finished: intake manifold gasket [Expired Topic]

Surprise, surprise. My intake manifold gasket needed replacing. So this weekend I did the deed. That took a lot longer than anticipated. If anyone is interested, a few tips I'll pass along:

1) I spent way too much time monkeying with that bracket that holds the wiring loom in place on the passenger side near the coil. Ended up taking the coil off, disconnecting the little plastic "clamps" that hold the wiring in place, and just bent it out of the way.
2) Be sure to mark the distributor and rotor. I marked the position of the rotor before I removed the distributor and after. The rotor will rotate about 20-30 degrees CCW as the distributor is removed. After 90K miles, I decided to replace the rotor and cap while I had them out, too.
3) I wish I had made a list of connections that I disconnected/stuff removed as I was dissassembling. Then I could have checked them off as I was putting it back together so I would have known everything got hooked back up.
After getting it all back together, hooked up my fuel pressure gauge and cycled the key a couple of times until the fuel pressure was up where it should be and checked the fuel lines for leaks. After deciding that all was well, tried starting it. It started right up, but ran real rough, like it was misfiring. The SES came on, but the engine smoothed out after a few minutes. Took it for a little test drive and the SES went out and didn't come on again. Had Autozone pull the code (cylinder 1 misfire). I almost think this was from changing the rotor. The rotor appeared to have a film of wax or something on it to prevent oxidation, and that first few minutes, when the code was set, was while that waxy film was being worn off. We'll see if anything come back. This was when I wished I'd had a checklist of connections. I was afraid I had forgotten to hook something back up.
I still haven't decided if it would have been worth paying someone $400-$500 to do it for me. It was a good challenge, and I feel like I accomplished something doing it myself. On the other hand, it took me the better part of two days (constantly being interrupted by little ones who wanted daddy to play with them a little bit. A man has to have priorities.). I could have used those two days for other pursuits. Of course, $400-500 goes a long way towards other pursuits, too.
10 miles later, the intake manifold gasket seems good. However, I've also discovered that my water pump is leaking, too. That was probably why the leak was getting worse. I guess that will be this coming weekend's project. Somewhere along the lines, I've got to change the radiator in the Explorer, but that will be easy.
Just thought I'd share.