I thought at first this would be a resonably easy deal here, but no....

Second night of having to take the orange pumice hand cleaner into the shower.... ARGH... still the manifolds persist.

I am almost at my wits-end...

First off, in addition to the header and catback install, I removed my A/C (kept it nice and neat for possible future use ) and I removed the entire smog setup.

All went well until I tried to remove the manifolds... I started first with the passenger side. I have all of them off but ONE. As you face the manifold, its the second one from the left... It appears the nut is stripped. I've fought this thing with EVERYthing I can think of. ANY ideas????????? The driver's side has been slightly easier, but we'll see....

I better see some damn gains w/ this setup or I'll be PISSED!!!

If anyone has ANY info on this, please let me know. I'm honestly at the point where I'm going to take the car to a shop and have them just remove the manifolds!!!

BTW: Yes, I did a search but came up empty handed.

 

soak it in wd-40 over night, then get some vice-grips on that bad-boy. after that, i don't know what else to tell ya buddy. and don't worry, you will definetly see a serious improvement in power.

 

if it comes down to it you might have to drill it and then use an easy out. but i hope it doesn't come to that. I don't know about everybody else but i think there is better penatrating(sp?) fluids than wd40 but if you have it then use it. good luck on the bolt. and watch your knukkles.

 

I have virtually no room where its at now. I don't think I could get vice grips in, let alone a drill.

I did soak it in penetrating oil overnight though.

 

PB Blaster is the best stuff I've seen on rusted bolts/nuts.

 

Well, the driver's side manifold, along with virtually all of the accessories, is off the engine. I tried to test fit the header in and it is REALLY tight - I can't hardly move it, let alone position it.

As for the passenger side, ARGH.

 

Working on marine engines (salt build up, otherwise known as
florida locktite) i have used the aforementioned PB Blaster and
tapping on the nut to help get the Blaster into the threads with
a little capillary action. also a big help is a little heat.

some guys use oxy/acetylene (be REALLY careful), but i have had
good success with plain old propane. heat the nut and then put
your wrench on it. usually the heat helps loosen things up.

hope all goes well.

 

One more vote for PB Blaster. Stuff made my install nice!

 

I recently fought with installing headers and had to purchase a needle-nosed pair of vice-grips to get at a few of the bolts.

I locked the vice-grips onto the bolts and then tapped at it for a long, long time. I also ran the engine to heat up the headers once in a while.

And, in order to avoid doing this again soon, I used a bead of red silicone (high heat) on both sides of the gaskets. I also used longer header bolts (with 7/16 hex heads) wherever they would fit.

 

I FINALLY GOT THE F'N MANIFOLDS OFF!!!!!

At 11:30 tonight, I finally got the second manifold off...... WHEW.

What a job that was a B!TCH... _NEVER_ have I done a job that required THAT much work!!

As it turns out, there is a nut on the second to far left (passenger side) bolt on the manifold that holds the heat shield on. That was the nut that was rounded off that I couldn't get at with ANY tool I had. I finally twisted the heat shield off of the manifold and exposed the actual STUD underneath the nut. I figured I could try and break that loose... unfortunately, the nut was holding so tightly onto the heat shield that the bolt would _NOT_ turn. I decided to do the last thing I could think of... I took my giant flat head screw driver and a hammer. I chiselled (sp?) the he|| out of the heat shield until it finally gave way. All that was left on the bolt was a tiny fragment. ANYWAY - After all that pounding, I was able to simply remove the bolt with my fingers! Keep in mind, this almost 6-8 hour battle was fought will lying on my back UNDER the car!!

I was absolutely THRILLED to get that damn chit off the car!

As "0103837" said in one other post (I searched through 100's of exhaust threads, looking for help!): The bolts fought a furious battle, but they never had a chance

Well, tomorrow I'll start my header install. I tried to test fit them in but I can't figure it out. Did those that installed HEDMAN headers need to lift the motor up?

Last question - In a time of desperation, I remove the passenger side motor mount bolts. The three that hold it to the cross-member. Any idea how in the f*ck I get the bolts back in and tight??

Thanks to all those that've helped me get this far. My wife thanks you too! No more in the garage til 2am laying under the car!

 

I went threw the same thing it is alot easyer putting the headers on than taking the old manafolds off. The hardest part of the install is now compleate.

 

Lets hope so!

 

The garage before:

 

Garage after/during:

 

for rounded off nuts, i use twist sockets i bought from matco tools

kinda pricey at $150 for the set, but it saved my *** at home and saved my *** a few times at work, so they were well worth it

snap on and mac also make them, i'm sure cornwell has there own offering too

 

those pics look all too familiar! bad memories i tell you...

 

Take a nap on top of that Beemer yet? Looks comfy... lol

 

Actually that "Beemer" is a 1-owner '65 Mustang!

 

Hmm... I like your work/flood light idea...

I saw the same light on the discount shelf locally. Maybe I'll pick that up afterall. Doesn't it get kinda hot though?

 

VERY HOT!

It works, I find they're great for those cooler nights. Lke 50* or so. They are really bright and give off a lot of heat.

 

I saw the guys that I bought the exhaust from last night and I asked them to come over and help me with the stupid Drivers side header install.

