Intake gasket and exhaust manifold leaking....

[countrycoy]

I have a 1996 impala with 147,000 miles. Mostly stock, msd distributor, corvette starter, and flow master exhaust. I failed my emissions test here in md and I took my car to the delear to see why.... Here are my problems
1. Intake gasket leaking (est-$650)
2. Exhaust manifold gaskets are leaking (3 bolts broken off in cylinder heads est-$950).

He stated that it might be a little more if one of the cylinders need to be replaced.

Are these prices generally reasonable? Is it worth fixing or should I buy a new engine? Any shops in md that do good work you
Would refer me to?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated, I want to keep the car till I die and want it back in tip top condition. Budget is really $950-1300, 1500$ max

[Goldmaster]

Those prices sound like a total rip off IMO. If you know someone that can weld, have them weld a nut to the broken studs after removing the ex manifold, and you should be able to turn them right out. Or just try an exhaust shop who would deal with this issue more often, I'm sure it will be a lot cheaper.

I'd shop around on the intake gasket replacement if it's not something you would want to try yourself. All kinds of info on the forum about replacement. But you should be able to get it done for a lot less if you look around. Hell, if you were closer I'd do it for you on the cheap.

[Crime Scene 96]

You could do the intake gaskets yourself, its not hard, just time consuming. You could save yourself about $550 of those dollars if you want to take on the challenge with the intake. Otherwise at these prices you could opt for a known working motor for around $300-$500, and another $400-$700 for the R&R.

[Crime Scene 96]

+1 with Goldy. Those prices are really steep!!!

[countrycoy]

I knew they where high just didn't know how high, I'm going to shop around and do some reasearch and find a good shop with a good price. It's a daily driver and I don't have the space, time or patience to try it myself. Thanks for the response...

[96 Black]

http://www.impalassforum.com/vBullet...archid=3418953

Quite a good amount of collected knowledge free for the asking. Paying anyone else to do my work was never an option starting out. And if you expect to keep the rig until you die then no time like the present to dig in and learn its innards.

A couple hours pouring over the linked info along with $80 of handtools $50 in parts and a Saturday (maybe Sunday) and you can easily complete the intake and exhaust all by yourself. Add a case of beer (or Jolt/MD if you're of a certain age ) and you'll likely accumulate some friends who are impressed by your mad skills and willing to help make the day go faster. And you don't need no stinkink space for this kind of work. And patience is overrated when working on American iron.

ps-you get to keep the tools. HTH Looking to hear how it turns out.

[Rocko350]

Depending where you are located, in MD, there are a few that do work on the side. Fill out your user CP and maybe someone local might be able to help. A haynes manual is a great first information resource for doing the intake. go to a pawn shop for the tools. Save dough where you can. Pay for the goods if you have too. A mobile equipment repair machinist that i know will come and remove the bolts for 80 for the first and 20 for the rest. Guaranteed extraction. Get the manifold out of the way and let him work.

Chris

[4DoorSS]

Originally Posted by Rocko350

A mobile equipment repair machinist that i know will come and remove the bolts for 80 for the first and 20 for the rest. Guaranteed extraction. Get the manifold out of the way and let him work.

Chris

That's a Great Service that I never heard of. I once had to pull a head and take to a machine shop to have some Bolts extracted. Would have gladly payed $80 to have someone come to my Garage and pull those. The amount of time, labor, added cost and aggrevation would have been worth every penny. He!!, I would have bought Lunch too .

Looking at the repair co$t$ in the OP's first post, you can see why it pays to do this stuff yourself and it can be fun to learn. Those prices do seem high but I think you mentioned it was a dealer. Think of the Hundred$ you could save to do yourself. I would not worry about the replacing cylinder or whatever they mentioned. First do a compression check on all 8 Cylinders and if things look good, get the bolts extracted and start wrenching. All the otherstuff is just bolt on remove/install items. Assuming you the place to park the car and slowly do some work and learn. Get a manual as others have mentioned and you always have the ISSF here to help.

Edit -
[QUOTE=countrycoy;2631168He stated that it might be a little more if one of the cylinders need to be replaced.

[/QUOTE]

That sounds like a really "Fishy" statement to me. Never heard of having to replace a Cylinder before. Wonder how the repair shop came to that conclusion? I would run away from that place fast.

[minimalist]

It's your money but I found the intake to be rather simple job done in a day saving me $500.

I've done exhaust manifold gaskets on a suburban, even easier although I didn't have to deal with broken bolts.