Please beware. An error found today by Lash in the FSM that he brought to my attention.

The 97 FSM apparently on page 120 says upper intake manifold torqued to 11 foot lbs and on page 121 lower intake manifold to 88 inch lbs. This information is incorrect.

In the beginning of the 97 book there is a disclaminer about changing the format and publishing the book part way through that change. The disclaimer sums up to say "good luck with this book". As you may have noticed the upper manifold is listed above one page before the lower manifold. The proper assembly would be lower then upper.

As quoted from a 98 FSM and all other years for the S2 L36 Vin K motor the lower should be 11 foot lbs and upper should be 88 inch lbs. Having the improper specs could result in breaking off an ear of the upper manifold.

Thanks, Bill. You beat me to it.

I was busy editing my post under the UIM Failure issue to say the same thing. Here'* the words straight out of the book:

The bolding is as shown in the FSM also.

although I would have to check exactly, the 96 FSM has 11ftlbs for the upper too.

which if you follow it, you will end up like me, and crack it. and have to buy another one.

edit, just double checked. The FSM has 89ib-lbs for LIM and 11ft-lbs for the upper. so 96 FSM'* got it backwards too.

Dang, you guys are good. : ) I checked out FSM for 2001 & it calls out correct torques for LIM, UIM.

Think I did my upper and lower adout 11 for lower and 6 or 7 for the upper.
That was the BC club recommendation.

Just looked in 88, 89, 90 ("C") and 91 & 92 ("L") service manuals. All have the 88 lb-in (7.3 lb-ft) value for the intake manifold to the heads. I would have expected something more like 15-20 lb-ft.

You have a metal intake versus the plastic composite.

Just checked my '95 FSM for the K motor it also states;

LIM-twice to 89 lb. in.

UIM- 89 lb. in.

whats the twice about...do the pattern twice for a total of 14.5 ft. lbs, confusing man

89 Seems low for the lower intake. Being all metal I would go with the amount listed under specs in techinfo here.

After seeing how screwed up the FSMs are for the early years, with regards to the UIM and LIM torque specs specifically, I wonder about the accuracy of the factory build instruction sheets (I can't remember the name or acronym for those right at this moment). The information for both documents comes from the same database, or at least did when I was involved as a supplier.

As speculation only, I can imagine that a LIM that was torqued too lightly would contribute to early failure of the gasket.