vortec intake manifold question

[xtreme.97]

aight guys i think i'm in over my head. so basically, my intake manifold gasket was leaking, pouring coolant into the oil. i bought the felpro kit and started pulling everything apart. now i'm no mechanic by any means, but i know how to use a wrench (more into the suspension/wheels/tires part of it cuz thats what i do for a living). long story short, the quick disconnect fitting broke off in the manifold (yes, i know!). problem is, the previous owner apparently had a leak and used solder to seal it so after i got the rest of the fitting out of the manifold, there is still all the solder in the threads. my truck never did get good mpg (its on 37s) so this got me thinking instead of dealing with trying to tap out solder, just replace the manifold (great opportunity to upgrade to a performance part right?). but i can't find anything. this seems to be kind of an in depth issue. i'm not racing the truck, just thinking about replacing the intake manifold because of the broken fitting and trying to see if i could pick up a few ponies/mpgs without going to far (marine manifold is out of the question). any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! and sorry for the long post, just had to vent a little!

 

[Markv]

Are u talking about the water inlet at the back of the intake?

 

[dirtridinz71]

Wouldnt heating up the solder with a torch be able to clean the threads out?

 

[xtreme.97]

its the heater hose that connects at the front of the manifold. yeah i could try heating up the solder and removing it, but i was trying to see if there were any aftermarket replacements that might give me a little more hp/mpg. i don't wanna get crazy and have to have custom tunes or anything, just a direct bolt in that would flow better. everything i see as far as aftermarket is for carb or tbi. if there isn't an aftermarket parts then i'll see what my options are as far as repairing my factory manifold, i just thought this might be a good opportunity for a simple upgrade. anyone know of any aftermarket options? or even a factory part that might flow better? my buddy thought that if it would fit, something from the ls engines might work...

 

[bump530]

those fittings get brittle over time and break very easily. I had to break as much of mine out as i could and then run a tap in the threads to clean it out.

 

[RHamill]

The quick disconnect fitting on the Vortec intakes are very visible on the front of the intake, I know the OP knows this, but you TBI guys, yours is closer to the firewall than the radiator.

Ive never seen or heard of anyone getting that Quick Disconnect fitting out without breaking it, I didn't even want to do mine when my intake gasket blew, I took it in, saved myself the trouble. If you do replace it, get the old style with the nipple you slide the hose over and use a hose clamp, even if you get a new intake, do the same, it will save you the trouble in the future if a hose ever blows.

I dont know what to tell you on the intake, if you want an aftermarket one, do some research, on Google or something and see what others have to say about it, it will usually direct you to links on this forum or a lot of others where the question may have been covered already.

 

[Aloicious]

to answer the OP's question about a replacement manifold, there isn't one for the vortec.

there are alot of possible options out there like the marine, ramjet, and any number of custom manifolds, but absolutely NOTHING is just a bolt on, every one of them requires varying amount of fabrication and alteration to work correctly. and since you mentioned that the marine is out of the question, then all the other options will be as well because the marine is the most 'bolt on' of them all. and even if there was a simple bolt on one, it would still require at least some kind of tuning change anyways.

so I'd start looking at fixing your stock manifold.

 

[Sully]

i got mine out without breaking it in one of my intakes.... the other one not so much



OP, I have a stock vortec intake upper and lower I can sell if you want

 

[xtreme.97]

thanks aloicious, thats what i needed to know! guess i'll start tryin to fix it or searching junkyards. sully thanks for the offer, but shipping to georgia would probly cost more than i could buy one for. i would jump on it if u were closer though!