Any tips for removing exhaust manifold studs?

[moooosestang]

These things are kicking my butt. all the upper nuts/studs broke free with little effort and some pb blaster, but the lowers are fighting me. i'm afraid i'm going to break one. going to try tightening all the uppers back and see if that helps loosen the lowers. Any tips would be much appreciated. letting them soak over night. They won this day. A pic of my outstanding port job on the bbk shorty headers for attention.

 

[moooosestang]

Going to try seafoam deep creep and some heat tomorrow.

 

[JC SSP]

Soak over night, two-nut removal method. If that doesn’t work, then heat the surrounding area…

 

[moooosestang]

heated them up and was able to squeeze my big torque wrench in there set to 25 ft lbs. i just kept going back and forth till it cracked. What a bear of a job on your back. I really couldn't picture how restrictive the stock manifolds were till i took them off. every cylinder is fighting for that same pipe essentially. I bet this sounds very different. coated bbk's ceramic coating because it rubbed off in a few spots from rubbing the box. Not cool bbk. I like this vht Nu-cast color better anyway.

 

[Badd GT]

If you’re going to go thru the aggravation of putting headers on you should probably do long tubes. Those shorties will probably not change your engine performance at all.

 

[JC SSP]

Looks great!!!!

Make sure you use quality steel shim gaskets. The BBK gaskets blew out on mine within a couple of years.

 

[Jwood562]

If you’re going to go thru the aggravation of putting headers on you should probably do long tubes. Those shorties will probably not change your engine performance at all.

probably lives in CA like I do, shorties are only option and these are CARB approved.

insert sad face here

 

[Jwood562]

Looks great!!!!

Make sure you use quality steel shim gaskets. The BBK gaskets blew out on mine within a couple of years.

any brand you would recommend? I am about to install some shorties also.

kooks gaskets?

 

[dark steed]

any brand you would recommend? I am about to install some shorties also.

kooks gaskets?

From everything I’ve heard, the Ford OEM gaskets are the best…


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[Jwood562]

From everything I’ve heard, the Ford OEM gaskets are the best…


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ahhh, good point

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

any brand you would recommend? I am about to install some shorties also.

The JBA Cat4ward are the best shorty headers for HP gains but you can also get cheaper eBay replicas that are probably of equal or better quality.

 

[86GT351]

Ford OEM gaskets.

 

[moooosestang]

If you’re going to go thru the aggravation of putting headers on you should probably do long tubes. Those shorties will probably not change your engine performance at all.

Long tubes are too expensive and too loud. I knew someone would say this though. If this were strictly a race car then i'd have done long tubes. It wasn't that aggravating. people going through the aggravation of installing cams should really just do a supercharger.

 

[moooosestang]

probably lives in CA like I do, shorties are only option and these are CARB approved.

insert sad face here

Shut your mouth! I live in Florida. I just don't want my car that loud. We don't have inspections, but we have noise laws. I like the way my pypes mid mufflers sound and didn't want to change it that much. These are for looks mostly and they might save a little weight, although the tuned length are pretty heavy.

 

[moooosestang]

Ford OEM gaskets.

I ordered the Mahle gaskets from rockauto. they are supposed to be here today so i guess i'll wait instead of trying to reuse the stock gaskets. I believe mahle makes the oem gaskets or they bought the company that did because they look exactly the same.

 

[moooosestang]

Looks great!!!!

Make sure you use quality steel shim gaskets. The BBK gaskets blew out on mine within a couple of years.

I read a lot of blowouts with the bbk gaskets. They are still in the box. maybe i'll sell them on ebay to some unsuspecting sap.

 

[JC SSP]

I always spray my exhaust gaskets with a little copper seal on both sides... old hotter trick!

 

[Midlife Crises]

people going through the aggravation of installing cams should really just do a supercharger.

Now that is an interesting statement. Blowers are big fun but may not be for everyone.

 

[moooosestang]

Now that is an interesting statement. Blowers are big fun but may not be for everyone.

It's comparable to the cost of shorties vs longtubes or used to be when superchargers were only 5-6k for these cars. Not apples to apples cost wise, but work involved is for the gains. I got a supercharger because cams looked aggravating AF! Installed the whipple myself.

 

[moooosestang]

mahle gaskets look just like OEM. you really have to jack the motor way up to get these in there! I had to tighten my motor mount bolts with a pair of vise grips. Luckily I left my torque limiters installed and just wound them out to raise it and back down to lower so the motor didnt move much so the motor mount bolts dropped right in.