I took off my throttle body yesterday and was in horror.

I have a 302 in a Full size bronco and the blow by is pretty bad... (maybe 1 quart every 15000 miles... but im not sure cuz i change it ever 3-4k)

But anyway, i took it off and my intake was caked in black soot... I got a thick brush and some throttle body and intake cleaner and started brushing but i could only reach so far in.

I then put it all togeather and started it and it was blowing smoke like I just poped a valve guide or something, 5 mins later... not a puff of smoke (PHEW!!! that stunk and scared the crap outtie me!)

But Im just wondering how hard is it to take the upper intake off? And how to clean it? Should I buy a REALLY powerful degresser and soak it in a laundry tub for a few hours or spray and scrub it with something? And what kinda brush would get into the runners?

Also while im in there should I take a look at anything for wear or take anything else off to clean?

Ive never done this but looking forward to it! It was about 1/16 and inch thick all around.

Any tips/info will be greatly appreicated!

Adam

 

It aint hard, but you know whats gonna happen once you take it off and clean it, your gonna see the lower, and want to clean it, when you have it off, your gonna see the mess under it and really wanna clean that, then your gonna wonder about under the valave covers, and then all tht stuff is gonna get dropped into the pan, so before ou know it, your rebuilding your engine.

But if you want to, the only tricky spot is the torx headed bolt inside center. It takes a 1/4 drive torx socket to fit in there with a long extension. I bought on just for this, as none of our sets had one small enough to fit between the runners.

I did a chevy swap few weeks ago, I had to pull intake to swap it over, man this was the worse Ive ever seen. I filled a gojo can from under the intake , people never change their oil! I see it all the time, then when the motor goes they say wonder why, problem for us that do, is we get them that way, and just dont know it.

 

So you would say if im just a backyard mechanic and I dont wanna rebuild my engine (well i do, just dont have time) i should not do it?

I know about the huge build up in the valve covers, but is it the same with the upper and lower? Or can those be cleaned w/o aything falling into the chamber?

Thanks guys,

Adam

 

A wire toilet brush, the kind with plastic bristles on a looped wire core will get in there if you cut it off the handle and straighten it out. Carburetor cleaner cuts that stuff pretty good. Spray it and let the stuff run out, let it dry, brush out residue.
I had mine tanked at the machine shop, but didn't like the results. It messed up the exterior finish and left quite a bit of residue inside, so I won't try that again. I wound up doing the brush thing, anyway.

 

Did you just take it off the engine, or did you leave it on there?

And would sears/Craftsmen have a really long 1/4" torx or would I just get a skinny torx with a skinny extension?

Adam

 

I wouldn't clean it without taking it off. If it's running good, I wouldn't mess with it just for that, only if it had to come off for some other reason.

 

Placing the upper intake back on the lower intake is a pain with only one set of hands.
It's difficult not to mess up the gasket even when it's tacked in place.
That aluminum isn't really heavy, but hold it at arm's length in front of you and try to line up the holes and it gets difficult.

I didn't notice much difference when I cleaned mine about a week ago except for the leaks that were fixed with the new gasket. The last mechanice that worked on my 86 302 apparently had a difficult time with the gasket. I identified 6 small breaks in the gasket that really messed up the idle on my truck.

Cleaning might be easier if you remove the two plugs in the back end of the intake. They look like frost plugs and face the firewall. I assume that they cam be removed, but finding the right size replacements may be a chore.