Time to add some more bling to the intake plenum! The Northstar engines originally came equipped with a fuel rail made of plastic that, over time, could fail. All such fuel rails were recalled and replaced with a stainless steel version in the US, but not in Canada. Here's the plastic rail system:
From eBay I bought two different stainless steel fuel rails: one from an Oldsmobile 4.0L Aurora and one for the 4.6L Cadillac (they're mirror images of each other). I thought it would be convenient to have the choice to route the fuel lines whichever way would suit the final engine bay layout:
Initially I set up the Aurora fuel rail because the fuel connections were closer to the firewall, however I found out later that they interfered with the engine torque strut on the Northstar.
I sent the individual injectors to an outfit in Oklahoma called Deatschwerks for cleaning. It was roughly half the cost of replacing the injectors so it was worth it, and besides, they flow tested them and send a report as well:
I then painted the steel casing on the injectors to keep them from rusting and ruining the "look".
I wanted to finish off the "cleaned-up" manifold by hiding the wire harness to the injectors. I figured by mimicking the contour of the fuel rail with a second stainless tube, it would fool most people into thinking it was part of the original fuel system, like a return line.
The fuel rail is 1/2" diameter, so I didn't want to go any larger than that if possible, but 16 wires needed to fit into that tight little tunnel. After a week's worth of looking everywhere (on-line, locally, nationally, etc) I found a source for some thin wall stainless 1/2" diameter tubing for about $1.25 a foot! I then bent a section of it to follow the contour of the fuel rail:
Then drilled some holes for the wires to exit at the right places, and welded some legs to it...
...before threading it with a bundle of wires, one pair at a time:
I then tested each wire end-to-end for continuity just in case I broke any wires internally, and checked each wire to make sure it wasn't shorting to the tube either, but all was good.
Finally, here's a shot of the fuel rail, harness, and injectors installed on the manifold. A sure sight better looking than the "before" photo in post #11: