Hello All,

Here are some pictures from the passenger's side manifold connecting to the Y down pipe. I can feel the slight puffs of exhaust at idle. This looks black and sooty, the classic sign of an exhaust leak. Well crap! Now I have no excuse not to install my CDL, so I have to drop the Y pipe anyway. Cant wait for these studs to break off. I know one will! Here we go. This past summer I thought my
exhaust sounded louder. I have a magaflow muffer but this sounded different and came from the engine compartment. Well when I get a new metel gasket on this I hopfully I'll get back a few HP's and it will be quieter.

I have been bogged down finishing my never ending rear bumper project. This week I am going to replace the timing chain, water pump, oil pump gear all at once. And flush and fill to Peak global. That will be a full 2 days. All parts should be here from AB Monday.

 

ha collector gasket job was a pain in the asssssssss.... 6 hands, lots of pb blaster and a blowtorch. i only had 3 break on me ended up welding on a nut to pull the ****in stud out that snapped. definatly not a job to do without access to a lift and a friend!!

 

Yeah, I'm wondering to make my life easier, if I go ahead and cut all the studs off with an air grinder. Then drill new holes with grade at nuts & bolts = no torching and cuting and cursing.
My lift consists of 4 drive up ramps. I have a 2" OME lift too.
I have to remove this Y pipe anyway to install my front output on my transfer case..or swap the entire transfer case for the CDL. At least I have two reasons for this crazy project.

 

heat, heat and more heat the last thing you want to do is deal with broken exhaust manifold studs. You will have to pull the manifold off completely as you will never be able to drill and trap them in place. The manifold is cast and the bolts are steel if the nut wont come free heat the manifold and pull the nut and stud togther as one piece.

 

Will the Yellow Map gas can handle it or will I have to have a Oxy Acetoline torch? Which I do not have. Good to know the studs are steel and the manifolds are cast iron. I have a spare set of manifolds if, I break a stud. Will a good step drill bit and new bolt nut be OK for replacement. Or would it be better to hammer press in a new stud?
Removing the manifold may not be a bad idea, since I should probably replace those steel squarish gaskets too while I'm in gasket HELL. Not too bad i guess, good practice for my Headgaskets in the future.

 

I think you're getting ahead of yourself. I just replaced mine (driver and passenger side). I layed underneath the truck with a ratchet and replaced both w/ zero issues. A little shot of PB Blaster.

 

Ok, I know one bolt stuck out of 4 bolts can add hours to my project. I will hit it with PB blaster for a day, before I try to remove it. I also have Liquid wrench penitent oil, which I have heard is great too. And I have a full can of CRC "Freeze Off" super penitrant spray. Same guys that make the brake cleaner and MAF spray.

Coors, How did deal with the other end of the Y pipe, where it joins into one? Did you cut those bolts or did they come off too?

 

PB blaster is your friend and much better than the other two IMHO. Yes, a yellow mapp will heat it hot enough. Go after the nuts first get them cherry red might take 3-4 minutes a nut to get them hot enough, (refuse the temptation to spray them with PB blaster after they are hot.) If they dont move easy go right to the dog ear on the manifold heat that cherry red also. Heat the dog ear and not the bolt, the idea is to get the cast iron to expand not the steel bolt.

 

Actually, I did one gasket at a time. I did not loosen the flanged section of pipe where the two pipes meet. There is no need to loosen the flange bolts to replace the downpipe gaskets. There was enough play to separate the Y-pipe from the manifold and slide the new gasket in. I was quite surprised how easy it was. Hopefully, yours willl come off and go in just as easy as mine. G.L.

 

seafoam makes an foaming penetrating oil thats my #1 favorite for verticle shots like those damn studs. pb blaster is great but rather runny. the seafoam stuff, while a verrrry big exaggeration is more like shaving cream, it puffs up and sticks pretty well, expanding in bubbles then slowly liquifies as it penetrates what it covered via capillary action i would assume!