Wow, what a long day! Started at 9 this morning stopped for a half hour for lunch, stopped at 5:30 and then finished up another half hour later on. Things were looking bad when not far in I broke one of the clips that holds the MAP sensor. Later I noticed a vacuum elbow torn with the tube out of it. The throttle body was just totally black inside (I've had a sticking throttle for over a year), so that got a good cleaning. Other than that things weren't too bad until I had the UIM off and decided to go for the rear valve cover and plugs/wires. First to remove the tensioner, doh, broke the tube off. Good thing I got the new ones. Got the rear valve cover done. Then, man was I cursing at those rear wires. That #6 is a beast. After at least 15 minutes tugging with it, thinking it wasn't coming off it finally popped loose. Later I was cursing at the #6 plug as it wasn't budging. I was so close to saying screw it, finishing the job and taking it somewhere to have someone do that one plug. I finally moved the tensioner assembly around and on the intake for more room and managed to finally get it out. I think that hour was really what did me in. Then I put in the new rear plugs, removed the LIM and cleaned up everything. Finally I got it put back on after supper. The gaskets were pretty typical. Not terrible, but the inside part of a few of the openings were cracked. I had some brown goop formed in a couple of the passages in the heads, but nothing bad.

Next up: put the UIM back on, do the front valve cover and plugs/wires, and put the rest back together, hoping I get it all on right.

Just think, the next time it will be easier, and faster.

With practice comes speed! When you put the plug wires back, use some dielectric grease on them. they will slip on and off so much better from now on.

I'm not planning on a next time

With some air tools for cleaning gasket surfaces, I've gotten my time down from 8-10 hours the first time out to 2 hours flat.

C'mon, there'* gotta be some locals you can help out.

Part II:
It is finished!! It only took another five hours :P

Mainly I just took my time finishing up. I was planning to write down step by step everything I did to make sure I put it together right, but with everything taking so long I gave that up. So I just went slow to make sure I covered everything and did things in the right order so I didn't make a mistake. It all went smooth. My only concern was the bolts on the UIM. Would you believe it, the 5/16" 1/2 inch socket that fit my torque wrench was too big! It was larger than the one for my 3/8" ratchet. So I couldn't make sure I torqued them right. I'll have to borrow one and check it soon. I used some electrical tape on that torn vacuum elbow for now.

So moment of truth, I was nervous expecting a "service engine" light. It didn't want to fire at first, and once it did it was chugging. Uh oh! Then I saw smoke from the rear of the engine and it stunk. It was still running a bit rough, so I thought something was wrong. I checked the rear plug wires and just about burned my fingers. I got back in the car, and sure enough, the light was on. I just tried revving it up a bit, and it went out. Then the engine got a bit smoother and it appeared to stop smoking, so I was hoping it was just oil or something on the manifold. Grabbed my phone just in case, and went for a spin. It drove great. Everything appears good! My wife was so excited when I told her the gas pedal wasn't sticking any more.

Wow is that bad!

good to hear its running. I've seen worse then that, trust me. It'* a good feeling knowing you did it yourself. Chances are it was chugging at first because the fuel lines needed to fill up. I always turn to run and wait a few seconds before starting it. Did you use the LIM write up from here?

Yeah. I also had the one from the other site as it was a little more in detail in a couple areas. I don't remember what though.

As far as the fuel lines, is it normal to smell fuel? I remember before I got into fixing it I could smell a little gas. I had to be close to the fuel lines though. I couldn't smell it just standing by the engine. The o-rings looked fine, and I didn't notice any gas by anything. I didn't think to check after I took it for a drive to see if I could still smell it.

No, you really should not be smelling any gas.