Top End Rebuild - Day 3

Spent about 4 hours on the car today. Wasted an hour trying to split the "Mixture Control Unit" into two pieces thinking it would aid in removal. But later found that you only need to remove the fuel pipes, the 4 mounting bolts and loosen the hose clamp on the air duct/guide housing and just yank the damn thing off. No need for splitting it.

Damn the throttle linkages. The worst design I've ever seen. Its going to be a real pain putting it back together.

Removed all the bolts on the intake manifold and loosened up the hose clamps on the two hoses going into the bulk head and the one hose going into the water pump. Tried to lift the intake manifold off but it just wouldn't budge. I can't figure out what's holding it back. Kept yanking at it for a good 30 mins and gave up. I'm going to get a bloody hernia if I keep at it.

How do I get the intake manifold off?