Sitting at the house tonight and decided, heck, I'll do something to the Bronco. Got the right side manifold off. Good thing too....it was cracked. Now I don't feel AS guilty telling the wife I HAD to put the headers on!! Bad thing is I broke off a manifold bolt on #4 cylinder. At least it's not the very back bolt!!!

Maybe tomorrow I'll start on the drivers side.

 

Don't worry Matt, I broke 3 on the drivers side, and now the very front bolt on the driver's side has a 3/4" head...

 

I haven't looked at it yet, but I'm hoping I can push up the plastic fender liner enough to get a drill in there. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. Maybe i'll let the driver side soak a little longer!!

 

Started stripping the '94 F150 today. Looks like some new gaskets around the timing cover and water pump will be needed. I wonder how well the fender mounted TFI module works, keep it and rewire the '91 or use my extra dizzy from the '90 5.8?
Anyhow should have it swinging tomorrow if the weather holds. Warm and very windy today.
Anyone know were to get new studs for the exhaust manifolds? It don't look like they are going to come unbolted real easy.

 

When I changed my exhaust man. gaskets I tried to find a whole new bolt set to replace old ones. No one offered anything. If you bought new manifolds they came with if I remember correct, 4 of the 8 needed per side. 2 of which are studs w/ nuts. I just ended up going and getting some grade 5 bolts from hardware store. Applied ALOT of anti-seize and havent had a problem.

 

MadMatt65, here is a long read but hope you can find some help in there.

This a story about changing from stock exhaust manifolds to fenderwell exit headers. Or if you are just changing stock exhaust manifold gaskets. Truck is a 79 F250 4x4 351M 4 spd.
The #1 thing in my book is to LUBE THE HELL outa those soon to be old exhaust bolts.I would use PB blaster or Sea Foam Deep Creep. If the vehicle is not your daily driver, soak them as much a possible for like a week straight.Use the red tube to get right in there, spray the top side of the bolt head and let it soak. This step is very important because you do not want to break off any of those bolts.

I have heard of heating up the bolts with a torch, good way to burn up your valve cover gaskets, and catch fire to your sprayed on lube, I always change them cold. I even heard of starting the truck to heat up those bolts, great way to burn your hands and fingers. Remember LUBE LUBE LUBE, jack up truck to a comfortable working height, take off front tires. And do all the other safety stuff, block rear tires ect....

I start on the passenger side, it’s always easier. Do not try to "snap" torque the bolts loose, use a slow draw break torque. And use a quality socket, as straight on as possible.
If you break one, don't panic, you do not have to remove the head to fix this problem, at least I didn't, and I broke 3 on pass side and 2 on dvs side, on 1 truck and 2 and 2 on another. If you do continue removing the rest of the bolts, hopefully with better luck. And then ditch that ol heavy stock factory manifold, do not throw them away those stock suckers are pricey especially the dvs side, why I do not know. If there is any bolt left sticking out of the head after you remove the rest of them and the exhaust manifold maybe you can vice grip it and get it to break loose. Probably not, and you only gouge it up.

Some guys say they can weld a nut on there and get it out, those guys are luckier than me. If it’s broke flush with the head, just keep reading. If you do break a bolt, use a GOOD QUALITY set of drill bits to drill it out. Use a center punch to make sure you start in the middle, VERY IMPORTANT. Start with a smaller bit and work your way up to a bigger one.
Match your drill bit to your tap size needed for the correct bolt size. 7/16 1/2 or 9/16 can't remember. I would then tap in new threads. As a tech note if you are going to re-tap the hole weld the tap into a old 3/8 drive socket that way you can get in there with a extension and get it tapped right the first time. I WOULD NOT USE A EASY OUT, been there done that, broke it off in the hole, another long story. Same for using cheap drill bits.

If you are having trouble tapping in new threads, might be able to use a "helicoil" thread insert, easy to use, buy it in a kit, just have to drill out a bigger hole to insert the thread coil. Debur or run a tap in to clean out the old holes best you can. Get new hardware, grade 8 or better, do not use the hdwr provided (junk) not enough washer face to the header flange. I got mine with a premade large washer, and use the lock washers with the little face to face lock teeth.They are called Nord-Lock, got them and my bolts from Fastenall, use some thick header gaskets from Jeff's Bronco Graveyard, pricy but awesome. Make sure you use anti seize compound on the hardware. DO NOT have any solvent on your hands when you install the gaskets, it can cause a hot spot on the gasket and burn it up. Passenger side inner fenderwell will need a bit of trimming or bend outa the way for now, trim later. 2 people makes this part a lot easier, while you wrestle the header into position, from under the truck, your helper will align the gaskets and start the bolts, all hand tight at first. If you are having trouble getting it in, try taking off the shock tower, 3 bolts ? Might give you more wiggle room, did for me especially on the dvs side. Evenly tighten down bolts, all the while making sure the header doesn't catch on anything.

