Both my exhaust manifolds have cracks in them and make the truck sound terrible.

I have had a few quotes on the job and the cheapest i can find is 900.00.

I am wondering if it worth doing or not. Truck runs real sluggish i have 33" tires on it and I am hoping that maybe I'll get a noticable increase in power with a manifold replacement. I will be doing a lot of towing this winter and it is almost embarrasing how hard my engine is working to do 55mph

Can anyone tell me what i can expect by getting this done? is it worth $900, or is my truck slow for other reasons?

thanks

College Kid

 

do em urself... u can get a set of short tube headers for cheaper than that and put them on in one good weekend.

 

I agree with aftermarket hedders but they might pose a problem with existing exhaust and angles. . .

Your stock manifolds are going to cost you $110 a piece. Nevermind the fact of countless studs that are busted off in your head. they might not be now, but when you start trying to remove the studs most of the time a few will snap off in the head then its a NIGHTMARE drilling them out with engine in truck.



this will be your workspace. . . I have spent countless hours in here drilling and tapping broken studs. . IF your lucky the studs wont break off even with the head an dyou can rethread the nut on and weld it to stud then back it out, but every stud I've removed required the need to be RED HOT and its dangerous playin in that area with a torch. .

 

i always found heating the motor up. then with the manifolds hot spray them down with penetrating oil. i think it takes like a 5.5mm socket or remove the studs.

 

If you can crack the manifold to Y-Pipe bolts loose, you can tackle it yourself. Check to see how many manifold bolts are broken off first. usually its the two closest to the flywheel on the passenger side. Mine were broke off flush with the outside of the manifold and I was able to get a stud remover on them once I pulled the manifolds off. I have a body lift like you too and didn't even pull out the fender wells to swap my manifolds.

You will notice a big increase in torque when you fix the leaks.

Good Luck!

 

there are some very hard to reach places, I wouldnt recommend this for the sake of the 3 layers of your skin


EDIt. . unless your saying let it cool after spray PB on them

 

I have a couple stock manifolds that are I'll sell you for $20 plus actual shipping, and I'm in Canada so you shipping will be a little better

 

Those will usually twist off, but that doesnt matter, the stud is in the manifold itself. You replace those studs when you replace the manifolds

 

Are you sure the manifolds are cracked? Most of issues seem to be either rusted out y-pipe studs or broken manifold studs (usually the rearmost ones on each side).

 

Very good point! I just cut mine off with the sawz all. I didn't really didn't have that many problems with the manifold studs, they all came out easy and the two that busted off left enough to grab with a stud remover. I've had a hand in doing manifold swaps on 4 trucks with a 5.4, only one gave us real hassle with studs breaking off at the head (3) and we were still able to get them out pretty easy by welding the inside of a nut to the stud and backing it out carefully.

All in all, I think it's not a whole lot of fun, it can be done. If you have the tools/patience you'll save a lot of dough.

 

i had mine break 4 studs the the back on passenger side and didn't want to mess with it, 2 needed to be drilled out and the others who knows if they would have broke also.. cost me $535.17 to have it done... they had to put new manifold kit right side,, y-pipe studs, new manifold studs, nuts... labor was $211.20, parts were $284.33, and $39.64 in tax.. it did cost alot but saved me the hassle and freezing my butt off trying to do it... now when they said the wanted $800.00 to put 2 front wheel bearing/hubs, i laughed at then and did it my self for $346.00, then i laughed again when they said $90.00 to put a tranny dip stick in cause mine had a hole in it, its a $25.00 part come on now rip off.. but if you do it your self good luck with it... i just didn't have the time to do mine

 

Your truck is sluggish because of the tires, body lift and the lights on the roll bar. The tires make it harder to turn because of their extra weight and the change in overall gearing. It is like going from 3.55:1 with stock tires to 3.20:1 with the 33s. The body lift just increased the front area of the vehicle by 3 inches. That is a giant Air brake 3 inches tall by 67 inches wide. The lights on the roll bar have the same effect.

Now for the manifolds. Shorty headers will not give you back the power that was robbed by your mods. A few HP at the best is all that you will see. If they are cracked they need to be replaced. I would not be surprised as your info shows NS as your home. Lots of salt on the coast kills metal. The most expensive part of the fix will be getting the nuts and studs off. Replace them with Stainless steel. Where did you get the estimate for the repair? Toronto is very expensive. On a budget I would get the used manifolds that were offered and shop around for a small shop to do the work. Unless you can do it yourself.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier

 

Interesting this thread popped up. I looked on Monday and on both my F150 and Expy the same bolt is broken off on the passenger side.

 

ive got the 2 rear passenger studs busted off my 01 5.4. also. after it warms up a few mins you can barely notice it the gasket still seals good. . i was gonna tackle the job but then crawled underneath and said " the hell with this" ill just work some overtime and have an exhaust shop do it when it gets real bad. im looking at buying a 08 so.. the next guy can deal with it.

 

Throw on some new manifolds. You can get some shorties for $300 from summit. Get a stage 8 locking bolt kit; you won't have to keep re-tightening them until they finally decide to stop backing out. I've done this job twice now; once on my 98, and again on my father's 98. It's not too difficult. Takes a 5.5mm socket to remove the studs. If you can't get them out with moderate pressure, take some PB Penetrating lube and a propane plumbing torch... heat it up, this will open things up just a touch. Then soak the stud and hole down with the PB; a lot will fizzle and evaporate away, but just hose it down really well, give it a half hour to soak in and try again; should be able to get it. I had no problems with broken studs.