OK, I'll throw in the back story first,,

Bought truck last year, noticed a slight tick and 2 busted studs, and the dealer replaced the right side manifold manifold and all the studs. The tech that did the work said that he always recommended replacing the manifold whenever they have a stud issue.
Fast forward to this year, Slight tick again, 2 studs broken on driver's side, and studs that hold y pipe on almost rusted through, so I'm going to be in on the job soon. The driver's side manifold is stupid high through ford (700ish$). And aftermarket parts are in the 400 range for one manifold.

So after all my ramblings, my questions are,,

Does the manifold need replaced every time?
Anyone used the aftermarket Dorman manifolds?
What headers would you get that include a Y pipe, besides the Banks (too much $)

Thanks for your opinions, and time of reading my ramblings!

 

What year is your V-10?

 

Bring the manifold to a machinist and get it checked for straightness. If it's out, they can mill it, if they can do stainless - the stock manifolds are actually a mild stainless.

Unlike the days of yore when things like FE-engine manifolds would warp and cause all sorts of problems with leaks, and especially cracking (even though it probably wasn't that anyway), I'm not so sure these new manifolds warping are causing the broken studs.

What's happening I believe is that the nuts corrode, "stick" to the manifold, and as the manifold expands and contracts length-wise, the manifold drags the nuts with it, eventually fatiguing the stud until it breaks.

Check the manifold mating surface is perfectly flat, or mill it if it's not, and slap it back together. I think the new nuts are copper plated to keep the corrosion down?

(side note on FE manifolds: it was the manifold itself corroding to the head. Manifold expands, gets stuck, and as it cools and contracts, it cracks. I read in a service manual somewhere to not use gaskets, but DO use anti-seize. Which is exactly what I did when I was 19 working on my highboy - my brother owned it for 12 years or so, and went through who knows how many cracked manifolds. When I got it from him, it had another cracked driver's side. So, I went about removing it, and the only thing I did was use anti-seize to put it back together. Lasted 4 or 5 years before I ripped out that anemic 360 for a built-up 390 w/headers) - moral of this story: Manifolds expand and contract a LOT - enough to cause all sorts of problems, and the 5-cylinder manifold on the V10 is even longer. That expansion and contraction is likely 99% of the cause of broken studs. Anything that can be done to keep the nuts from locking to the manifold should be tried. Copper washers, stainless washers, copper-plated nuts, SOMETHING. And don't exceed the recommended torque.

 

Truck is an 03. I did find the Thorley Ceramic Headers last night for 505$ shipped, I may go that route, If not I'll just pull it and make sure it's flat and go back together with it and hope for the best.

 

Muddyforeman, where did you find the Thorleys at that price? It will be well worth the time to swap to the headers. On my to do list.

 

Just looked again, Maybe I was dilusional last night, It was 586 shipped through autoanything.com

 

Im in the same boat..except mine is an 08. Least you have options for a header if you want to go that route. I dont believe an aftermarket header exists for mine. My studs are shot, and mine sounds like a steam tractor starting up in the morning.