Ck the clearance on the cab mount frame bracket to the collector area, grind the bracket as needed. Use a quality audioable Tq wrench, start at minimum working your way to max. STOP THERE, DRINK ONE BEER, AND GET READY FOR OTHER SIDE. Ok on dvs side, remove dip stick and tube (plug pan to stop oil leak) and brake line coil from master cylinder to frame mounted proportional valve. Cap/plug all opening, brake fluid in the eye is a M...F....Probably have to remove that brake line clamp plate from back side of shock tower, remember to take tower outa the way also. Bend/trim inner metal fenderwell and install in same order as passenger side. Re-install all the other stuff you took off, remember to re-bleed brakes. Make sure nothing is touching your headers, spark plug wires, fuel line ect...I would start the truck with open headers, so you can soak up the fruits of your hard labor.

Some smoke is normal from all the lube and the paint burning off YOUR new headers. Let truck idle, blip throttle to scare the neighbors, again make sure nothing is touching the headers.
Decide if you are man enough to drive it around the block, let idle till all the smoke quits. Shut off and do a torque ck on those bolts. CAREFULL THE HEADERS ARE HOT
The torque will be different due to the bolts being hot now, do a minimum tq ck. Start in middle and work you out. Decide what exhaust system you want to use, cherry bombs, flowmasters, I prefer straights to stacks. If you are not going to do it yourself, make appt with muffler shop, have fun driving there. Remember you can install a Y-style muffler bypass with cap. I do another cold torque ck then next day. And then again in a day or two after they settle in place from driving/muffler hanging on them. If you used those cool lock washers, you should have no problems. I know this is long but hope it helps, have fun let us know how it turns out, and throw in a pic. If you own a ½ ton go to this thread 7-24-2010 “My 460 needs to be heard” ½ ton swap with pics.

 

I still miss the 78 and 79 Broncos and F150 I've owned in the past. If I was doing one now, I would probably be doing the fenderwell headers!! L&L headers, spiral core race mufflers, big blocks, loud obnoxious exhaust..........Oh, those were the days!!

Yea, I used what Blaster I had left and then used up most of my regular WD40. I'm out of the WD40 rust penetrant. Think I'll try and grab some today. The one that broke is about an 1/8"" in the hole. It was turning when it broke. We'll see how that goes. (I quit drinking about 15 years ago, but I'll sure drink some coffee or sweat tea and think about it!)

I think I'm just gonna use some extra time and soak the driver side. I mean, it's on jack stands and not going anywhere at the moment.
I talked to a shop here locally yesterday and I think I'm going to use him for the transmission rebuild. He's not any cheaper, but he's a whole lot closer!!

 

I was not supporting the consumption of anything bad, tea is fine by me...lol. I do support loud and obnoxious exhaust!

FYI, WD 40 is not rust penetrate its (water displacement) 40th version or multiple uses?

WD-40 Facts & Myths | WD-40 Ingredients

Use what ever you have and what works for you, PB Blaster, Kroll lubricant is good, Sea Foam Deep creep. Maybe welding a nut on what is left of the bolt trick might work? It never works for me, good luck to you.

 

L&L are gay. Get mad dog headers.

 

Not worried about the head to exhaust bolts, I have a bucket of them, I need to locate the collector bolt/studs, where the pipes connect to the manifold.

 

For a penetrating oil or panther **** I use a 50/50 mix of Acetone and ATF.
The only thing I have found that works better is the hot wax melted into the threads.

 

Wow, didn't know I'd make waves about L & L headers. When I did my big block trucks, I don't think there was anyone else out there building the big block ford swap headers. I just remember seeing their ads in the back of 4x4 magazines. I've used them twice in my own trucks and not had a problem with them. One pair, the nickel coating was coming off, but they replaced them. Never had a problem with fit though. Even used the motor mounts on one truck.
Looked at some online reviews and I can see some people aren't happy with them!

 

I have never done a lima swap into a 335 series truck before. I have built 3 351m trucks though. 1 i changed crank,rods and pistons and bored 30 and built a 408. I used hedmann headers on all of those. 2 I sold after about 2 years. 1 I drove for about 8 years. I never had the slightest problem with the hedmanns. The 408 was in a 79 F150 and would smoke most 400 powered chevys. Was a stump pullin SOB. I pulled a Jeep Honcho 1 time that just had to hook bumpers with me. He had a 401 and a bad *** sounding cam.Too much cam I think. We started off and I never even hesitated. As a matter of fact he ran his mouth so much I pulled him about a 1/4 mile..
We unhooked and he hauled ***. Never came back to the party.

 

Now now gator, you can't always go picking on the competition even though they deserve it

 

L&L makes their primaries for the 460 headers too small. They should be 1 7/8" or 2" primaries. Maddog makes them that big and are excellent fitting to the application they list.