I've had an oil leak for a while on the RH side of my 5.0 engine. I've procrastinated fixing it because it appears the upper intake has to come off to get at it. I'm finally getting around to it and my Chilton's only mentions taking the upper intake off if it is a Lightning engine. Can I get the valve cover off mine without removing the upper? It doesn't look like it to me. How do I reach the bolts?

 

I changed my valve cover gaskets recently and I took off the upper intake and it was much easier than not removing it. It isn't difficult to remove the upper intake and it will go smoother.

 

Thanks for the reply. It doesn't look that bad once I looked it over. There are coolant lines hooked to the manifold. Do I have to drain anything before i take them off? Any advice before I tear into it?

 

Removing the upper intake should only be a matter of unbolting. Take a lot of pictures. if it makes you feel more comfortable you can drain the coolant.

 

Removing the upper intake is not that bad of a job, just take your time and mark everything and it should go smoothly for you.

 

I just removed the upper intake last night on our 90 F150 302 and you have to pull a few vacuum lines, the tube to the EGR valve, a few more vacuum lines, the IAC and TPS wire harness, a hose or two for the coolant, the air intake tubes, and unbolt it. One bolt is a torex (can't remember what size even though I have done it 3-4 times now and still have a 351 to do it on) the other 5 are 1/2". Just pick it up easy (be careful of all the vacuum lines) and set it aside then you don't have to worry about throttle cable stuff.
Trav

 

I HATE THAT TORX BOLT. Its like the people at the plant had a bin of them for some reason and said to each other "hey, lets put this in a completely hidden place to screw with anyone who wants to remove this". gets me every time i go to a JY and forget that little guy is under there.

On my engine i replaced it with a normal bolt. go figure it works just as well.

 

I thought about doing it but I never really cared as I try not to pull the intake off to often.
Trav