Can you get away with leaving it alone---maybe. Just remember it was designed with multiple bolts that put even pressure so it will not leak and will not warp. My guess is that if it is not leaking now it will eventually leak. If it does happen to warp you will wish you had fixed it. You can bet if GM thought it did not need that stud it would not be there. If you do it yourself the stud & nut won't cost much and a new gasket may be in order. If you fix it put a thin coat of grease on both sides of the gasket and chances are if you ever take it off again you can re-use the gasket.

 

Ok, so it is possible to remove the stud without removing the throttle body with only like 1/4 inch sticking out? Will vise grips or a craftsmen stud remover do it?

 

A stud remover probably will not grip if you only have 1/4". Good vice grips might get it if it is not reak tight but you don't have anything to lose by trying. If it will not work you will have to remove the throttle body.
Some studs come out easy and some do not.

 

This stud seems to wobble a little. Might be easy enough if I can get a good grip on it. I will go to Autozone tomorrow afternoon (AFTER my college work and the black Friday shoppers are home), buy vice grips or see if they have a tool loan service, try to get it out in the parking lot, take the stripped stud back to the counter and ask them for help in selecting a similar but longer stud to replace the old one. Maybe If they don't have one, i'll buy bolts just like it and cut the heads off. Hopefully they will help me out, but i haven't had much luck with good customer service in Autozone. Sound like a good game plan????
After this, maybe I should find someone to remove the throttle body spacer, but the only problem is the factory hardware that held the throttle body to the engine are gone. (long story. I'll post another time the story.)
I don't know how I am going to be able to mount this intake now. I can't even put the heat shield in because the power steering (correct me if I am wrong again) hoses are in the way.
Now I got 2 projects I started but can't finish. First one is a tranny cooler because I could not find anyone around here who is willing to install it and I am afraid to open the tranny cooling system myself. Second one is this intake. Maybe I should find someone around where I go to college cheap but good to put those in because so far the cost of putting both in would be 3-4x more than the cost of those 2 items and the costs would be more if I try it and mess up big time again.

 

Ok now here is my final stupid question: How to I REMOVE the throttle body spacer without any of the factory hardware? I am tired of dealing with mods that were unauthorized after I bought this truck.


Thanks for your patience to all of you on this matter.