For the newbies like me, a few pointers.

Of course the engine shroud, intake air box and passenger side valve cover shroud has to come off. I took this opportunity to wash them. It is amazing the sand and grit that will settle in the engine, so a vacuum with a long, thin fitting can be most useful. It is most interesting that in the VH41DE there appear to be three resonance chambers, including one before the filter box on the intake ducting! These are something that are not a willy-nilly design, but carefully considered and researched. Would like to know more about their function, but have never seen anything about them. Presuems teh two after the MAF sensor but before the throttle body provide some type of harmonic resonance to prevent airflow "stalling" at certain velocities. Can't quite determine what the one on the intake ducting does since it is before the filter box and has no drain.

First, the light green sliding release connectors have to go all the way in towards the connector end before they come off. There is a definite release point/detnet after which they can be easily separated. If you need to unleash the wire harness for some flexibility, lift the tongue which releases the tape and allows it to be slid back through the buckle. On the passenger's side, one is anchored to a bracket. It can be easily released by going to the backside of the bracket and using some small nose tip pliers, compress the splayed anchors so they can slip back through the eye in the bracket.

Once the brackets and wiring are out of the way, the coil packs are easily removed using an 8mm socket on a ¼-inch drive with a variety of extensions. I replaced the pugs as I pulled them, using a high temperature (2K° F!) lubricant and a torque wrench (essential on #7 as access makes it cifficult to judge applied torque) stuffing the plug tunnel with some clean wadded paper towel afterwards.

After the coil packs are removed and the plugs replaced and the plug tunnels blocked, now is a great opportunity to clean the camshaft head cover valleys of grit and grime. I also washed the coil packs, and used dielectric grease on all the connectors including the spring connector to the plug. I know, I am disturbed.

The drivers's bank looked perfect and could probably go 100K miles (now ~70K). However, Q45tech is correct, galling is the larger issue here. I swear #6 took at least 45 ft.-lbs. of torque to release. Hard to tell if the factory install used lubrication. Personally, I always like to use lubrication when torqueing into aluminum and aluminum oxide is frictive and can fool unlubricated final torque values. So I lubricated all bolts that went back in.

The passenger side bank spark plugs were uniformly a little more towards black, so I wonder if the VH41DE intake manifold does not distribute the air equally side to side?

PCV valves also replaced, but throttle body cleaning past the throttle plate saved for a day when I have a throttle body gasket. Did do a little with a spray degrease while holding the throttle plate open and swabbed some black oily grime out. Intake was pristine, so I assume the contamination was from PCV flow.

By the way, the VH41DE may be the VH45DE's weak sister, but the technology and execution is astounding, and far ahead of even high-performance engine design of just a few years before. Youngsters don't realize what sophistication is inherent in an all alloy, DOHC, 4 valve per cylinder, port injected engine, with individual coil packs and OBD II. Ferrari could not afford to invest to the level it took to manufacture this technology in the 80's. Much different than the carbureted cast iron everything pushrod V8s I grew-up with in the muscle car era when OHV were heralded as high tech and almost all air cleaners sucked under hood hot air. Then, Detroit thought for years that fiberglass belted bias ply tires were high tech also.

Thanks to Wes and Joe for parts. Incidentally, I changed to the 6 heat range from the 5 after talking to Joe because of TX summers. Probably best to change back to 5 range in fall and winter and spring, but probably won't.

Onto the VH45DE next, including the under plenum hose replacement! Hope to find the camera before then.


Modified by maxnix at 8:39 AM 5/20/2005

thanks for posting the tips Brian. Haven't done either the 41 or the 45 yet. when you do the plenum on the 45, please do post pix. I'm particularly curious on if you have screw type or spring type clamps on the y-pipe hose.

oh, and you probably know, but there was a tsb on bad intake gaskets [may not apply to 2000, too lazy to look right now]. perhaps that is the source of your mixture imbalance?

Thanks for the tip, GQJAy. I will have to research that TSB.

Seems to me, even if the gasket was leaking on the TB to manifold juncture, it would affect both banks evenly. Maybe you mean between the heads and the intake manifold?

I'll view the plugs again tomorrow.

Definitely richer on the passenger bank. I'll see if I can get photographs up.