I forgot about the stud thing - it was something like 5 years ago. I need to look in there and see what I did - but I do remember something about tapered washers.

 

RigCity, I apologize for the derailment of your post, but feel the experiences of the others here is very valuable when considering the billet plenum covers.

John, just to be clear.

1. Are the required bolts (ones you milled) included with the kit now or were you saying they are not included, even now?

2. AIH relay needs to be deleted?

3. Delete fuel line clamp, unless something is fabricated like you did in order to keep the clamp?

4. What did you do with, or how did you cap off the harness wires that went to the AIH relay?

 

I couldn't keep my nut and bolt holder on top of the A/C compressor like you do, they'd end up all over the place.

 

I don't know if they are included now. My last conversation with Clay ended as usual- he's satisfied and has no intention of making any changes. He may have changed his mind, but I certainly can't change his mind, LOL.

I believe his words were something like, "...assuming anyone who orders the kit has already removed the AIH and that clamp"

Without making your own bolts and washers, there isn't anywhere to mount the AIS solenoid. Mine still has the solenoid, which I will be deleting. I've removed the heater part.

Correct.

I have seen enclosed junctions for wires- essentially a bolt with a nice cover over it so it doesn't touch anything- but haven't "re-found" the link to order one yet, LOL.

When I do, I will order that part to keep the ends on the stock wiring, just in case I ever want to reinstall the AIS. It also has some additional wires on it, not sure what all may be junctioned on the solenoid itself, I have to look into that.

Here's a pic of the AIS solenoid and you can see how some of the new studs are used. I am adding a close up of the mod I made to the fuel clamp to prevent rubbing.




@ RigCity- Hopefully these pics and the info/tips will save you some time and let you plan ahead for how you'll deal with things you might encounter.

It really isn't a bad job. Ignoring the stud/washer/mounts issues, the most difficult part was installing the orings on the new plenums. Take your time, work it into the grooves, push or pull it some (like spreading pizza dough on a pan, stretch or bunch so no thin spots) and get it all to fit nicely. I had my daughter hold the one section in place so I didn't pull it out of the groove as I worked my way to the other end.

I tried to keep an even thickness and tension on the orings all the way around the plenum. It is really an impressive part. I'd buy them again, even if it didn't come with any bolts

If you need more tapered washers like I did, take note that I drilled the heads of tapered bolts and popped off the shaft, which made perfect tapered washers. Metric all-thread would work nicely for the studs. I had longer bolts here I cut the heads off, but it is what I had around after the far-from-me box stores didn't have what I needed.

Any questions, just give a yell. If there is something that can go wrong, I've probably already done it! LOL.

 

Magnetic

 

When I purchased my billet plenums from Riffraff a couple years ago for my excursion it came with a bolt kit and spacer kit for the GPCM bracket. I didn't have to add anything else as I had already deleted my AIH plug years before and my passenger side fuel line had already been replaced and I just pulled off the clip that rubs through.

Riffraff Diesel Billet Intake Manifold Plenums for Ford 7.3L 94-03

 

From the link:

But should read: ...AIH solenoid, AIH ground, and passenger...
Good on Clay for adding this note!

 

I forgot to add a couple things.

1. The GPCM (Excursions only) mounting bracket needed studs, too. Otherwise it would have been directly against the plenum. If ever removing the bracket...say to service the HPOP fitting on the head side for example...you would have to remove the bolts that hold the plenum seal.

Here's a pic of that from the RRD install instructions (I haven't checked, but Clay said he was going to update them to remove this step as the kits don't have the parts any more)




2. I used double-nuts to make my threads into studs (jam nuts). So on my studs, the order goes Head, Plenum, tapered washer, washer, two opposing nuts (so I can tighten the stud using the top nut without holding the threads = good and solid with a fixed length of stud into the head), mounting bracket of whatever, washer, nut.

I hope this makes better sense.

Bottom line, once I put the intake plenums on, I am not planning on ever removing their sealing bolts. It's likely I'll have to remove AIH solenoid or GPCM bracket at some point. (I think I am going to remove AIH solenoid altogether soon).

Sure, it was a royal PIA and unwelcomed surprise while attempting to reassemble, but this is why we share our builds with so many pics. I benefit constantly from the experiences of those who have gone before and been so kind as to document and share their ups and downs.

Every once in a while it even leads to improvements in the products our vendors carry, too

 

For some reason my gut tells me not to delete that passenger's side bracket for the fuel line on the head. Maybe it's because I've driven diesels too long and to me they are just vibration machines...the run for that line is pretty long and those Parker sleeves aren't very...eeeee what's the word for it...sturdy?

 

Yep. And it takes about a minute to modify- especially while everything is out of the way to do the plenums.

If the clamps vibrate through the line over time, what do you thing happens when the unsecured line vibrates against the plenum, pedestal, GPCM bracket, or whatever?


But either way, if someone is interested, they can check out an option to keep the clamp and other brackets and retain the full-time, non-remove-necessary plenum bolts. Might not be important to some guys, but it was for me. Do what suits you and your truck

I don't think we have a single identical truck + mods amongst all of our brotherhood! LOL.

 

The fuel line bracket (answer provided by ExPA), the AIH relay connections from the OEM harness and the GPR mounting are all in question right now in my opinion. I am going to head over to RiffRaff when I get the chance and go through the instructions to see what Clay recommends to do with these 3 points of discussion.

EDIT: I just took the below instructions directly from the RiffRaff site. http://www.riffraffdiesel.com/conten...structions.pdf

21) Clean the head to plenum surface and remove the protective
rags. Install the plenums on each head using the 8 mm x 1.25
hardware. Use the 30mm long bolts in the thick portion and the
25mm long bolts in the reduced area. (Fig 7) If you have a
GPR/AIH Relay bracket, insert (3) 50mm studs at the location
shown (Fig 8). If you utilize the fuel line clamp on the passenger
head, insert a stud in that location. On the drivers side, insert a
stud in the forward lower location for the AIH ground wire.

22) Torque the bolts to 89 In‐Lb.

23) At the stud locations, install the supplied countersink spacers.

24) Install the GPR/AIH Relay bracket, fuel line clamp, and AIH
ground wire using the OEM nuts removed previously. Tighten
to 89 In‐Lb.

 

That is exactly what I read when I just got my kit last week. I’m about to dive in and do a bunch of stuff this weekend and these plenums are one of them. Going to go check my kit now because I’m worried I don’t have all the required hardware when I thought it was all included. I’ll report what I find.

 

I remember the instructions saying there are studs for the fuel line and AIH ground wire but there weren't in my kit, I called and was told that they don't supply them anymore because they feel they are not needed. I asked that they change the instructions to not say they were included but was blown off. I rerouted the ground wire for the AIH to the A/C compressor mount.

 

Here’s the kit.
So appears to be no studs. I do have three long bolts with a non threaded section. Any idea where to use these? There is also only three included spacers and it mentions places for 5 in the instructions. Guess I’m gonna need to make some studs?

 

Okay, I found my writeup...

Start at this post and read through a couple and decide if you want to do

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post17187959

Posts #69-#77 when I finished them.

M8x60mm long ...the other details are all in there, ask questions if you need to

Glad you noticed before you had it all torn down. Now to ask yourself if it matters if you don't use studs. It did to me, especially being an Excursion and a Saturday