Vr inlet gasket replacement

[edals]

Hi Guys.

Here is a How To on changing the Inlet Gasket on a VR Commodore.
I am no qualified mechanic, so what you do is at your own risk, I take no responsibly in anything you attempt. This is a very time consuming Job, Took me me about 6 hours, Of course having a few drinks on the side :-)

Ok, So the parts you will Require.

New Inlet Gaskets, You can purchase These from holden OEM, They lasted a good 16 yrs so why not go OEM.
Gasket Silicon for the Inlet bolts.
About 3 Tins Of Carb Cleaner, YES IT WILL BE FILTHY!
Torque wrench for the inlet bolts, Even though i had to use a spanner got most as the injectors got in the way. But use it on ones you can use it with and get a idea on how tight to do them.
Razor Blade for removing old Gaskets.
Wire brush to clean Gasket Bolts.
Socket Set Both Metric and imperial.
Spanners Both Metric and imperial.
Screw drivers Both + & -
Coolant
2 x New Hose Connectors for inlet manifold. They will break for sure if they are old.
Holden Usually stock these as they fail all the time.
REPAIR MANUAL! A must Spend the $50. it will still be cheaper as most mechanics want $400 labour to do this job.

Ok Here we Go.

Disconnect Battery.

Removed Air intake Pipe.

Disconnect Vacuum Hoses & 2 Sensor Plugs from throttle Body. Removed Cruise control support Bar, Remove 2 x Nuts that hold the Throttle body. Then Simply Remove.

Remove Belt.

Disconnect Alternator Power Cables x 2. MAKE SURE THE BATTERY IS DISCONNECTED!
Removed the 2 bolts holding the alternator, Then Simply Lift it up.

Disconnect Both fuel Lines at both sides of the fuel Rail, The Fuel line will have a bit of pressure so take it slow and wear some safety goggles. Now you can just move the lines to the Side.

Disconnect the fuel injector cables, Use a flat head screw driver to remove the Metal clips. Now remove the Cables, Move the left side injector plugs around to the right and sit the cable to the front of the car, You don't want cables in the way.

Remove the left set of spark plug leads, and move them over the the right side with the others.

Remove Bottom Radiator hose, drain out all your oily coolant.

Remove Both Coolant Sensor cables from the front, Just where you removed the alternator.

Disconnect Both Radiator hoses front and back that go into the inlet manifold.

Remove Top rad hose and thermostat housing.

Disconnect Sensor cable located near the rear coolant hose.

Time to remove the Inlet manifold. Be sure everything is disconnected from it, Check many times as there are hidden hoses and sensors.

Remove All 10 Bolts from the inlet manifold.
Now simply rocket a little to break the seal. Then left upwards, may take a little bit of wiggling to get it up & out.

By this time it should look a little like this.







Take a Old towel, and rest it in the centre, This way when scraping off any crap it wont go all in your engine.
Use a razor blade and clean off any crap from both manifold and block.

Take your carby cleaner, and clean the inlet manifold, so looks nice and clean like this.



Spray some carb cleaner onto a rag and clean the rest off the crap off the block.

Now, Rub a very light amount of oil onto the new gaskets, so they can move a little when you seat the manifold back on, otherwise you may warp the new gaskets. Seat the new Gaskets, So they look like this, take Note from how the old gaskets came off.



Now replace both heater hose connectors on the manifold.

Now seat the manifold back onto the block.

Apply some gasket silicon to the bolt threads.

Install the bolts starting from the middle, and work your way out in a diagonal pattern. Tight between 8-12nm of torque, This is from a ellerys Manual.

Once all torqued. Simply Reverse the order you removed everything.


Don't forget to connect all hoses, Sensors.

I forgot one vacuum hose to the throttle body and it ran like a heap of crap and caused engine lights and stalled. So if this happens check over everything again. And my thermo

Flush the old coolant with the garden hose. Now fill it up with 5 litters of Coolant concentrate, then the rest with water. You can use de-mineral water if you wish.

Check over your work again. Jump in the car, and listen to your commie run fantastic again.

Hope this help guys, This is asked a lot and hope this will help you understand the work involved. But its very rewarding at the end. Let me know if i missed anything and ill correct it. But i think i got most of it covered.

Cheers.

[Chrispy]

Very good guide, noticed on the fuel part bit if you want to get rid of the pressure remove the fuel pump fuse and start the car, wait till it stalls then you should be good 2 go!

[edals]

Yeah i realised that but by that time i had already removed alot of gear lol. SO no drama if you dont do that first, just had a little bit of fuel dribble and that was it, but it sat over night so prolly lost pressure.

[Super_Low 91]

just done this to my VN last week,, wasn't as hard as i thought,, well done on the write up,,

[edals]

Well 3-4 Weeks on still going strong, No leaks or anything. Very Happy, Car runs so much better now :-)

[ZiggyB]

One of my holes on the bottom of the inlet manifold is blocked? square hole like where the coolant goes through, sits at rear right of engine when on. I can't see in the picture there, is this blocked on purpose? There was build up on block side as well but not completely. I also want to replace the plastic hose connections with the brass ones , any idea where to get them?

[edals]

Hey Mate, Not quite sure by what you mean with one of the holes are blocked as i have no pics to see.
As for the brass ones you can get them from Repco. I just got the plastic ones cause i just got it all from holden since all the auto parts places here are spread right out.

[ZiggyB]

Umm yeah sorry, bloody newbie's, the last pic on the thread has a view of coolant in the square hole, top left hand corner. My one was corroded somewhat but what it connects to on the inlet manifold was COMPLETELY blocked, almost looked like it was purposefully blocked but corroded badly. It chips away easily like the corroded hose connections i was talking about.

