Driver's side engine foam removal: Help needed.

[Hawaii_Built]

I had some time over the weekend to sneak under the hood of my truck to finally take care of removing the insulating foam pads. As others mentioned before, the passenger side was a breeze and only took a few minutes to do. The driver's side however, seems to have some sort of magical grip on the motor and refuses to come out.

I've searched and searched to learn how others seem to accomplish this task and learned that some disconnected the intercooler hose at that weird Henn clip, and others have somehow managed to remove the piece intact without disconnecting any plumbing. Removing the nut that holds the pipe in place gives me a tiny amount of wiggle room, but it does not seem like it provides enough movement to get at the foam.

People who were successful at this say "it takes a fair amount of force to remove"; my question is how much force is a fair amount? I did not want to start yanking and pulling at the foam only to damage whatever is underneath or around it as there are lots of little wire harnesses and plugs in the engine bay. Are there any tips or tricks that I'm missing that I could try before taking a razor and cutting into the foam?

 

[carlhenry]

loosen the fles hose and remove 1 end of it lift it up as far as it will go and pull on foam pad I used a pair of body panel vice grips and yanked on it

 

[Hawaii_Built]

where did you loosen the hose from? From the hose clamps, or that fancy Henn fitting? I hesitated trying to remove the intercooler pipe from the hose clamp as it looks like it would be almost impossible to slip it back into that stiff rubber sleeve.

 

[TC Diesel]

Just dis-connected it Here

 

[Hawaii_Built]

That looks like the fancy henn clip. Interesting that your pipe looks different from mine (I have a 2018).

 

[carlhenry]

I have a 18 loosen the clamps and take the nut iff the pipe bracket and lift it up it is not hard 2 put back in at all