240 General: Replacing Air Intake Manifold Gasket

[Paul240480]

This is how I changed my A/I manifold gasket on my B200E engined 240. My method may have been a tad un-orthodox as I did'nt completely remove the manifold, I just moved it back enough to remove the old gasket, clean up & insert the new one. This saves dis-connecting the throttle 'assembly'.


1) Disconnect the battery, then remove the dizzy-cap. Disconnect the 'king lead' from the cap. Then placethe dizzy cap with the rest of the leads still connected, to one side. This just gives better access to the manifold.

2) Remove the pipes and the earth lead that are connected on top of the manifold.


3) Undo the jubilee clip holding the black 'bellows' to the underside of the manifold & ease the bellows from it


4) Undo & remove the support brace underneath the manifold.



5) Now you can begin to remove the bolts (8 in total) which hold the manifold in place. I only managed to get a socket onto two of these, I had to use a ring spanner with off-set head on the rest.



6) Once these nuts are removed you should find that you can lift the manifold up & away from the head. You may find that you need to remove two further hoses from below the manifold to allow it to move back sufficiently. Once away I found that it will sit safely.


7) Now you can ease the old gasket away from the head & wriggle it forwards towards the radiator, and out it comes.


8) Next step is to clean up the head. Make sure that all of the old gasket has been removed. I used Acetone to clean up. Also I was lucky in that the old gasket, despite being split came away cleanly. All that was needed in my case was a good clean up - no scraping required.

9) The new gasket can then be inserted working from the front.


10) Now the manifold can be lifted back over the studs. Whilst supporting the manifold replace the nuts, hand tight at first.
Once all are on, you can begin to tighten them, again support the manifold so that it is snug against the head.. Starting in the middle, go diagonaly & work to the outside till all are tight. Torque is specified at 16Ib ft. Mine are tighter I'm sure. You can only get a torque wrench onto the the frontmost & rearmost nut I found.

11) Re-connect the pipes under the manifold, then replace the under manifold support brace.

12) Re-connect the two pipes and earth lead. Then re-connect the dizzy, lead & battery.

Job done.

This took me just under two hours.
My gasket was suppled by GSF car parts. It was made by 'Elring' & cost £4.50 + VAT.

My Haynes says that you need to drain the coolant.This is only nesessary on models with a carb' as the manifold is liquid cooled (thanks Mike).

[stephend]

Great write-up, thanks! And if you're going to the faff of moving the inlet manifold, it's a good opportunity to check out the breather system and clean out the flame trap. In fact, one of those jobs I was putting off because of the hassle of removing the inlet manifold...

[Paul240480]

Originally Posted by stephend

Great write-up, thanks! And if you're going to the faff of moving the inlet manifold, it's a good opportunity to check out the breather system and clean out the flame trap. In fact, one of those jobs I was putting off because of the hassle of removing the inlet manifold...

That is a good point! Flame trap (PCV) cleaning/maintenance would be a darn sight easier with it out of the way! That said, it is by no means impossible working with the inlet manifold in place

[chesters6]

Now how about one with sound for replacing the exhaust side
i still havnt dared even try undoing the nuts on mine (well some are hexagon shaped so they could be nuts) to replace my pulsair pipe the shiny new one is winking at me every time i go in the spares box.
are the Studs a common size i hate driving 20 odd miles for little things from the volvo place i'm sure to snap them all

no amount of WD40 will help i'm sure

[Paul240480]

Originally Posted by chesters6

Now how about one with sound for replacing the exhaust side
i still havnt dared even try undoing the nuts on mine (well some are hexagon shaped so they could be nuts) to replace my pulsair pipe the shiny new one is winking at me every time i go in the spares box.
are the Studs a common size i hate driving 20 odd miles for little things from the volvo place i'm sure to snap them all

no amount of WD40 will help i'm sure

Hi Chesters, maybe we should have a competion for who has the rustier exhaust manifold? Like you I dread the thought of having to remove mine. Snapping studs would I'm sure, make me twitch as I do when near to wheel bearings - LOL

[chesters6]

you can only get better doing something thats already broke ,my pulsair is blowing so i might wait until it finally snaps and gunk cannot cure it for a few weeks anymore

[Mike_Brace]

When it comes to exhaust manifolds I leavce it to the experts who have the right equipment including being able to heat them up and who also have spare studs if needed. For the cost involved it is hardly worth diy. Saying that when it comes to head gasket replacemnt if the manifold will undo I take it off otherwise undo at downpipe and let the guy who does the head sort it out including removing broken studs.



Edit Original thread here