Plenum pull and injectors in my near future...

[ram_g]

As the subtitle says, I've now R&R'd the plenum and the injectors. It's been raining nonstop so I haven't had the opportunity to test the new injectors, but basis the resistance values of the old ones, I think I will see a significant improvement.

First, some very general observations:
1) Marc Haibeck's plenum DVD is an absolute must and is worth its weight in gold. I transferred the DVD content to my ipad and had it as a reference the whole time. As well, historic posts on this forum were very valuable.
2) I'm not sure I've seen this mentioned anywhere else, but someone attempting this for the first time needs to be aware of their own physical limitations for the job. Plenum removal and subsequent work in the engine valley are not technically hard to do, but do involve a lot of bending and reaching over the tires. I am not proud to say this, but physically I am short and fat - clinically obese, to be honest. That makes it impossible for me to perch on the radiator or on the plenum itself as Marc does in his DVD, and bending over the tires for a significant duration put a strain on my lower back like I haven't felt in a while.

From a technical point of view, my two main difficulties were
a) R&R of the DIS connector in the back of the plenum. I simply could not reach down the back of the plenum with it in place, as Marc does. I had to move the plenum forward and cant it a bit to one side, to allow access for uninstallation and reinstallation. In the process of putting it back on, I dropped my long 1/4" socket into the valley and have not yet found it (separate thread on the topic).
b) R&R of the primary injector lower seals in the injector housings. Marc's DVD does not cover this. I had to resort to stabbing these with a pick to get them out, and came perilously close to dropping/pushing both old ones and new ones (in the process of installation) down the injector holes. Fortunately I was able to fish all of them out and everything worked out, but there were a few tense moments. Only afterwards did I realize that Jerry's website has instructions for this operation, including the pure genius step of using a tethered cotton ball to prevent any of these seals dropping into the hole. I found this too late for my work, but others should take note and download the instructions from Jerry's site.

One last observation, along the lines of technical difficulties. I bought and installed FIC injectors from Jerry's site - these were great, with the primary and secondary injectors separately bagged, with the primary ones already having the offset tab on the connector ground off, and only the secondary ones having the lower o-ring seals on the injectors themselves. Great, except that the injector bags were incorrectly labeled with "primary" and "secondary" interchanged! In researching this issue, I further found that MANY references in this forum are also incorrect - e.g. many references to the secondary injector connectors having the offset tab that must be ground flush. Both Marc's and Jerry's sites are correct and consistent - it is PRIMARY injectors that have the offending offset tabs, and the same PRIMARY injectors in the early cars that have the larger lower seal located in the injector housing, but as stated, the labeling of the FIC injectors was incorrect and many references in this forum are similarly incorrect. Not a very big deal because all you need to do is match like for like when R&R'ing them from the injector rail, but quite confusing if this is your first time and you're trying to follow all the instructions precisely "to the T".