Well, we took the valve cover off thinking it would give us some more clearance and it didn't really. We found that the center bolt valve cover style has deep walls and still got caught when trying to slide headers past. Other than that, we had to disconnect the bolt holding the steering column in and then we just slid it out of the way.... BOOM, header city!!

I've got a long road ahead, including putting the motor mounts back in, P/S pump, plugs/wires and a few sensors, not to mention the O² sensor I need.

BTW: Last night, I got to see a 280ZX w/ an LT1/4L60E in it!! WOW!

 

easiest way ive found for installing my headmans in the 82:

1.. pull a engine mount bolt out
2. use a lift, ratcheting comalong, or whatever and tilt the engine. because the other bolt is in there still, it pivoits. WATCH THE DISTRIB AND EVERYTHING when you do this. dont break anything.
3. it doesnt have to be up far, but now the header slips right in. snug up all the bolts on it, and lower it.. should drop right back on the mount.
4 replace the engine mount bolt
5 repeat for otherside.

 

Tranny mount too, or is that okay pivoting torsionally a small amount like that?

From the top or the bottom?

 

lol Sounds like the ideal worklight for when my truck craps out during the winter.

 

I didnt' take mine out - Didn't seem to be harmed...

Quote:

From the top or the bottom?

Top is what I did.

 

I'm still working on this damn thing... Mostly nights because its been SOOOOO hot lately. Anyway, progress has been SLOW.

Tonight I got the driver's side header in and relatively tight (waiting until I've got the Y-pipe in place)... I had to remove the 15mm nut on the steering column to move it out of the way.

I also went ahead and routed the spark plug wires. The plugs weren't too bad to reinstall.. On most I had to use my spark plug socket and a 3/4" wrench to turn it in and get it tight. I made most of the plug wires work... I have to pick up 2 of the elbow style wires tomorrow...

I also went and made my O2 sensor wire longer, reconnected my sensors, reinstalled the P/S pump as best I could.

I removed my A/C lines (condenser will stay for now) and capped off ends of remaining lines...

I've got a few things left to do which includes installing the Y-pipe, but once done...... she's gonna get fired!!!

I consider myself a little bit more than an average weekend mechanic but this job has taken everything out of me.... I'll never do another header install if i can help it. At least not on a V8!

 

I put the headman shortys and the headman y pipe on my 84 firebird,the y pipe was a pain, one thing to watch out for (and i learned this from from experiance the hard way) on the y pipe there is a u clamp that goes right in front of the oil pan make sure you have the nut end facing towards the back of the car if possable, i had mine where the threade nut ends were pointing straight down toward the ground,well i gave my overwight buddy a ride to work one day and my car bottomed out crossing some train tracks,luckily its only a 5 mile ride home ,but when i pulled into the drive i lost oil presure,to make a long story short ,when the car bottomed out it spun the threaded end into my oil pan and actually ripped a hole in it. one other thing i noticed with the headmans, i know need a heat shield for the starter, on cold starts its fine ,after a drive for a while the heat from the headers get the starter and the wires hot and the starter drags,you might consider a heat shield while your still doing the install, i have not put one on my bird yet as i am putting all my extra cash into my 87 20th anv.edt. camaro convertible. hope this helps you some.

 

Does anyone know the best way to get the front of the car in the air, high enough to put the Y-pipe on? My y-pipe needs to be RIGHT where the jack stands are.

 

go according to the directions that came with the headers of course, but for the headmans i was talking about, (and most shorties for our cars) they go in from the top.

rihno ramps.... best ramps there are.

 

I heard our cars are too low in the front to use ramps.

 

you can put blocks under the tires. thats what i do. used old railroad ties, and cut them into about 1 ft sections.

 

Not to flame but I did my TES edelbrock in 6hrs. By myself.....

 

Lucky...

I guess its mostly dependent on how long it takes to get the old stuff off too.

I, like many others, had a he|| of a time getting the old manifolds off, which took so much time that I had to space out my project.

 

thats the nice thing about thoes ramps..

they are composite... they wont flatten like cheap ramps, and the angle on them is shallow enough you can drive onto them without touching the gfx..


and if they do touch, put a 1" thick board on the first part... as you drive on the board, the car is higher, and can get onto the rest of the ramp.

 

I plan on putting headers on in the near future. After seeing what you've gone through, I am not looking foward to it. Glad to see you made it.

 

i just finished mine. yeah, it was a serious pain in the ***, but i forgot about all of it the first time i floored it

 

rofl ...now you know why a garage wants 300 bucks to install headers....wait til you install a cam, ...better yet, swap heads ...or swap out the servo...anything dealing with the tranny sucks ball Sack. fluid everywhere, no damned drain plug.

i had a HELL of a time with headers...and no one mentioned that breathing fumes from wd 40 for a few hours got you completly toasted high....made for the walk upstairs VERY interesting.

by the way, how were those rretarded retainer clips on the bolts?? lol that took bending a good screw driver, a hammer, and alot of cussing for me to get off.

invest in some gear wrench's ....very pricey but so worth it, all you need in the SAE set , makes installing the headers alot easier.

 

I use them all the time with my trans am