Subaru Intake Manifold Installed

Today I finally installed the intake manifold back onto the Subaru engine block. To do this, I had to do the following modifications, which were unplanned (e.g.:  undocumented in my 2013 Rocky Mtn Westy Installation instructions :):

1. Lengthen the Subaru 3 pin temp sensor wires, so they reach the new location on the RMW reverse coolant manifold.  This was my first soldering experience.  It probably shows in the workmanship too.  Oh well!
2. Remove the corner guard on the Subaru engine because it got hung up on the RMW reverse coolant manifold where it exposed a pipe to the expansion tank.
3. Bend up some tubing underneath the Subaru intake manifold so it didn't interfere with the relocated Subaru temp sensor.

Once I did these unplanned modifications, the Subaru intake mani seated just fine.  Then, I finished by plugging in all the other intake harness plugs and tightening the bolts to factory specs.  Job done!

When I had Rocky Mountain Westy do my wiring harness, I had them save all the scraps.  Can you tell!?  This came in handy as I was able to sift through and find the exact colored wires for the Subaru temp sensor modification I needed to perform.

I also kept all the connectors, which I may or may not need for extending various parts of the wiring harness.

This was my first soldering experience, but after some expert advice, I was able to wrap and solder the wires.  I used tape to secure the wires and sensor so they didn't move while soldering them.  Think of it as a vice for wires.

The soldering gun I bought was 25w and it did not heat up the wires very well, so I used Paul's, which was beefy and worked much better.

After soldering the wires, I used a heat gun and melted heat shrink around these areas to seal them up.

The final step was to wrap and tape them.  Rather than buy this stuff, I went back to my Subaru donor car and pulled the headlight wiring off then cleaned up and used the wire wrap to protect my newly lengthened temp sensor wires.  It worked like a charm. It is so nice to have a full car to pull parts from as needed :)

End product - extended Subaru temp sensor

And the final product looks like this.  It was longer than necessary, but why skimp on it and have to redo it if it comes up too short?    

The RMW reverse coolant manifold has a pipe extending out for the heater hose that goes to the expansion tank.  This prevented my intake manifold from seating properly on the gaskets.    Unfortunately, this was not documented by RMW and I was puzzled a bit before getting a Hangouts reply from a friend saying, "Mine doesn't have that part on it! Just remove it!".  So, I removed the protective guard (4 bolts) and then it sat better on the block.

Finally, after bending some vacuum/breather tubing running under the manifold, it seated perfectly.

Rear engine protective cover in the way