Well, it happened today - hear the old tick-tick from a leaky exhaust manifold.

Sure enough, missing the end of two studs on the lower passenger side, cylinders 3 and 4.

At first, I thought "spark plug!" but the noise went away after the engine warmed up a minute or two (not really conclusive, but the broken exhaust studs kinda confirm the diagnosis, eh?)

Do you know why I'm HAPPY?

I want to change out the manifolds.

So, what're my choices:

1) 2005-up 3-valve exhaust manifolds with custom y-pipe
2) Shorty headers, wrapped or ceramic coated to keep the noise down?
3) "expensive" matched-length headers. Better, but I don't think I really want to go that far...

Opinions? Comments?

 

I've always been a fan of mixing and match OEM parts. I say get a set of 05 manifolds.

 

I'm very happy with my ceramic coated SST headers from Banks. They look as good today as they did 6+years / 70k miles ago.

 

How does it sound in the cab?

Hmm... maybe I should look into that peel-and-stick sound shield stuff.

 

Just found some pictures before, they do stick out much further... I'll have to check if there's room.

 

krew - I'll be watching this thread to see what you eventually decide. My exhaust manifolds are still fine after 140K miles but I'm interested to see if what you do increases your performance, mileage, etc. Make sure you take pictures.

 

You mean like this one, taken at 7MP (and cropped way back)???

 

I am sorely temped to weld a nut on both of those studs and back them out. I only let it leak for about 1 minute, just enough to determine what it was. If I don't slam the throttle to the floor, it doesn't leak ...

Oh, and it's the top of cylinder 4 and 5, dopey me... I was in traffic, hopped out, ran around the side of the truck to sneak a peak before the light changed. Just wanted to make sure it was the manifold and not a plug.

 

Yeah, like that one! Sheeze. My old eyes couldn't see that close in person. Nice pic of the problem.

 

I'm trying to figure how you're going to get that rusted bolt off. Will you just remove all the others and then pull the manifold off the head? I expect then you can just use vise grips to grab onto the broken stud and back it out lefty-loosey? Just wondering if there's enough slack in the exhaust to slide it over the top of th e broken stud.

 

That's usually the way it's done, actually.

But I'd seperate the y-pipe from the manifold first.

I'm thinking of getting a 3/8" or 5/16" nut and mig-welding it onto that stud, and then removing the stud. Without removing the manifold. I've heard of that being done, too...

It would be a stop-gap measure until I get the time to do it the right way.

And decide which manifolds I want to use.

2005-up manifolds go for $430 each side, maybe a bit less. From Ford w/a discount. Ones for my '01? I think the driver's side is over $1000 w/discount!

 

Oui. Sounds like OEM is not the way to go. Aren't there a buch of exhaust and y pipe options available out there? Banks, others? I was hoping to get rid of the factory manifolds because they look so small and restrictive. I'm hoping you spend the money finding out a really cool option and then tell the rest of us if it worked or not. Better your money than mine!

 

A left hand drill and an a quality easy-out should get that stud out no problem. I'm a machinist and am always pulling out broken bolts with no bolt sticking out to grab. Spray the studs with PB Blaster a few days prior and you should be able to get them out without pulling the manifold off.

Too bad ford couldn't spend a penny a bolt more for stainless bolts which would probably have paid in the long run due to warrenty repairs. A dab of anti-seize goes a long way too.

I'm looking at getting Banks headers soon. What does it cost to get them ceramic coated? Is it worth it?

 

Uh, I guess I don't have to worry about the gasket anymore. This is the top #5 stud... and surrounding area

 

I have the Banks stainless non-coated headers. They are of super high quality. I have had them on for about 3 years. They fit great. The studs have been removed at time of installation and replaced with actual bolts to fasten the headers. They are relatively quiet in the cab. You can hear them but just barely and only under load. 95% of the time you cant hear them. In the summer when you drive with the windows down you can hear them more. A perfect example is driving buy a tall stockade fence and you can her the hissing pulsing sound refecting off the fence as you drive buy. That is the only drawback to the thin stainless headers. They have about 50K miles on them and still fine.