Arbelac

That APN upper manifold looks good.

If there were a club member near APN, 5454 Preston Court Concord, CA 94521, they could save you some money by shipping US mail and listing it as a birthday present.

Okay...anything else I need?

APN Upper Manifold (on the way)
GM Lower Intake Gaskets (Aluminum Frame)
GM Coolant Bypass Elbow

Any tips or tricks on doing this job?

A Chilton'* 28200 is helpful. Don't forget the "hidden" bolts for the LIM in the corners. A carefully - used flat carbide-tipped gasket scraper will not abrade the sealing surfaces as rotary abrasives can. Use rags or newspaper to keep dirt out of the valley under the UIM. Try to keep scrapings out of the coolant passages. Brake cleaner works well as a degreaser on gasket sealing surfaces. This is a good time to change to a drilled 180* thermostat. Orient 1/16" hole in stat flange at 12:00 O'clock position to help bleed air from LIM. Don't overtorque throttle body bolts. I find it easier to remove the exhaust crossover pipe (use PB penetrant to undo and anti-seize when replacing). Use blue loctite on the LIM bolts and on the UIM bolts. Make sure you have two gaskets on the PCV - one under and a big one on top.

Others will hopefully remember stuff I forgot.

If you find an aluminum coolant elbow, please let me know where you got it. I can't find any around these parts.

Oh, if you have a digital camera, could you please take some pix of the APN upper and the reduced diameter stovepipe before and after they are installed - especially before you install the throttle body? I would like to see what the gap around that pipe looks like.

Good luck.

Sure, I was planning on taking as many pictures as I could.

I'm picking up the GM elbow tomorrow, gonna measure it and see if I can find/make a metal one...

I've got a non-drilled 180 in there right now, not sure if I want to drill it, it can get quite cold up here...

I'd recommend the drilling. Many run a 1/16th drilled in colder climates without an issue. It can be quite a critical part of getting all of the air out of the cooling system after doing your work.

Well, intakes are off, lifter valley is pretty clean, no coolant in the valley (yay).

When I removed the airbox, it had coolant (!!) in it...pulling the upper manifold off, it looks like the EGR passageway is still solid, so I'm leaning towards warpage between the TB and the manifold, and/or it not being torqued down right last time (I'm never using these guys again for engine work...).

Working on cleaning off the old gaskets and the lower manifold now.

Does Bob Dillon still want UIM cores?

Far as I know..he'* always happy to get them.

Almost there!

Almost everything is back on...just need to get some replacement rubber tubing for the vacuum line in the front, since the old one was carbonized and snapped when I went to remove the booster(?) that clips onto the fuel rail. That and a couple replacement clips for the wiring harness, some oil and a filter, new air filter, and some coolant, and we should be ready to fire it up.

Bill, I should have the pictures up in the next couple of days. The stovepipe APN sends doesn't seem to stick up as far as some of the other shots I've seen, and it'* got some interesting (minor) internal changes that you might be interested in...

Thanks again for all the help, you guys have been invaluable.

Sound like things are coming along great.

Stock stovepipes measure 1.42" from end to end with about .25"+ driven into the LIM bore. I hope APNs pipe extends high enough to at least be flush with the top of the heat shield when the UIM is torqued down.

Anxious to see those pix.

Aye it is flush, it just doesn't extend above it.