an den

 

Seriously, after all this, there better be pictures...

 

cool... wanna come do mine? lol.

 

No an den!

 

I will NOT play your Chinese mind games!

 

sadly, you are correct.

 

Ok, so I'm pretty much done with the exhaust manifold replacement. (It's leaking at the front pipe to manifold - not surprising - I just need to tighten down the bolts and didn't have time to wait for exhaust to cool)

So the intake and exhaust manifold removal was pretty straightforward. I did not have any trouble getting the vacuum lines off and the fuel lines disconnected easily by hand (no tools required).
I ended up going with removing the lines and unplugging the injectors since everything came apart without trouble and I wanted to have as much stuff out of the way as possible.

I didn't break any of the bolts, but the threads were pretty badly damaged on the front stud, so the nut backed off a bit, but then the whole stud came out. It was a PITA, but a heck of a lot better than it breaking off.

Cutting the old front pipe out went as expected. I was happy that I could get the O2 sensor plug out without damaging the plastic fastener.

So I followed the great tip and set the intake on the dowels a few times to get a feel for it.
I also followed the excellent tip of putting the 4 lower bolts on before setting the intake on.

Since I didn't have the front pipe in the way, I was actually able to visually confirm that the intake was correctly on the dowels when actually putting it back together. It also made it easy to access the bottom rear-most bolt and stud/nut when torquing the manifolds.
I torqued it according to spec - it took about 4 passes around the pattern and I used a torque wrench on the easy to access bolts.

Getting the pipes connected was a much bigger PITA than anticipated and I ended up getting and breaking an exhaust pipe expander loaner tool before the pipes finally slipped on correctly.

I got everything in the engine compartment back together and went to put the O2 sensor in and lo and behold the f'n new front pipe had relocated the port and there wasn't enough clearance to get the sensor in with the pipe to manifold connected. So all the effort to connect the pipe was wasted as I had to loosen the pipe to get the O2 sensor in. It went in, but it is disturbingly close to the oil pan.
I'll run it as it is, but I won't be shocked if I have to have an exhaust shop or welder relocate the bung in the future.
So since I had to loosen the pipe connection, it wasn't a shock that when I fired it up I'm leaking at the connection. Other than that it seems to be running well - no spiking RPM's, no leakage at the head/manifold.

As it was late and I'll be able to get a 2nd pair
of hands after work tonight.. that's where it is.

 

I'll take some higher quality pics tonight.

 

good job!

 

tin fur. what manifold did you get?

 

Nice. Good job.

 

Thanks guys. Exhaust manifold was Dorman since I didn't want to spring for a premium one and the Dorman was the best reviewed of the stock-ish/budget manifolds.
I did get a felpro gasket for both the intake/exhaust and doughnut gaskets since the ones that came with the manifold were low quality.

Pipes are tight and the manly roar of my engine is gone.

On to the next project!

 

Oh, there is always a next project

 

copy. i’m almost afraid to ask...what’s the next project?

 

Clutch next and then leaf springs as far as major items.