You should not need thread sealer for the intake bolts. I was always advised to have the thread surfaces "lightly oiled" - which is not oily, per se, but rather not dry. The same goes for the head bolts and pretty much any threads that are torqued to spec. Others may have different advice, but, that's how I do it. Bone dry threads are prone to galling and may not produce the desired torque value that you are after. Too oily causes a mess and may give you too much clamping force than asked for in the specs. Too much oil in a blind bolt hole will purge the excess oil on torquing and compromise the sealing of the gasket.
Thank you. I took a look in the heat riser passages. Both holes are plugged on the driver’s side bank, but only one of them is on the passenger side. I’m guessing the open hole should be plugged too, correct? Is it a 3/4 inch frost plug?
I found the missing frost plug that was used to block the heat riser port. It was in the intake manifold. It came out when I was cleaning it.