92 Festiva - Intake Plenum Bolt Problem - Suggestions??

[FestivaLAqua]

I'm trying to change the fuel pressure regulator on my 92 engine. My old Ford manual says that the intake plenum (upper part of the intake manifold) should be removed from the lower part of the intake manifold after fuel pressure is relieved. Then the fuel return hose can be disconnected and the regulator removed.

The intake plenum has four bolts. I was able to remove the two center 12M wrench size bolts from underneath the engine. They were normal flange bolts. But, the two fasteners on the end of the plenum are studs with nuts attached on the bottom. (Att picture 987) So my wrench just removes the nuts leaving the two studs that have probably been in there since '92. There's about 8mm of stud thread left after the nuts are removed. (Att. picture 993) The studs are 8M x 1.25 x 25mm

The bolt on the driver's especially is not very accessible so I'm pretty sure my vice grips ain't gonna help.

Has anyone had to deal with this before? Any suggestions??

[Eaglefreek]

The studs are in your upper plenum. Once you remove the bolts and nuts, tap the upper with a rubber mallet or your hand and it should pull off.

[1990new]

With the nuts off shouldn't you be able to just pull the plenum up and off leaving the studs in the plenum?

[FestYboy]

there are 5 fasteners for the plenum...

[1990new]

there are 5 fasteners for the plenum...

You are correct.

[FestivaLAqua]

I only removed two of the three inside bolts. So, it looks like I'm just about there. All I have to do is remove that center bolt and pull the plenum off! Good news. Thanks to all three of you for your quick responses.

[TominMO]

The FPR is on the return fuel line, going back to the tank. It is very accessible from the top of the car. I don't understand why you need to mess with pulling the intake manifold at all, to get the FPR off.

1. Take the gas cap off, to help relieve pressure.
2. Put a rag or something on the line you are removing, to catch the spray from the pressurized fuel.
3. Remove regulator.

[skeeters_keeper]

I was thinking the same thing Tom... you don't need to remove the upper plenum in order to change the FPR. It's just two bolts and one hose connection. Perhaps the manual is suggesting to remove the upper plenum in order to get the whole fuel rail out, in that case it can make your life easier, but still isn't absolutely necessary.

[FestivaLAqua]

TominMO & skeeters_keeper - It's probably a lot easier to just remove the FPR. But, as you can see from my question and the responses above, I haven't tried this before. (I thought those outer plenum bolts were threaded into the lower manifold!!!) Also, I'm not sure about whether I can get to that FPR inner bolt with my sockets. So, I'm going to go by the book on this one. If there's next time, I'll try the easy way.
TominMO - Removing the gas cap sure would have been a lot easier than pulling the connector on the fuel pump to stall the engine. I will also open the cap just in case. And, I'll remember that one for next time.

Thanks for the practical advice. I may be back for some more help if changing that FPR doesn't improve my engine's idle.

[FestivaLAqua]

Update: I raised and repositioned the plenum without disconnecting the two hoses that connect to the coolant supply pipes. That allowed me to easily access the FPR with my tools. So, I did not need to drain the radiator (also recommended in the 92 Ford manual). Before removing the plenum I found that it is also attached to a bracket mounted on the block. I couldn't access the block side of the bracket, so I removed the two bracket connecting bolts from the bottom of the plenum. These bolts were the same thread but shorter that the bolts that connect the lower intake manifold to the plenum. The change out of FPR was easy. The gas that drained out was mainly gas that was already in the FPR. Thanks again for your input...