ok ive got 128,000 miles and it hasnt gone yet, is this a good indication it isnt going to?or is the possibility still open?

I was takin a look at my upper intake manifold when i was changing my fuel pressure regulator (thread in 87-91 to follow). My buddy and I couldn't imagine why on earth something as critical as an intake manifold could be plastic. That thing was hotter then hell, and all I did was drive it 10 mins to his house. Yes the car gets up to operating temps but my god, plastic????

I know we have beaten this down many many times....but damn....I'll tell you right now. If it was done to cut down weight....ask any owner of a plastic intake if they would rather sacrifice weight to having a material that won't break under heat. ..cuz duh, it gets hot up in there

I didnt see any year on top of my manifold, maybe I'm blind?
How much weight would an aluminum manifold added? The weight would have been non-existant. It just comes down to GM trying to cut costs and poor design engineering.

ok im not real good with engines so i took the cover off and looked over the big plastic thing sittin directly on top of the engine and it didnt say any thing on it except for "hidden bolt inside" and then there was a little round thing with a whole bunch of numbers on it but it didnt seem to form a date of any kind, it did have 95 in the middle of it though so i hope thats not the case, it appeared to be holding up but the previous owner only drove on the highway so it wasnt exposed to higher temps as much. im gonna have to break down and snag a cooler t-stat and the stuff to install it.

ok after further research its been determined that my plastic intake is the orignial, theres a little circular area with 1-12 on the outer rim and 96 in the middle with an arrow pointing to the 5, so im guessing that means May.and then theres another one with super small print that goes from like 1-31 or somethin like that im assuming day but i couldnt make it out, and then theres another one thats even smaller that looked like it had a 3 6 and 9 on it, perhaps time of day? who knows but ive got the original so i better be careful.

Get used to popping the hood and watching your coolant levels like a hawk. Keep up your oil changed and ensure that the oil is not showing any indication of coolant mixing it.

And you're 180'ed right?

Fight the power

the coolant level hasnt changed since i began nurturing this car, and i will ritually change the oil every 3,000 miles. ive only changed it once so far cause we havent had it very long. and no im not 180ed yet.but next time the cash flow rolls in and i can convince the parentals to let me drive to the GM dealer and get the stuff i need it will get done.

also i notice there are quite a few wires, hoses, and other jargon running around my water outlet housing thing.are any of these gonna get messed up if they get roughed up a bit? cause it looks like thats what its gonna take to get in there with a wrench and whatnot.

My 96 SE'* intake states it was built in 6-96 and the car was built in 6-96 so I would say I have the origianl in my car also, and I am at 115000+ miles.

nah mine wont go *crosses fingers*. can they be replaced with an aluminum one? if so how much. and im guessing one from an SSEi wont fit.