Fumbling with intake manifold removal

I'm trying to take off the intake manifold. Thus far I've removed most the smaller vac lines, the fuel rail and injectors, the BPT valve (what the heck is that thing for again?), some kind of air valve, and the radiator hoses.

I've taken off the top three nuts/bolts holding the manifold on, and two of the three lower ones. There is a large black bracket mounte kind of underneath the throttle body, and it appears to have two bolts holding it to the manifold, and the manifold to the head. It's at a weird angle.

So what's the best way to remove one of these manifolds?

So what's the best way to remove one of these manifolds?
With the engine out of the car :laugh:

With the engine out of the car :laugh:

:hit:

Lol

You need to grow a couple of elbows somewhere between your existing elbow and your wrist. If you can't grow a set try breaking your arms in several places and re-setting the bones at funny angles, its a great party trick! Seriously though, I took the intake manifold of my ca20e and it was 31 flavors of suck. Its a bunch of fighting and bitching and skinned knuckles and grease in the cuts to get that thing off. Sadly there is no real easy way to get that thing out so I wish you the best of luck. Oh yeah and get a set of flex sockets, your gonna need them for all those bolts down there.

Sad to say......but the easiest way just might be taking the whole head off with the intake mani, exhaust mani, and turbo attached. Disconnect the O2 pipe from the exhaust, unhook a few electrical connectors, rad hoses, and head bolts.....and whola......there you go.
Have you tried gaining access to the lower nuts from under the car?
I don't have a clue how to go about it. When I took mine off, it was when I was assemblying my new motor.....and even then with the engine sitting on the floor, it was stil a bit tricky to take the intake mani off.

When I removed mine i took the head off but left the exhaust manifold on the car, its tight but an be done (you have to unbolt the turbo oil feed too). When I had it on my bench it looked like it would be almost impossible to either remove or replace the manifold while the head was on the car.

C'mon guys, I've seen them pulled off at the junkard without removing the head, and the manifold is just lying there. That's how I got mine. So it can be done.

Yeah but open heart surgery can also be done.

Which intake mani are we talking about? CA18ET?

EDIT: Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question but arro has been talking about the CA20E mani for a bit latly and I just wanna make sure before I comment.

Yes, CA18ET intake manifold. I am trying to remove it.

The CA20E intake manifold will then be put on.

OK. Well I've only taken off a CA20E mani while the engine sat in the engine bay, but I'd have to assume that Nissan would not make removal of the intake mani and engine pulling job or a head pulling job for that matter.

From what I have read Arro, you have all of the bolts that hold the mani on out except one? If so, you need to take that one out and then remove the pipe that connects the egr valve to the back of the cylinder head.

Now about that pipe, The nut of the end of it is something like 24 mm or maybe even bigger, I can't remember. You need a big wrench for it or a big monkey wrench (Adjustable) which may not give you enough room to get any movement of the wrench while it's on the nut. I think I may have tried this before I had my engine out....with no luck. My suggestion is to try it and see if you can get to work or see about buying/borrowing a stubby wrench of the size you need, if they even make such a tool. Or if worst comes to worst, make a tool that will work.

I don't remember it being that much of a pain... I think I got it ouf in a few minutes... You'll probably need a few tools, I can't remember exactly how I did it, but I can bet I used the following

Ratcheting 5 degree box end wrench...

http://gearwrench.com/images/gearwrench.jpg

I've got a set of the reversibles... top left... they're AWESOME!! If you don't have a set, buy one... they're sold at lots of places, including Home Depot (got mine on sale last Christmas).

Also, you'll probably need a 3/8" Universal Joint, and a long extension...

I'm fairly certain, I removed the battery, over flow tank, and windshield washer resevoir... probably removed the manifold as a hole, and cut the lines underneath as they were old anyway... if you're trying to slowly remove the hoses and all, its obviously going to take longer... =(

Hope this helps. I can remember putting the 20E in wasn't hard... I did pull the support bracket out first off right away when I was removing the manifold though... never put it back either... lol... weight savings... hehe.

I have all but the EGR tube off. The manifold is held on by eight (I think) 12mm bolts. Two of these also hold on a black center bracket that I believe is specific to the CA18ET intake manifold. You must use a universal joint with a 3/8" drive.

Ok so once I get the right sized wrench to take off the EGR, Ill be home free. Only problem is the wiring harness. I'll get to that in another post.

I have all but the EGR tube off. The manifold is held on by eight (I think) 12mm bolts. Two of these also hold on a black center bracket that I believe is specific to the CA18ET intake manifold. You must use a universal joint with a 3/8" drive.
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Where is this bracket? Are you talking about the one right behind where the pop-up valve screws down....and the other end bolts to the head?
Or
the manifold stay that connects to the side of the intake mani with 2 bolts at the top, and one bolt down at the engine mount?

In any case you should be able to get to the bolts on both of these brackets easily, if it's one of these 2 brackets......I did anyway with just a 1/4 inch drive socket wrench , and an open end wrench.

No, I did get everything off but the EGR tube like I said. The bracket I referred to is underneath the TB. I had no problem with the one underneath the manifold. Or the other one for that matter, once I got the right tools.

Hmmm, I don't have any black brackets under the TB.....only bracket I have in that area is the fuel rail bracket mount....and it's brass color like the rest of the fuel rail.
Sorry.....just trying to help as it's still pretty fresh in my head from re-assemblying my ca18 a few months back.....but I'm certain I don't have any black brackets below the tb

No, I did get everything off but the EGR tube like I said. The bracket I referred to is underneath the TB. I had no problem with the one underneath the manifold. Or the other one for that matter, once I got the right tools.I have (had actually) the same thing...I have no idea why it was there, but I took it off, and my car has yet to discintigrate, so it could not have been that important...

The only thing it is good for is getting in your way as you try to get off the bottom right bolt on the TB...here is a pic of the thing...Stupid pic doesn't want to work right now...I will post it later...

Got the stupid thing to work...here it is...BTW this picture really makes it look obscure...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/teamfrost/TBbracket.jpg

that's the one, yep. Wasn't hard at all once I got a universal joint on a short extention with a 12mm.It's also totally useless as you stated.:dontknow:

nope.........mine doesn't have a bracket like this below the throttle body............although this bracket looks very similar to the one I have that bolts back behind the intake mani near the pop-up valve location, and the other side connects to the head right behind the valve cover.