oh wise landy people i need your help! i am doing a top end refresh due to a hopefully leaky headgasket (fingers crossed it fixes my problem). I am stuck on a part of i can assume is the egr system. So the massive nut in the picture i assumes just threads off but it seems to want to rotate the pipe along with it. I could just be stuck from sitting that way for the last 160K miles or i might be doing it wrong. any ideas how this gets removed would be helpful.

 

That's the SAI pipe. Be careful with it they are expensive. It should thread off but it can be tricky. It's connected to a small pipe that goes into the cylinder head. What's moving when you turn it - the piece it's connected to in the head or the outer pipe itself?

 

when i turn the nut, the accordion metal pipe twist as well as the part that is actually in the cylinder block. should i soak it in penetrating lube for a bit. and will i damage the block if the part going in to the block is moving. i haven't moved it much

 

Yes use penetrating lube to loosen the rust etc, then hold the short pipe going to head with correct wrench (it should have a nut like thing you can put wrench on)
Then loosen the big nut carefully,,
It's more like plumbing they use for custom brake line connection's but much bigger,,

 

I agree with Bom2oo2. If you look just under the fitting nut, there are two flat sides on the part that threads into the head. Put a wrench on that and turn out the fitting carefully. You may need some penetrating oil if it's still turning the pipe with the nut.
You'll get it, just take your time and if anything is sticking, let the penetrating oil do its thing for a while, then try it again.

 

This is the wrench I modified to hold the SAI nipples. 11/16" tappet wrench (just means it is thin), that has been heated and bent to 45 degrees so you can sneak it in behind the flare nuts. It will jamb against the exhaust manifolds to hold the nipple. Put a bit of anti-seize on the threads and nipple when you put it back together.

 

As far as penetrating oils go: PB Blaster used to be my go to of choice, until I found something much much better. Sea Foam Deep Creep. It cuts through rust and corrosion, turns baked on carbon deposits to a liquid you can wipe off, and lubricates. Did spark plugs on a Ford Triton (after soaking them in Deep Creep for 10 minutes, and didn't break a single one. The carbon deposits dripped off into the combustion chamber. This past week did head gaskets on a D2, and a lift kit on mine. Sprayed every bolt that looked problematic, and broke none.

I am not affiliated with Sea Foam in any way, but this penetrant is amazing!

 

WOW! I've got to try that stuff! Those Ford spark plugs, at least the rear two, seem to break every single time I do a set of them. Even if you put tons of anti-seize on them before installing them.

 

all good info! im back at it today. hopefully i can get it all finished in the next few days

 

so close yet so far. made some progress today. im down to the head bolts that won't budge. don't want to rush and wreck so i am done for the day. as far as the sai pipes go i ended up having to remove them to get to one of the rear head bolts. one of the ends freed up and that made pulling the other side much easier. wish i had that custom tool tho!