LS1 - Part 3: Intake Plenum Removal

To remove the intake plenum, use your 10mm socket to remove the bolts along the sides of the fuel rails that hold it down, indicated by the red arrows in the pic below. Use the 10mm socket for the bolts indicated by the fingers in the pic below too.

Once those are unbolted, just lift the intake plenum right off:

Once the intake plenum is off, this is what you will see:

Pop off the black circular pads that are in the center of the intake valley plate, and you'll see the knock sensors in there.

You'll see that the sensors are held on by a clip (as indicated by the white arrow in the first pic below). Just pull them forward a little and off with your fingers.


Remove the assembly the knock sensors and the black caps are a part of and move them out of the way. Now if you look down into each of the knock sensor holes, you'll find a big bolt in each hole.

These bolts are holding down the intake valley plate. To unbolt them, I had to go to Sears Hardware and get a 12 point 22mm socket. It cost about $13. Then I unbolted them:

After that I thought the intake valley plate would be attached by a gasket or some sealant, so I grabbed my gasket scraper, which I got from Goodson for $7. You can see the part number on the plastic bag in the pic below.

I just stuck it in between the plate and jimmied it around to get the plate off.

Once it was detached, I just lifted the plate right off.


You can now see the camshaft. :) Next I'll talk about how to remove the coil pack assemblies and the valve covers.