A few weeks ago me and my friend decided to install my Skunk2 manifold that had been sitting in my closet for nearly a year The install was rather straightforward, without a doubt the hardest thing is scraping the old gasket off and is something most novice mechanics can do. Firstly, the install I'm covering was on a D16y8 SOHC VTEC, but most steps can be transfered to other engines.
I DON'T TAKE ANY RESPONSIBLITY FOR YOU WORKING ON YOUR OWN CAR. THE INFO I'M GIVING IS STRICTLY THE STEPS I TOOK. YOU MAY RUN INTO PROBLEMS, SUCH AS NEEDING TO RUN LONGER VACUUM LINES AND SUCH. IT IS STRICTLY UP TO YOU TO RESEARCH THE STEPS NEEDED FOR YOUR PATICULAR ENGINE

The first thing we did was take pictures of the original intake mani. That way if we got any lines crossed we could refer back to where they needed to go. Also collect all your parts needed. New manifold gasket and throttle body gasket, coolant, drain pan, etc. The rear disc swap is optional and was for another day



Remove the intake from the throttle body and also the strut bar if you have one. Be sure to disconnect the negative cable from your battery before strarting anything.



Jack the car up and begin by draining the coolant from the radiator. Once done, begin labeling all coolant and vacuum lines and remove them from the intake and throttle body. Next you need to undo the fuel rail. Relieve pressure by loosening the gas cap, then loosen the banjo bolt to the fuel filter using a 17 and 19mm wrench. Undo the banjo bolt on the fuel rail. Have a rag ready at each step to catch fuel which will leak. Don't worry, it won't be much





Once the fuel rail is undone, begin unbolting the few bolts holding the rail the the intake. Be sure to unclip the injectors and pull them off with the rail. Set the harness to the side out of the way.



At this point, you will need a beer. Stop and ejoy all your hard work so far. You earned it!!!!!


Now you can actually bening removing the manifold. Undo all bolts, usually 7 bolts on the block. It would be a good thing to get a Hayne's manual to get the proper pattern to follow, but for my engine you started with the center lower bolt, jumped to the upper left one closest to the center, then go to the next one on the right, back to the left, and keep following that pattern. Word of advice: Don't even try to catch the center bolt. It's going to fall. Buy a magnet wand from Auto Zone for this (you should have one anwyay, the thing is a lifesaver)



Now that all the bolts are undone, be sure to double check all hoses and lines are undone. Also be sure that any and all harness' are undone. Also, be sure to unbolt the manifold stay from underneath the car. Slowly lift the manifold from the block and it should come out cleanly. If not you didn't undo something. This happened to me, so don't feel bad At this point you should have a clean looking engine bay.



Now the bitch work. Scrape the old gasket from the block. It's going to take a while, it's going to be a pain. No way around it. If someone knows a shortcut, PLEASE post it. Also be sure to grab another beer because you are going to be scraping for awhile

Now all that's left is to bolt the fuel rail, throttle body, and any relative sensors to the new manifold. Install the new gaskets. I put a new Hondata Manifold gasket down, not only b/c of it's power gains, but because it's reusable and next time you swap, you won't have to scrape it off Run all coolant lines and vacuum lines and bolt the new manifold following the same pattern of center, left, right, left, etc. Also don't forget the manifold stay underneath. This is where we ran into problems...

First problem we had was that the throttle body stay holes wouldn't line up. You can drill a new hole, but we just used one bolt and I haven't had any problems yet.


Second was, like stated, one vacuum line wasn't long enough to reach the new mani. Just go to Auto Zone and buy a foot of 9mm or 15mm hose, depending on application. You can use that to run any lines that are too short


Now you should be done. Be sure to tighten the fuel filter bolt and gas cap, and double check all bolts and hoses. Refilll your coolant. Reconnect the battery last since you are messing with gas. When you first go to crank the engine up, it may take a few seconds to kick over. Remember you undid the fuel system so it takes a few for the fuel to get back flowing. Hopefully if everything is hooked up right she'll idle fine. If you get an eratic idle or the engine cranks then stalls, you have a vacuum line disconnected somewhere. Be sure to double check for leaks from the fuel rail and filter. If everything seems okay, take her for a test drive and check everything out. Hopefullly everything works! After you drive it for a few hours be sure to go back and retighten everything. Double check nothing has come loose. If you have a supercharger, torque your bolts and extra 10 or 15% since you don't want to take the supercharger off to do so.

Congratulations! That's it Hopefully everything works out for you and hopefully I didn't forget any steps If anyone has anything to add please feel free to do so