I JUST did my passenger manifold gaskets last week. I didnt have to weld a thing, and my studs that were broken, were broken 1/4 inch into the head. drill and tap and easy-out. Rest of the intact studs I used vise-grips and got em out just fine

 

ok i got a 250 5.4 how did u get the 2 lower ones out?? motor mount is right there.

 

I jacked the engine up and undid the 3 bolts on the mount plate on the block. jacked the engine up more, and snuck my drill in.


this is a 98 expy 4six though

 

this is the one exhaust stud trapped by the motor mount


my broken off ones were the top left corner on cylinder 4 and the lower right corner on cylinder 1

 

And always give the penetrating oil time to do ite thing.

 

o yea i plan on soaking those babys in pb blaster overnight.

 

get ahold of me if you get stuck on something

 

ok cool. those 2 pain in the A$$ studs are still there so i hope i can get a socket on there. i got those sears bolt out sockets.

 

just dont go crooked while torqueing them out, thats how they break. Stay as straight as possible. Dont cancel out Vise Grips with either, without em, I wouldnt have gotten my existing studs out

 

ok.i probably wont get to it til next weekend cause of work so.. i have time to get all my tools together. if you think of anymore tips send them my way.

 

how far along are you? Is the manifold off?

can you get pics of everything?

I took my manifold to the machinist to have it surface decked to make an even sealing surface

I also got my gasket at Advance Auto Parts. They are the nee revised two piece ones. They are awesome!

 

i havent even started yet lol. i just looked at it real quick and was like" this is gonna be a pain" i figure ill set aside a whole day for this.

 

Worss comes to worse, you have to drill and tap. This took several hours, and drilling into your aluminum head is not fun, its rather nerve racking. It would be better to zip off your exsisting nuts with an impact gun. Then the studs are less likely to snap off. Most studs snap because of the pressure put on them slowly, if you hit the nuts hard and fast, they'll zip right off

 

good tip. i replaced driver side in my dakota but..those studs were much easier to get to. the manifold itself was cracked the studs were ok.