am i gonna run into problems?

with coolant and stuff?

Coolant will get everywhere. Its a good idea to drain your radiator before you start.

 

-Brian

Try very hard not to break the manifold-to-head bolts off.

biggest issue is getting the intake manifold bolts out of the heads. they like to be seized and easily shear off, leaving you with an intake manifold that doesn't come off and no bolt to help remove it. if it is hard to come out or feels resistant, try tigthening it just a tad first, then loosen, then tighten. that will help work it out. often they'll even come up a bit, then won't come out anymore. i'm not sure how that happens, but if you put a pry bar under the head and pry up while simultaneously loosening the head, they often come out. maybe it's an east coast/rust thing, i don't know, but more often than not i have problems with them on the older gen stuff.

 

coolant concern is getting into the cylinders, it'll pour down the intakes in the heads and into the cylinders when you lift the manifold off. drain with the notion that you want to get as much out of the intake manifold as possible.

the hardest part in removing the intake on my loyale was removing all of the old crusty vacuum lines from a very very neglected motor. haven't had the bolts snap off on me so i can't offer you anything in terms of advice there. i didn't drain the rad and coolant (a bit) did leak out.

often they'll even come up a bit, then won't come out anymore. i'm not sure how that happens

 

The inner most bolt( the long one) goes through the head and into it's coolant passage. So the tip of the bolt and it's threads are sticking into the coolant, causing those threads to corrode. The bolt starts to come out and then runs into these crusty corroded threads which bind up. Continually reversing direction bit by bit you can get them out. And lots of PB blaster. Once you can get the manifold up a tad, spray PB under there to get as much as you can on the threads of the bolt.

 

If coolant runs down the intake ports of the head, just remove the spark plugs and crank it over a few times, this should spit out any water before starting.