Just bought a 1996 GT and learned about the potential intake manifold crack problem. Only 50k miles right now. I read the alternator puts a lot of stress on the casting, is there anything we can do to strengthen the area of this part? Don't want to change it out a manifold if I don't have to. Thanks.

 

The area of failure on the all plastic manifolds is within the coolant crossover section on the front of it. The heater hose nipple, located toward cylinder #4 can also be a weak point. The alternator being mounted to it is no problem, that's really just a secondary mounting point anyway; the main thing holding the alternator in place are the two bolts on the bottom that thread into the timing cover.

 

Thanks. If anyone has any experience with this, or some sort of remedy short of replacing the part, I would be grateful.

 

I've read that the plastic cracking is not 100% inevitable. You can continue get many, many miles out of the stock manifold, just so long as you NEVER let it run low on coolant or allow it to overheat for any reason.

As for personal experience, I can tell you that I had a '96 Thunderbird that made it past 175,000 miles before it cracked.

 

Thanks. We were planning on taking it racing, but now I am entirely unsure.

Was thinking of a low temp thermostat but now afraid to torque the gooseneck housing. Also pitched some water wetter in there before we learned about the intake issue. What do y'all think? Thermostat replace or not? Racing at the drag strip?

 

Never mind on the thermostat as I learned it doesn't control the ceiling temp. I'm just wondering if anyone with the defective intake still raced their car. How concerned should I be if I keep an eye on engine temp?

 

If it's good right now then leave it alone. The all plastic one on my car survived 10+ years of SoCal heat and quite a bit of "unsanctioned" racing. I had to replace it last year due to breaking the heater hose nipple, which broke while lifting/tilting the engine for some exhaust work I was doing and had forgotten to remove the heater hose from the nipple first. Otherwise it would still be on there and going strong.

If you do have to replace it someday it really isn't a bad job. First one I did (someone elses car) took about 3 hours. Did mine in under 2 hours. It's pretty easy, just need a torque wrench and follow the correct bolt tightening sequence.

And yeah, don't mess with the T stat. Leave the stock 195'er in it. If you try to put in a 180 or 160 it will just **** off the PCM unless you have some tuning revisions done to accommodate that change.

 

Thanks - Just needed that re-assurance. I had a Corvette stingray just a few years ago that spouted coolant (common for small block intakes) and I just don't have the time or energy to do that again right now.