I had the "privledge" of tearing into my sisters 99 Alero and doing the lower intake gasket due to a coolant leak. She was broke and couldn't afford the $1100+ and I did it for about $162.

Anyways... Here are some pics:

http://www.mnbonnevilleclub.com/misc/intakefix/

That looks like a buttload of fun. I envy you. Haven't had that much fun myself since Jseabert'* last two teardowns on his L27. The 3400 looks like more of a PITA.

Part of it was a blast, the other half sucked a$$. Great learning expierince, but rather not have done it on my sisters only car, and a new one at that. :?

I just got some great news on this repair last night. My sister took her car in to get an oil change and have the water pump looked at (she was told before I did all the work that it might be bad, but it is still under a waranty from recent replacement). They did a preassure test of the cooling system and they found no leaks!!! This means that 20+ hours of work I did outside in the 30^-40^weather for free paid off. I'm just a little excited that I did it right, espeaially since I've never done it before!!!

Sounds like you might be doing a water pump too?

Nope! Everything checked out in the end. Whatever made them think that there might be a problem with the water pump went away when i did the intake gaskets. It may have been leaking on the pump or something before, not sure. But everything is 100% as far as we can tell right now.