Cleaning EGR ports

[eightball200]

First off let me introduce myself, as this is my first post on GMN.
My name is Blake and my daily driver is a 1994 Grand marquis LS, she's not in the best shape ever but has a super straight body and the biggest rust spot on it is about the size of a pin head so I would like to keep her running as well as possible.

Tomorrow I'm going to clean my EGR ports and throttle body (providing the weather is dry) and I can't seem to find the torque specs for the TB/upper plenum bolts in my haynes manual, so if anyone has those I would love to share in that knowledge.

Also I figured I might as well port the upper plenum while it's off and, being that I've never done anything of the sort before, I have a few questions:
Should I take it all the way out to the gasket? Would the expansion/compression of air from the throttle body through the upper plenum cause more turbulence than the small notch that would be there if I didn't bring it out and just cleaned up the molding imperfections?
I don't want to mess with it if it won't help, so I'd like to know the best procedure (if there is one).

Thanks in advance and I hope that you guys will be as much help with my GM as the guys at allpar were with my Imperial. </3 RIP ):
Even more than that; I hope I can help one of you one day (I know, it's unlikely...) Cheers!

[SVT98t]

Sure. Port it out to the gasket. That all aluminum intake sucks ass all ready. It could use a boost.
I don't have the torque specs. But I'd make sure that it's snug.
Welcome!!!

-ryan s.

[86VickyLX]

Tight, but don't break any stuff. Also make sure you put the bolts back where they came from.

[eightball200]

Thanks for the info! It still looks kinda wet out here so I don't know if I'll get around to the cleaning today (Florida weather :/), but I'll take another look through my Haynes manual to see if I can dig up those torque specs. If I find them I'll share here.

[zoomie]

just tighten them down till it stops and one quick snug and youll be good to go, porting,is a good idea, but i would read up on the subject quite a bit.

[eightball200]

Ummmmm... This is just a wild guess, but I'm assuming that the big plastic intake muffler is supposed to have somewhere along the lines of zero holes in it, correct? Looks like someone cut a hole in it with a knife... Time to break out the epoxy.

[zoomie]

Ummmmm... This is just a wild guess, but I'm assuming that the big plastic intake muffler is supposed to have somewhere along the lines of zero holes in it, correct? Looks like someone cut a hole in it with a knife... Time to break out the epoxy.

pics of things would be good though most ppl remve the air silencer

[eightball200]

looks kinda like it's been gouged in with a knife or screwdriver, notice that it's dented around the hole...

[eightball200]

What's the best way to clean gasket surfaces. The TB gasket came off real clean, but the upper manifold gasket left a bunch of crap on the upper manifold and lower manifold. Already tried carb cleaner with limited success. Any Ideas?

[1990LTD]

lighter fluid, razor blade

[eightball200]

thanks. I'll try that.

[86VickyLX]

I've used wire brushes on non crucial surfaces. Sand paper (fine grit) will work as well. Just don't push hard.

[sly]

I typically use acetone on a shop towel (blue scott towel) and a razor blade for obnoxious gaskets. do try your best not to scratch/nick the surfaces. fine scratches won't matter much... but any gouges and you'll be needing some RTV.

[eightball200]

Wow, that took longer than I thought, (mostly because the best "grinding" wheel I had was a 120 grit sanding drum for my dremmel) but I finally got it done after sanding down to 320 grit, and I am quite satisfied with the results. Now, my ports weren't nearly as clogged up as the ones in the other thread, but they were gummed up a bit. Anyway, my throttle response has improved by about 2 seconds and I now have maybe 5 HP more in my low rpm range. Very good for $7.10 worth of parts.

PS. If it isn't extremely obvious already, use gloves when handling throttle body spray. No joke, that stuff is not fun to get on your hands (or at least have a sink near by! lol)
I ended up using a plastic grocery bag around my hand since I had no gloves, that worked pretty well.

Anyway, thanks for the help and quick responses guys, I couldn't be more happy with the community you have here!

[zoomie]

Wow, that took longer than I thought, (mostly because the best "grinding" wheel I had was a 120 grit sanding drum for my dremmel) but I finally got it done after sanding down to 320 grit, and I am quite satisfied with the results. Now, my ports weren't nearly as clogged up as the ones in the other thread, but they were gummed up a bit. Anyway, my throttle response has improved by about 2 seconds and I now have maybe 5 HP more in my low rpm range. Very good for $7.10 worth of parts.

PS. If it isn't extremely obvious already, use gloves when handling throttle body spray. No joke, that stuff is not fun to get on your hands (or at least have a sink near by! lol)
I ended up using a plastic grocery bag around my hand since I had no gloves, that worked pretty well.

Anyway, thanks for the help and quick responses guys, I couldn't be more happy with the community you have here!

well we do try lol