Can anyone provide the torque sequence of the lower intake and plenum for the 3800 II engine in my Park Ave? Most appreciated! (Wish the FSM'* weren't so expensive!)

This is for my 97 B-ville, but should still apply to yours also...

Lower manifold... 11 ft lbs.



Upper manifold... 89 in lbs.

The newer upper manifolds already have the sequence written at the bolt holes.

Thanks Mike...yeah guess they got smarter later on!

If you need any other help/advice with the UIM/LIM job feel free to ask, I did mine on my 96' PA recently for the first time, and I studied a lot beforehand, so if you have questions about parts or anything I'd be willing to help.
I promise no more wrong diagrams like with the bolts... :o
That was what I get for having like 10 tabs open, trying to help when my body told me it was bed time long ago, lol

Hope all goes well with the UIM/LIM job!

Thank you William! I may just take you up on that. I decided to change out the heater core hoses, as one was bulging a bit. Wow what a task! It surely tested my patients. I had to cut them off since they were fused to the nipples. I'm sure glad I ordered new, or I would have had more delays. So, I will put the new hoses on, along with the new water pump. Thinking I will wait on the tensioner till the lower intake is on, and then mess with the L shaped antifreeze connections? I am curious about how you "know" if they are in the intake correctly? They have O rings which I plan to silicone before I push them in...do you have any suggestions? It might be one of those things you just need to have a feel for, but since they have a tendency to leak, and the old one disintegrated when I removed it, I just want to make sure it is right. Fingers crossed I don't have any more bumps in the road! Thanks!

You are very welcome.
I hear ya on the heater hoses, I put off changing mine just because I did not want to deal with the headache yet, I seen somebody that changed theirs, and they also did a UIM/LIM hob, they said that the heater hose replacement was more of a pain than the UIM/LIM job was.


Yeah, leave the tensioner off till the UIM is back on, and as for that coolant elbow, if they are old they usually have the nipples break off, make sure you clean out the bore in the UIM & the tensioner, you want to get it pretty clean, so try to remove all of the orange ring left from the old o ring, I used some 0000 superfine steel wool on mine.
The o-rings on the Dorman HELP coolant elbow kits are known to leak, and some report them melting a bit and blowing out, I believe this is due to overheating though, some believe it is just the Dorman elbow itself.
When you got your LIM Gasket, did you get the Fel-PRO kit that has a few o-rings, and thermostat gaskets?
If so I've found you can still use the Dorman Coolant Elbows, old product number or new, as long as you replace those o rings, with either the ones that come with the Fel-PRO LIM Kit, or the AC Delco ones and you should be fine.
If you want to be even more sure it won't leak you could order the AC Delco o-rings that the GM coolant elbows come with, it says throttle body, but they are the same.
http://www.rockauto.com/dbphp/prt,315,1534066


Here is a thread with some good info on the coolant elbows leaking, and a tip on wiggling it a bit as reinstalling it.
https://www.gmforum.com/2000-2005-90/coolant-elbow-alternatives-297675/

Or you could goop up the outside of the elbow with high temp rtv. I've been doing it for years with no ill effects and no leaks.

I'd use the RTV as an extra precautionary measure, but as long as the surfaces the o rings fit into are cleaned well, and the right o rings are used, then you can get away with not using RTV on it, I did not use any on mine and have not had any leaks yet, but I did replace my o-rings on the Dorman Coolant Elbow I used.
If I ever replace the elbow again I'll probably use RTV, but only a tiny bit.

I really suggest not using the Dorman o-rings at all, too may have reported them leaking, for under a dollar it is not too pricey for the piece of mind in knowing you'll be less likely to have a possible future leak.
If you happened to do a UIM LIM job and bought the Fel-PRO LIM Kit then you'd already have the o-rings, so you'd not have to buy them for under a dollar.

Well this afternoon I installed the lower intake. I also put in the new water pump and changed out all the hoses with worm clamps! Fingers crossed no leaks!! Tomorrow I will spend time installing the plenum and throttle body along with the reconditioned fuel injectors. I only have a few hours, so I will likely have to finish up during the week. I am taking my time so as not to screw anything up. I bought a new tensioner and it came with elbows, but I didn't realize that till after I bought new GM elbows. I will use silicone grease and ease them in and hope to not have any issues. I'm gonna go review Williams diagrams to make sure I have all the bolts and brackets in the right place. I'll let you know how it goes! I'll check back in the am before I start in the event you think of any advice...lol Thanks Guys!!