well, im at a bit of a cross roads & im not sure what to do. just a little background 1st. i bought the truck used back in 2006. it had about 87k miles on it at the time (now at 138k). this truck has been with me through a lot of things. i've had plenty of other vehicles along with the truck, but always went back to my old "faithful". the truck has never let me down & always got the job done when i needed it. used it to tow back other vehicles i've purchased on my car dolly. drove it all up & down the east coast without any problems. it got me through our last big blizzard here with no problems what so ever. i wouldnt hesitate to hop in it right now & drive cross country. even my tech at work says this truck has always been in the best shape. especially for the age & compared to other trucks we see come in & out of our shop.

now all that being said, the truck is super reliable, but the only issue with it is the rust under the truck. surface rust on the frame (not an issue), but rust everywhere else. spindles are very rusty, just saw some power steering lines that look to be in bad shape & i'm sure brake lines & fuel lines can't be in the best of shape either. there is no rust on the body, but the doors have the typical rust along the bottom inside seam.

now my dilemma started when the left manifold bolts that bolt it to the converter broke & i developed a bad leak. my lead tech dropped the converters, drilled out the holes, & put everything together. no problems. at that time, he suggested replacing the converters since the left side was leaking at the seams, but i didnt do it. fast forward to a couple weeks ago where the leak started to get louder, so i figured, i'd replace the converters. unfortunately for me, another tech got the job & had a hard time dropping the converters. long story short, he finally got the new converters in, but now i have a leak from my passenger side manifold. i personally think that is b/c he was wailing on the exhaust to get it down (what other techs told me since i was off).

problem here is the manifold bolts are extremely rusted & there are no if, ands, or buts that they WILL break if someone tries to remove them. my question is, has anyone else ran into this problem? if so, what was done to fix/correct the problem? we know the broken bolts would have to get drilled out. but im thinking the only way to be 100% correct when drilling them out is to remove the engine to do it. my dilemma also comes along, how much more money do i put into the truck (i know i'm ultimately the only one that can answer that). but my concern is that there are so many other things that are rusted, i could end up having to put a lot more money into fixing what breaks. where should i draw the line?

what are some opinions on my situation? (sorry about being so long winded).


SHORT VERSION....BOTTOM LINE QUESTIONS:
the manifold bolts are extremely rusted & there are no if, ands, or buts that they WILL break if someone tries to remove them. my question is, has anyone else ran into this problem? if so, what was done to fix/correct the problem? where should i draw the line? what are some opinions on my situation?

 

Better off just asking the question or questions.

 

I drilled all 16 of mine out with the engine in the truck and I have a 5.4. The 4 hard ones are the front one on each side and the rear on each side. I have 90 degree drill attachment and it made them easy.

 

edited at the bottom of the post, lol.

 

Good Job lol.
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As bad as they look, they may back right out. Mine were 13mm, but so rusty, I managed to get a 12mm on a few of them lol. I have a pic somewhere, I try to find it.... -

After I cleaned them up a bit -




Also, -the end of the studs take a 5mm.

I used two universals, extensions to hop over the frame rail and mount the manifold nuts. I also used a 18v impact to loosen. Not one broke.
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I replace factory manifolds w/long tube headers, since they were so cheap. The manifold to exhaust flange bolts were rusted down to a pencil lead thickness, - on both sides. They didn't break/separate, but they were ready to. I've never seen flange studs rust in this fashion in the past.

Headers were under $300, plus there's a performance gain IF the rest of the exhaust system is configured for such.

Good Luck.

 

thanks for the pics. it gives me a little nope, but ill be honest with you. i think mine looks worst. ill try to get some pics to show you guys.

 

I doubt it.

Like I said, -I cleaned them up quite a bit.

Wire wheeled on the truck/then again on the bench grinder.

That's why the nuts are pitted instead of corroded.

Had a little over 200,000 Michigan Miles on the truck before I did it.

 

damn. well, ill get some pics & you can let me know. im praying that you are correct & they come out ok.

 

This kit from Craftsman worked wonders on mine:



1998 with 172,000 at the time, lived all it's life in NY & OH







Just did the pass. side, 3 studs came out, but not one broke... Good luck

 

you may want to consider replacing the manifolds rather than just rebolting them. I've had to have both of mine replaced on my '97 after they rusted so badly they started to develop small holes. I've never had a manifold rot away like that, but it happened to both of mine.


Road salt has really taken a toll on my '97. I did some body repairs a couple of years ago and everything is looking good on the body for now, but underneath is a different story. I started spraying Fluid Film on everything last year (just did it again for the winter) to help slow things down, but it's ugly under there.

For safety, I would strongly suggest replacing all the brake lines. Mine started popping a couple of years ago. You probably already know about the gas tanks straps.

Most of my repairs in recent years are related to corrosion. I don't put that many miles on the truck, so rust has become my biggest enemy.

 

That is unbelievable

 

Take it from Jbrew.. Mine where pretty bad also. But they all came off.. Get a new manifold yours its going to be warped also..

 

i would cry if my truck looked like that! thank goodness i live down south!

 

I have. Sometimes I need to drive around listening to elevator music to help get past it. It doesn't always work.

So..... I pray for High Heat Pore15, I guess. Maybe some day.

 

Just to clarify, only parts of the truck look like that.
As long as you don't crawl around underneath it or poke your head into the wheel wells, the truck looks pretty good for being 15 years old.