up other than TB cleaner. And what's the best way to remove all that old gasket material.

Do I have to rotate the lifters to get the intake manifold gasket off / on??

What else should I do to this thing now that I've gotten this far, other than replace all gaskets from intake manifold and up???

The intake valves look like hell. There is so much black crap on them it's unbelievable, I can't even imagine what the exhaust valves look like.

Is there anything I should do to the Fuel injectors. All six look relatively clean from underneath.

I'm already looking at close to 200 bucks for all the gaskets. Do I really need to replace the intake manifold and bolts?? The grommets are a little worn, I could see replaceing those.



p.s. I'm extremly sorry it's been so long since i've posted here. My wife now my ex took that lumina i learned so much about away from me. All well, she smashed it up 2 months after leaving me with my 2 y/o daughter in the back seat. Tough shit for her, right. Not, Insurance gave her 4 grand for the car because all the work I put into it. I didn't get to see a single penny. And I'm talking about a 93 lumina with 135k. I love working on it so much that i just bought this one I'm talking about now.

Anyway, enough rambling from me,
thanks for all your support