Good Evening everyone, today I am continuing the process of installing a new set of World Products 305 S/R heads on my 1986 Trans Am. Currently I'm removing the old head bolts on the passenger side and it has occured to me that the clearance between the hanging exhaust manifold and the cylinder head makes the prospect of torquing down to spec (and even removing) these lower head bolts quite challenging. Can anyone who has done this before recommend a newer member some tools or techniques? I would prefer not to entirely remove the exhaust manifolds if possible. Thanks in advance.

As a side note, I haven't bothered yet to remove the ild spark plugs because they are either siezed or somebody has used gorilla force on them in the past.

 

You say your removing the old original heads to replace with new ones, so why would access to torque the bolts on the old heads matter

As to removing what's there, if the manifolds are giving you access problems with the head bolts, why not remove them first?

Dealing with stripped/rounded manifold bolts does suck, no doubt about it... BUT! Dealing with a rounded head bolt sucks X 10 , I'd be removing that manifold to absolutely insure clear access to the head bolts...

 

Just go ahead and bite the bullet and remove the exhaust manifolds so you can get a socket straight-onto those head bolts. Sure, you might be able to use a 1/2" u-joint on the socket with an extension and sneak it through there to get the bolts out, but you can't use a u-joint to correctly torque the bolts when the new heads go back on. Proper head bolt torque specs are absolutely vital to the health of your engine.

 

Thanks for the reply. I was referring to torquing down the new head bolts after the new heads are installed. I suppose I'll just have to remove the manifolds entirely.

 

That's the ticket. Better to go to the trouble to remove the exh manifolds rather than remove those new heads later for a blown head gasket (due to improper head bolt torquing)

 

I am not sure why you are worried about the manifold bolts. you've already gone and remove the hardest of them, now you just need the Y-Pipe bolts undone.

But you'll have to yank them if you want to do this right.

Might also be the perfect time for headers.

 

I was thinking headers too. Why not not?

 

Those nuts really didn't want to come off, but I managed to remove not only the manifold but the head as well.