broken manifold to downpipe stud help

[welderman85]

hi all. Im in the process of getting my 95 4.0 back on the road. The driver side doughnut gasket was junk,but every time I looked at the studs I got scared because I knew what was going to happen. there were really crusty. so I soaked them with pb blaster for a week or so the heated it good with the torch and just as I thought it took all of 2 seconds to twist them off. so now what. I know I have to pull the manifold but wahts the best way to go about this. . thank you

 

[RonD]

If the studs broke then you may have issues with manifold bolts as well.............

Are the studs broken off flush?

If not, then if you can heat the studs without damaging wires, hoses, ect...., you can put candle against the hot studs and the wax will be pulled in to the threads, then hit stud a few times with a hammer via steel bar, then try to remove them.

An Exhaust shop will usually get it all done for under $60, have them do both sides.
They do this all day every day so they have the right tools and know the quickest way.
I am a proud DIYer but there is no glory in exhaust system rusted out bolts, lol, IMO of course.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

If you can get a straight run at them without removing, drill them out and helicoil.

sent while sitting on the throne

 

[RonD]

Yes, if you can drill then do so, the vibration of drilling will often get the stud to spin and unscrew out the back of the flange.

 

[welderman85]

ok thank you I will give drlling it out a shot. I was try to get a few of the manifold bolts loose and nothing would budge and I didn't want to break one of those off.

 

[welderman85]

i now wish i would have just taken it to an exhaust shop

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

You have exhaust shops open on a sunday......heathen.

It really does suck. I was able to drill out broken studs on my 97 f150 but I had to weld two long bits together to reach.

 

[RonD]

i now wish i would have just taken it to an exhaust shop

You can use small C-clamps to hold exhaust in place so you can drive it.

I bought a truck once that had a c-clamp in place of a stud/nut, from its patina it had been there a long time, I didn't notice it for a few months, never leaked just saw it when doing other work.

 

[Bronco638]

There are stud remover sockets you can buy. With those and heat/penetrant, you might get them out with minimum fuss.

 

[adsm08]

Just drill a hole and pop a nut/bolt though it. Then if it fights you next time you just cut the bolt.

 

[AllanD]

With a bit of work it is possible although aggravating to remove the inner fender from any gen ranger.

Once the inner fender and other impediments are removed you can easily drill the broken 8mm bolts out of the manifold flanges of the heads.

My typical experience is that about half of them break, but if you have the manifold off drill out and heli-coil all six of them.

The factory threads are metric, 8mmX1.25 to be exact, however with this size some lengths of bolt are difficult to obtain... So what I typically do is drill them and heli-coil the holes to accept 5/16NC (5/16-18) threads because excellent quality bolts are available in this thread size in virtually any length you can think up...

This makes life far easier in the future,

As for the manifold flange where the Y-pipe attaches the factory threads are 12mmX1.75 thread, and bolts with reduced size heads, so it is possible to get a wrench on them are not generally available (Bell-housing bolts from a 3.0Vulcan engine Taurus seem to work well...)

 

[Lariat]

3 things. Vise grips, candle wax and heat. Ive successfully pulled several broken studs out of manifolds doing this. You have to get the manifold to just start glowing, put wax on, then repeat once. Then work on getting vise grips tight, slowly work on getting them broke free. Here's a video i found on this process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTRUXRv2HFs

 

[enjr44]

Just drill a hole and pop a nut/bolt though it. Then if it fights you next time you just cut the bolt.

^^^^+++!!!

Drill and bolt, don't mess with the manifold to head bolts or you will be pulling the heads next!!

 

[racsan]

my '93 has the flanges completly rusted off of the Y pipe, i used stainless hose clamps on the left side to hold the Ypipe to the manifold and on the right side i have a muffler clamp on the manifold and the Ypipe with a length of 1/4 all-thread connecting them (drilled a 1/4 hole in the side of the stamped steel part of the muffler clamps) has held now for a good 3 years, got hose clamps also between the converter and pipe going to the muffler. "rigged", yeah, but effective!