Me:1 exhaust manifold:0

[thenaaks]

I kicked my leaky manifold's butt. Started at 530pm, finished at 830. Started out with the back two nuts broke off, one more broke off while disassembling. Welded a few nuts on, heated the rest, a dousing of pb blaster, and she's all done and leak free. Didn't have to remove starter or mess with motor mounts. Used stainless studs and nuts and lots of antisieze. Dorman manifold and gasket. I've been dreading this job for a week, but everything went way smoother than expected. Just wanted to share my experience (and brag a little!)

 

[69Hcode]

Did you remember to pull the rags out?

 

[lve2wheel]

Did you remember to pull the rags out?

^ lol

 

[IMINYOURCHAIR]

Did you remember to pull the rags out?

D: oh noes

 

[thenaaks]

Haha. Yeah. Had to pull them once i started welding nuts. Kept catching on fire

Edit: i guess i put them back in to clean up the head, but they did come out later. I learned that lesson doing some plumbing work. Had a rag in a sink drain line. Hooked up a new trap assy and forgot to pull the rag. It managed to get stuck in a fitting about 2 feet down the line. Had to cut pipe to find it. No fun!

 

[jlo82585]

dang man nice job! If I was better at welding I would try to do it myself but I for-see myself accidentally welding to the head...

 

[thenaaks]

A mig welder and a self darkening helmet help a lot. Since the head is aluminum, you can't actually weld to it, but I'm sure you could burn it up if you had really bad aim!

 

[98EXPnSRQ]

Nice job. I want to put headers on mine, but I'm not real motivated by that type of work.

 

[NickChick]

Great work! I need to get to mine eventually. But its one of those jobs i'm never motivated to do.. lol

 

[jxg1205]

ok, I am going to be really ignorant, and ask how hard is it going to be to get the old nuts/bolts/studs off?

My '00 expy with the 5.4l has developed major holes through the manifold and I have temporarily jammed JB Weld in there, hoping it passes inspection on Monday. At least half the nuts seem rounded from rust, and it looks impossible to get to a couple of them on the passenger side. Is there a good write up somewhere that shows how to attack this job? I have the fender well plastics all out for the JD Weld patching, and am ready to soak the nuts with PB Blaster, but that does not seem like it will be enough.

thanks

 

[Hit By Thunder]

Lol ya rusted til they are round. Going to order new manifolds, and cut all my studs off. Read (I think here) where a guy used a dremel on a flex shaft and vice gripped them all off. Hope it works.

actually seeings how you did a great job, beer flows here if you want to do mine lol

 

[jxg1205]

ok, you win. mine are not that bad...

 

[jlo82585]

yeah thats how mine look, either missing or mounds of rust that dont even resemble studs and nuts... bank account permitting im taking mine to the shop this week, I got quoted $350 to do it and I cant pass up that price

 

[thenaaks]

Mine were awful rusty and round. I pounded on a socket that "fit" and backed out several with an impact wrench. If you've got access to a welder, broken studs are not bad at all

 

[Bedrck47]

FYI There is a good video on youtube on removing the exhaust manifold. And yes a dremel tool is vey helpful I got one from Lowes wasn't dremel brand and it had a flex shaft adaptor which was very helpful Just make sure you use the dremel cut-off blades

 

[jlo82585]

well mines going to the shop today to have this fixed.. I just hope they dont screw it up, I could have done that for free.... Doesnt look too hard as a DIY project if your handy with a welder though.

 

[jlo82585]

turns out driving for a year on a badly leaking exhaust manifold ruined it. Still, $407 for a new manifold and gasket and not having to mess with extracting 6-8 studs is worth it.