Anyone out there have or work on this model?

I'm replacing the entire exhaust except the cat, which is bolted right under the manifold. Anyway the nuts on the flange connecting the header pipe to the mid pipe were corroded to the point where they just crumbled off. Had to cut the bolts with the Dremel tool. Now the old exhaust is off the car but the rest of the bolts are stuck in the flange of the header pipe.

This exhaust was original. replacing because the resonator is rotting out/leaks. The rest of the exhaust is "fair", but not worth fooling around with the hack saw, patch pipe, and clamps. The main question is, anyone out there work on one of these and know for sure if Ford used studs or plain bolts .

If they're only bolts an extractor should get the shanks loose, but if they're studs I'm just going to drill them out and use bolts. An extractor will probably just snap them off flush anyway.

Also don't want to wail away at them with the sledge because the header pipe has that "flex" segment and if that is trashed the cat will have to be replaced. Not into that kind of expense over a couple stubborn bolts or studs.

Thanks.

 

i think id just drill them out just go easy

 

Thanks, that's about what I was planning to do, I just threw the question out there in case anyone knows for sure. Seized bolts would be a bit easier than seized studs. I can see studs on an exhaust manifold because the top side is not flat (At least none I have seen) But a simple flange.. But I suppose Ford has its way of doing things and this might be one of them.

I have easy access to both sides so careful drilling won't be a big deal. (Don't want to ruin the bolt holes on that flange, the whole header pipe is cat-integral and costly.

Thanks for the reply.

 

It should be studs and not many manifolds use bolts. The correct way to remove damaged studs is to weld a nut on to the stud and heating the manifold around the stud till it turns free. Drilling it out is normally a last resort as it normally ruins the threads. BTW I work in a muffler shop.

 

And has been raining so no car work til after the weekend and before Thanksgv

But since you are in a muffler shop you must have seen these cars.. It's not the manifold. It is a flange connecting the cat/header/flex-pipe assembly to the midpipe which has the resonator, which connects again on back to the tail.

It's an ordinary-looking 2-bolt (or stud) flange with a gasket and all that. I wrote above, the nuts weren't even there to grab any more so cut them off leaving the remains stuck inside the front flange.

I even tried one of those "bolt-grip" socket-with-teeth, it grabbed one of them but that thing won't budge, even with a breaker bar. So I stopped that so as not to twist and damage that flex section of pipe. If I wreck that I'm stuck buying a new cat because in Ford's wisdom they made it all one piece with the cat is oart of the manifold.

I can see the front of those "studs" in the front of the flange so will have to simply drill them out it seems. They can be replaced with real 5/16 x 2" bolts. Name of the game seems to be "don't crack the flange"

But any other ideas are welcome. Thanks again.

 

With short daylight was only able to devote an hour or two on this project, but for those who have one of these cars and end up replacing the exhaust:

This appears to have been the original 99 Contour exhaust. In any case it was one piece from the header flange to the end of the car.

Yes those were studs. Why they would use studs on a pipe-to-pipe flange -- who knows-- But there were two ways to approach this aside from having a muffler shop play with it. [and assuming the studs and bolts were as unserviceable as these.]

1) Remove the cat/header pipe assembly from the manifold and remove the studs as bench work (Not my choice here-- 4 more potentially stubborn studs and nuts to deal with) But here one can use those "Bolt Grip" extractors, or whatever it takes to crank them out.

or

2) Leave the front of the exhaust on the car and drill those studs out. Either approach takes time and patience. The metal used for those studs is very hard and the drilling process was very tedious, whether with new standard drill bits, cobalt bits or even titanium-coated bits it takes time.
For some reason, out of the new set, After making a pilot hole (more like a dimple) with the smallest bit, the 1/32 bit was the only one to really chew through those studs rather quickly. But after this one it was a matter of "one size up" after each one gets through. The 7/64 was also quick.

I drilled enough out to slide in 5/16 x 1.5 bolts. These, with lock washers, are just fine to bolt this thing back up.

Assembled and tested and does not leak.