Is there anyway to pull the exhaust manifold without taking the turbo housing and the radiator. I was able to to take all 10 exhaust nut and the 4 nuts and bolts on the top of the turbo. The 2 in front are the ones that are giving me a headache, it is blocking the way and i couldn't pull the exhaust manifold itself
(Whoever thought about putting those 2 bolts in an upside down position should be castrated). It was getting dark already so i put all the nuts back and decided to do it another time. I only need to replace the exhaust manifold.

 

I do this regularly:

If the car is heavily weathered or rusted under the hood this may not work BUT:

(with Liquid Wrench or WD-40) Soak the front two nuts on the studs right under the top heat shield. If you have an older car do this over a day or two. I drove it in between soakings. smoked a little, no biggee.

Also soak the other 2 rear bolts on the manifold top and the 9 nuts that hold it to the block.

Soak again right before removal - I do it when warm , but not hot.

If you have a good stud removing process, use it ***GAME OVER***

If Not:

When ready remove the 2 front nuts, Have on hand, 2 proper thread size nuts. Don't use the stock nuts because of the flange on them -- I used 17mm (the stock size are 14mm - that would be ideal because the extra room they will give you against the manifold when you use 2 wrenches to tighten them together)

spin the first nut on so that you have enough threads above it to spin the second nut on top of it.

Tighten the bottom nut upwards against the 2nd nut. You may have to sisccor the 2 wrenches to get them tight enough - SO THAT - the bottom nut can be turned (lefty loosey ) to loosen the stud from the housing.

Do the same to the other stud.

Use high temp (copper) anti sieze paste when putting it all back together.

THE FOLLOWING IS MY PERSONAL OPINION (please no one be offended)

I think that it is WAY TOO DANGEROUS to shake the manifold around (as some suggest) to get it off because the front verticle stud are still in place.

I believe there is a real danger in rupturing the oil or water lines to the turbo doing it

TIP: for the 3 nuts that are under the manifold, I use a srong magnet (telescoping pocket pen style) to do the last few turns and catch the nut as it comes off the stud. You can also put a paper towel or thin cloth under them to catch them if they fall down. The can fall into the strangest little crevices down there.

Good luck

 

Anyone here have torque specs for the bolts?

-Carl

 

here's the info that has been asked for in this thread:
1) Bolt torque
2) Manifold bolt sequence

 

Awesome, thank you!

 

Are there any more step-by-step guides for this install? I feel like this one is missing a lot of information...

-Carl

 

yea, good idea with the thread, I actually needed it. picked up a megan set up...and I realize this is a pretty simple mod in the grander scheme of things, but I want to make sure I at least have a guide to work with. No pics and conflicting info never helps....

 

..

 

Updated link: http://www.geocities.com/krisj144/ev...o_manifold.htm

Nice job

 

Sorry for bringing this back, should I put some red RTV sealant on the gasket just in case? The geocities link posted above doesn't work anymore.

Thanks

 

Anyone know if there is a more detailed howto out there? Is it possible to pull the mani by itself? I'm guessing since this howto has you remove the dp/licp this is to pull everything up?

If not I'll have to try to do this up and take some pictures while I'm at it.

 

Is it not easier to remove the radiator and then remove the manifold, turbo, O2 as one unit ? I want to install a BR exhaust manifold and O2 housing, but don't really want to remove the radiator. Looking at the engine bay it does not appear to be possible unless the radiator is out.... Thoughts ??

 

I would recommend removing the radiator. It takes a little bit of extra time to drain it but once it is drained it is very easy to remove. Then you have a lot of extra room to work with and don't have to worry about damaging your radiator while working in there.

 

What If i just want to get the manifold off to put a new gasket between the turbo/hotside and the exhaust manifold.

Can I just remove the 9 bolts going from the manifold into the head. Then remove the 2 bolts and 2 nuts that are going from the manifold to the turbo. If I do that will the manifold come off? Or do I have to remove the downpipe either way??

 

I've done this once (terrible experience) and am going to do it again in about a week. The main reason for the removal of the radiator and the downpipe (from what I've gathered from actually doing it) is to make more space. Trust me on this: If your installing your own custom turbo + manifold that is pre-assembled (like I chose to do) than you will want to remove pretty much everything in the general area where you will be installing all of this. I am no expert on this task by any means, but I will put a little time next weekend and take pics of the entire process while I am doing this again. If I can I will also try to video most of the harder steps as well.