I have a 99 with a 5.4. It sounded like a exhuast leak got to checking it out the entire manifold on the passengers side is rotting away. Some of the nuts are gone and the studs look like sharpened pencils sticking out several of the lower holes the stud go's thru are half gone. This going to be fun NOT. Pulled it in the shop tonight and sprayed every thing, Im going to just cut the remaining nuts off. A socket will not even fit them they are eroded so bad. I called Ford they wanted 180$ for the manifold Oriellys got it for 76$ and another 20$ for studs but after getting home I think they gave me the studs that attach the pipe not the studs for the head.
Wish me luck

 

My '99 (4.6) had a hole in the front on that manifold.

start by pulling the inner fender well off. I got several old nuts off by grinding down the outside of a 1/4" craftsman socket (12mm i think) to get clearance and then tapped them down with a hammer. some came off easy. A couple required the diamond wheel on a dremel tool. If I had one, I'd use a cutting torch in a minute.

BTW - check the new manifold before you pull the old one. Look at the outlet end, between the rear cylinder's port and the pipe connection. I got the wrong one from the store. Turned out the manufacurer's application data was off.

 

I bought the studs from Ford because they are Stainlees Steel. Let me know how you get the studs out of the block when they are that bad. Mine came out OK, but I had something to grab onto.

 

go with stage 8 exhaust studs

 

Started at 9am at 11:30am had all but 2 studs out. I had to grind every nut off and chisel the remaining part off. I removed the starter to get to the center bottom nuts with the die grinder. Once the manifold was out of the way the 6 front studs turned out with vicescripts. The back 2 were broken off, one flush with the block drilled it out and retapped it. The other is sticking out about 1/4 inch or so and will not move. I'm letting it soak overnight and try it tomorrow. I have heated it and sprayed it many times today. I even took the grinder to it to make flat spots to get a good bite on it. If it won't come tomorrow I might weld a nut to it and see if I can turn it out, if not it's back to the drill and this is the lower one so it will be tough to drill.
When I removed the starter the battery wire broke off as soon as I touched it. So thats bad, but good at least it happend at home not in some parking lot in the middle of know where.

 

I think I'd borrow or rent an angle drill before trying to weld to that stud. Tap in and Easy Out and it should come right out. I've done 2 of these in the last 6 months. Use the best bolts you can get, or you'll be doing it again. I don't really think that the stud nuts were SS. Might not hurt to search for some.

Those starter cables can be fixed easily with a copper welding cable lug, and a propane torch. Just cut the cable back an inch or so, and solder on the new end.

Dave

 

Dave...What kind of easy out did you use...the left handed type? I have never had good luck with those spike looking kind...they seem to break easy and then you have a mess. When I did mine I had 2 that were broke and after I got the manifold off I hammered on those spiral type extractors over the remaining stud and they came right off.

Just as a side note, I noticed last fall a small leak on the other side. Once again the bottom back stud-nut had rusted off. But as with many of these, it breaks off about flush with the outside of the manifold. If you clean out all the rust you will notice that the hole in the manifold that goes over the stud is a little bigger. I took a 8mm flange nut and a 9/16ths flange nut and JB Welded them back to back ( flange to flange). I screwed a bolt into a few threads on the bigger nut and then took my bench grinder and "shaped" the end of the 8mm nut into a cone shape. Unscrewed the bolt and took the nut and it was just enough to start it on the remainging threads that were inside the manifold on the stud. It does not take much to pull it down tight, and it has been fine since then. It worked slick, but if I had a smaller welder after the JB dried, I would put a few tacks....flange to flange. It won't cause any problems to get off off even if the larger nut breaks the bond...it's just not on there that tight...but holds!

 

Dave I used a very small right angle air powered drill. I tryed an easy out but no luck so I went a head and drilled it and tapped. As for the other it sticks out about a 1/4 and the drill will not fit even if I cut it off flush if I have to go that route the motor will have to be lift or jacked up at least one side. I bought the cooper end for the cable i was going to crip it but like the solder idea what type of solder do you use.

Thanks

 

I always use the LH Easy Outs. I guess the trick is to first center drill with a small bit size, like maybe 3/32, then depending on how centered the holes are, go as large as you can. Between the heat from all the drilling, and the amount of material removed, just tapping the remover in and turning with a tap wrench or small crescent usually works.

For soldering the new lugs, I use the same plumbing solder that I used on copper pipe. Just make sure you trim the cable back to pretty good wire, flux the inside of the lug real good. Then I bend the cable at a downward angle and slide the lug on. You need the angle to keep the solder from just dripping back out.

Make sure to use anti-seize on all bolts, studs and nuts. The original nuts/and studs either were not SS, or they were the wrong type. There are a half dozen alloys of SS. With this application, you have iron, aluminum, steel, and SS all in contact with each other, and the corrosion will just start with the weakest link. Personally, I'd like to next time just use a good grade of SS allen bolt, and forget the pricey little studs/nuts. They don't last anyway.

 

Well it's done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes i have used many different types of easy outs and know the process but have never had much luck.
Drill and tapped the one that was broken off flush worked great. The other fooled with it awhile this morning and finally welded a nut on it and it came right out. I did solder the cable end back on I used some rosin core electrical solder I have had for ever, hope it holds.

I took some pic's but cant get them to post?????????

 

mayor

Good deal ! Next time it'll be a piece of cake ! If you couldn't pull the lug off when it cooled, it'll probably hold. Those starter cables, and exhaust issues are the two most common failures I usually see.

Dave

 

Thanks again
For the help and encouragement I'm getting to old to do this stuff but it hard to take it some where with all of those tools sitting in the shop.

 

We have done three of these in the last 4 weeks. Used a Dorman on one and when tightening the exhaust pipe nut up the studs pulled the threads out of the manifold. Will be using Ford from now on.

 

Glad it worked out. I was thrilled when I finished mine. I remember when that cable rotted off my starter. Pouring down rain, had just finished a service call. Got it going by turning the key on, crawling under the truck and touching the rotted off cable to the other post and then it cranked and started. Was headed home but stopped for coffee and by habit forgot and shut the truck off. Crawled back under and did the same thing....got home and soldered on a lug. I used electrical solder...has been fine for couple years now.


I reused my manifold, but the studs were like pencil lead that joined to the pipe. I drilled those out and used 3/8ths stainless bolts and nuts to pull it together.