[edals]

AH ok got ya mate.
As far as i know it should not be blocked, But if its solid and needs to be chipped away thats a new one to me, i do know they do get blocked with sludge though.

[ZiggyB]

Cheers mate, great write up too, pity i didnt see it till now I'll just get another one.

[vxcalais_01]

I have never heard of putting oil onto a gasket surface, would this just cause more leaks in future ? Gasket dressing yes. I am sure there was a write up like this before on the same motor, and used sealant around oil and water holes and in corners where head meets front and rear edge.

[edals]

I have never heard of putting oil onto a gasket surface, would this just cause more leaks in future ? Gasket dressing yes. I am sure there was a write up like this before on the same motor, and used sealant around oil and water holes and in corners where head meets front and rear edge.

Hey Mate,

Well i asked the Guys at holden and thats what they told me todo, Its just the help the gaskets to be able to move while moving them into position and so they don't warp/distort. No They wont leak because when its tight hows anything going to get past? and no gasket sealant etc is required for the inlet gaskets as they are Rubber, not paper type.

[94VRtuff]

Umm yeah sorry, bloody newbie's, the last pic on the thread has a view of coolant in the square hole, top left hand corner. My one was corroded somewhat but what it connects to on the inlet manifold was COMPLETELY blocked, almost looked like it was purposefully blocked but corroded badly. It chips away easily like the corroded hose connections i was talking about.

Mine was like that to blocked off on the inlet manifold, i think they meant to be like it as mine was nice and smooth.

[edals]

Mine was like that to blocked off on the inlet manifold, i think they meant to be like it as mine was nice and smooth.

yeah i dunno, i just cleaned everything and did not take notice of it.

[Cheap6]

Umm yeah sorry, bloody newbie's, the last pic on the thread has a view of coolant in the square hole, top left hand corner. My one was corroded somewhat but what it connects to on the inlet manifold was COMPLETELY blocked, almost looked like it was purposefully blocked but corroded badly. It chips away easily like the corroded hose connections i was talking about.

Mine was like that to blocked off on the inlet manifold, i think they meant to be like it as mine was nice and smooth.

Yep, normal. Where there is corrosion it's sensible to clean then fill in the corroded part with silicone type sealant because while the corrosion will be mostly inside the gasket sealing surface you can't be certain that it will still be with a new gasket and the manifold in a slightly different place. If you were really keen, you could fill it with Devcon or similar but I've always just used some sealant. Use a razor blade to wipe it flush with the manifold surface.

I have never heard of putting oil onto a gasket surface, would this just cause more leaks in future ? Gasket dressing yes. I am sure there was a write up like this before on the same motor, and used sealant around oil and water holes and in corners where head meets front and rear edge.

I agree with not using oil. There should be nothing between the sealant or gasket and the metal surfaces otherwise you have already created a leak path before you start.

There should indeed be some sealant applied to the corners/ends of the gaskets where the heads meet the block. Apply a small bead in the corners before fitting the gaskets. A squirt of carb. cleaner and a scrub with an old toothbrush in the corners first will help the sealant stick to the metal.


Plastic fittings are better than brass in that they minimize corrosion due to the different metals setting up a Galvanic cell and that you can't damage the thread in a manifold with the plastic fittings.

GMH head stud sealer is perfect for sealing the bolts as is one of the Loctite or Permatex (same stuff) thread sealants. Both the male and female threads need to be clean for a good seal.

[wraith]

When you take the injector plugs off don't remove the clips. Push them in and it will come off. Saves you losing the clips.

[edals]

When you take the injector plugs off don't remove the clips. Push them in and it will come off. Saves you losing the clips.

Ah cheers mate, iv always removed the clips cause i tried once pushing them in and never came off

Works either way i guess.

Hope this how too has helped some of the guys here :-)

[edals]

Yep, normal. Where there is corrosion it's sensible to clean then fill in the corroded part with silicone type sealant because while the corrosion will be mostly inside the gasket sealing surface you can't be certain that it will still be with a new gasket and the manifold in a slightly different place. If you were really keen, you could fill it with Devcon or similar but I've always just used some sealant. Use a razor blade to wipe it flush with the manifold surface.



I agree with not using oil. There should be nothing between the sealant or gasket and the metal surfaces otherwise you have already created a leak path before you start.

There should indeed be some sealant applied to the corners/ends of the gaskets where the heads meet the block. Apply a small bead in the corners before fitting the gaskets. A squirt of carb. cleaner and a scrub with an old toothbrush in the corners first will help the sealant stick to the metal.


Plastic fittings are better than brass in that they minimize corrosion due to the different metals setting up a Galvanic cell and that you can't damage the thread in a manifold with the plastic fittings.

GMH head stud sealer is perfect for sealing the bolts as is one of the Loctite or Permatex (same stuff) thread sealants. Both the male and female threads need to be clean for a good seal.

Funny How asking for help first then after its done everyone comes pics holes in it all lol
Well putting oil on the rubber gaskets first is what i was told by several mechanics first, just so they can move a little and not warp while moving the manifold into place, makes sense cause if it was dry, you could end up warping the gasket and cause even more problems.
After 2 months the Coolant clean, theres no leaks at all. and i check the car weekly for fluid levels.
and for sealant, everyone told me theres no need so i did not put any in the corners as the gaskets interlock each other.

[ST8NIT]

good how to.i guess its up to urself to decide on which way to go with oil or sealent on the gaskets.i personally used permatex grey where the gaskets meet.tensining is extremly important tho over these an theyll snap an leave u where u started.

[Casslee]

I know this is quite old but is the set up the same with a VT

[Hot-Rod]

Check my thread dude. I wrote it up in the how to section. ATM is just below this thread.