Howdy All,

A while ago I had some work done on my car (94 TS Wagon 4cyl auto) that involved removing the intake manifold - and the mechanic didn't put the 2 brackets back - he reckons that they are such a pain and are overkill/not required as the manifold itself is strong enough.

Wondering what anyone else thought about this? Unfortunately he actually grinded away the inner bracket (which you can't get back in [or out, hence the grinding]) without pulling the intake manifold itself in half again/doing the gasket/etc.

While it "seems" fine .. wondering if this is really "extra dodgy" (as it feels) and maybe I should look at sorting out to replace it or if it would be fine otherwise to ignore now it's done.

+10 points to learning lots and getting to a point where I can do some of this stuff myself at some point!

Cheers,
Trent

If these are the brackets im thinking of, I dont have mine either, havent for years. Can you post up a pic to confirm please?

If these are the brackets im thinking of, I dont have mine either, havent for years. Can you post up a pic to confirm please?

Hrm that sounds good.. ;) I just get nervous when I hear stuff like that as much as logically I can see the sense.

I don't have a PIC but essentially one of them sat inside the manifold piping and among other things a little bit hangs off for the knock sensor wire to hang onto (which was cut off and put back) .. the other was sortof a square-ish T-shape and they were gold-ish in colour (brass-ish?) ... first thing he had to take off to get the manifold out.

Wouldn't worry to much but maybe get him to put in writing free labor and or parts if it stuffs up? see what he says?

There are many parts on a car that can be removed with out to many problems. As the cars are sold all over the world and in many different terrains and climates the manufacturer has to build for the worst case scenario. That said if it was my car i would have expected a phone call from the mechanic saying the brackets may cost ex to replace as there a pain but should be ok without them, what do you want to do?


If he did'nt call and just said thats it! i'd get a new mechanic! its like saying you only drive slow so we put in a smaller fuel pump because it was easier!

you will find the brackets are there for when the engine is out of the car, or because its common to use manifolds to lift engines. IF you arent going to be lifting it out then i wouldnt bother, just make sure people who work on it (if thats ever the case) know about it.

Wouldn't worry to much but maybe get him to put in writing free labor and or parts if it stuffs up? see what he says?

There are many parts on a car that can be removed with out to many problems. As the cars are sold all over the world and in many different terrains and climates the manufacturer has to build for the worst case scenario. That said if it was my car i would have expected a phone call from the mechanic saying the brackets may cost ex to replace as there a pain but should be ok without them, what do you want to do?


If he did'nt call and just said thats it! i'd get a new mechanic! its like saying you only drive slow so we put in a smaller fuel pump because it was easier!

Nah I was aware he was doing it .. I was just a bit nervous about it but decided to let him go with him deferring to his likely wisdom .. but I'm a bit of a perfectionist sometimes I like to try and do thing "right" and this is "not right" ;) .. but seems like it should be OK.

The rear bracket is easy to get on/off. Just pull the driveshaft out and use a flexible drive to get to the top nuts. Any mechanic with a bit of determination could do it. A lazy mechanic with an angle grinder is another story though lolz

No, honestly, that bracket - assuming you mean the one that goes from near the engine mount to the bottom of the EFI manifold - is a major pain, best tackled with the engine out. Took me a week and Madmagna's advice to get it off and on when I did a clutch replacement. If I was in a hurry I'd use an angle grider too, but then I would worry about:
(a) The weight of the manifold compressing the intake gasket and causing air leaks.
(b) The weight of the manifold pulling the studs out of the head - the head design dates back to the 1850 cc motor of the Sigma with a lighter manifold and carb, and was never designed or strengthened to carry a huge lump of alloy in the TS.

These engines do not lift on the manifold and the brackets are not there for that reason at all. Do you really think mits would put the brackets there "incase" the engine was lifted by a manifold instead of the engine lift points?

They are there to keep the manifold in place and take load off the lower section as there is a lot of manifold hanging on there.

While there is really no issue with taking the brackets off, they really should be there