hey guys! so i have an exhaust leak.... i need to do it a.s.a.p right? how hard is it to get to them with out doing alot of disassembly? I am new to fords so im not sure which ports they are....but its the last one on the pass. side and second to last on the driver side... can i do it in a weekend? should i resurface the manifold? thanks

 

Ok, you need to replace the studs since at least one has let go. Soak them liberally in PB Blaster. Yes you can do it in a weekend. And yes, you should resurface the manifold.

 

cool...thanx

 

I'm just going through the same thing, was quoted anywhere from 200.00 - 350.00 for the labor. The cheaper quote was if they didn't have any problems.

So I decided to do it myself, passanger side that is. Last bolt in back on top was broke.

Took the fender well off and the starter and soaked the studs with PB the evening before.

I was able to remove the front top nut and the bottom front the stud came out without any problems.

No such luck with the rest, the nuts were completely welded/rusted to the studs.

Ended up taking a dremel with the flex shaft and cut off all the nuts, takes some real flexibility with the dremel, but got them off finally.

6 studs with about an 1 - 1 1/4" remaining in the block

More soaking with PB and applied some heat to them as well, not sure if that helped or not?

3 more came out very easy

2 gave me some worry, but with a few more soaking and heat got them out leaving me with the bottom back one, wouldn't budge and was making me nervous. Heat, pb, heat and more pb. No room for any leverage with the vice grips. Ground to flat spots and still nothing.

Really getting worried, thought I was going to have to bring it in somewhere.

Don't know if this helped or not, but I had some large ice chunks I would hold on the stud to help it stay cool and I was heating around the surrounding area with a propane torch.

FINALLY it broke loose, bought a new manifold and the Ford Stainless studs and should have it back together today.

All total I'll probably have about four hours in it, but it was stretched out over a few days with the PB soaking.


Good Luck

 

A little exhaust tick because of a broken stud isn't really an asap deal. It will run fine like that for a long time. Don't try to hurry up and do the job, it will enough work without pressure.

Mine has started to tick when cold on the pass side. I am going to do the Summit shorty headers, which come with new fasteners. That means no time wasted waiting for a shop to resurface the manifold.

With some planning ahead, and several good soakings with a liquid wrench type solvent, it should be doable in a day.

 

thanks cal74 for all the great advice!!! Same to you biggreenie...... I will defenitely start doing this soon! My only problem is that i live in the desert... so that means i cant really work on my truck all day long. Ill have to start really early and work on it some more in the evening.....I cant put it in the garage cause i got a lift and it wont fit! i really dont want to work in the 105 degree heat!!!! but i will do my best with the pb maybe the desert heat will help out! Hey cal74 what do you recommend about using headers? what will it help with in my truck?

 

The goal is to remove the stud from the head, NOT to remove the nut from ths stud. Getting anything to grip the nut or end of the stud and turn the stud OUT is success.

A very usefull tool that I used was a stud extractor from a set of "Stud Extractors" from my local Sears tool department. 4 or 5 stud extractors of different sizes, that look like a socket, but bite down over the stud and then can be rotated out with a socket wrench. Well worth their cost.
Vice grips & dremel not required.

Always use new studs & nuts when you go back together. I recommend the Ford dealer parts department for these. 8 studs, 8 nuts. Plus two bigger studs & nuts for the exhaust pipe attachment.

 

Not saying the stud remover wouldn't probably work a whole lot easier, but there was literally nothing left past the nuts on mine and the nuts themself were about gone.

I'm sure with all the right tools and knowledge it would have been a heck of a lot easier than my method, but it worked pretty well. A stud remover would have been nice to use on what was left of the studs though, rather than depending on a vice grip.

 

thanks 1975ih200.....luckily looks like i still have a good inch on the stud....its broke flush with the manifold... i will definetely look into the extractors...thankds