New Exhaust, Old Studs

[mwesten]

All - as I slowly work 10187 back to a safely running car (eg. fuel, brakes, cooling, etc), Im starting to plan for other stuff like exhaust. I havent began disassembling yet, but wondering, in the event the new exhaust headers have 4 mounting holes per exhaust port, would it be possible/ok to switch to unused mounting holes in the event I run into problematic old studs? Obviously Ill try to get old broken studs out, but considering stock setup utilized 2 studs per port it would seem acceptable to do the same where necessary. Thoughts?

[WHO1DMC]

Myself I don't see anything wrong with it. But also I would check and chase the threads to make sure there clean.




Dave B.

[David T]

If you are patient and use an acetylene torch to heat things up you should be able to undo all of the nuts without breaking anything. The way I do it, I heat the nut up to cherry red, let it cool and then heat it up to cherry again. Before it cools I use a wrench and go back-and-forth till I feel it is loose enough to come off. Rarely do I break anything but sometimes the threads do get messed up. The exhaust can wait till you can get other things going. You have more than enough just to get the fuel, cooling, and brake systems going.

[Dickey]

All - as I slowly work 10187 back to a safely running car (eg. fuel, brakes, cooling, etc), Im starting to plan for other stuff like exhaust. I havent began disassembling yet, but wondering, in the event the new exhaust headers have 4 mounting holes per exhaust port, would it be possible/ok to switch to unused mounting holes in the event I run into problematic old studs? Obviously Ill try to get old broken studs out, but considering stock setup utilized 2 studs per port it would seem acceptable to do the same where necessary. Thoughts?

If you're insistent on keeping factory DMC manifolds, I recommend renting/purchasing an induction heater for the studs.


Outside of that, when I ran into this exact problem because two of the exhaust studs had completely dissolved flush with the head on mine I was able to use Eagle Premier manifolds instead which use different bosses compared to the DMC ones. They look a bit nicer as well:

https://www.ls1dmc.com/images/dmc/newmanifolds.jpg

[DMCMW Dave]

I believe all the aftermarket header kits have all 4 holes just for this in mind. My personal preference is to actually use all 4 though.

CAUTION if you drill them out, overdrilling the upper ones will go into the cam area and the lower ones will go into the water jacket. Neither is a particularly happy occurrence.

[cdrusn]

I believe all the aftermarket header kits have all 4 holes just for this in mind. My personal preference is to actually use all 4 though.

CAUTION if you drill them out, overdrilling the upper ones will go into the cam area and the lower ones will go into the water jacket. Neither is a particularly happy occurrence.

I rarely have a shop work on my car but for an exhaust leak that involved taking off the manifold I found a local shop that had a reputation for not breaking studs. I bought the exhaust kit of studs, nuts, gaskets and had them take the old studs out (didn't break any), shaved the manifold flat and replaced it for $400. It was worth it to me as once you strip the stud you are in for hours of tedious work.

[Helirich]

If you're insistent on keeping factory DMC manifolds, I recommend renting/purchasing an induction heater for the studs.


Outside of that, when I ran into this exact problem because two of the exhaust studs had completely dissolved flush with the head on mine I was able to use Eagle Premier manifolds instead which use different bosses compared to the DMC ones. They look a bit nicer as well:

https://www.ls1dmc.com/images/dmc/newmanifolds.jpg

Do you have a pic with these installed?

[er1c]

If you are patient and use an acetylene torch to heat things up you should be able to undo all of the nuts without breaking anything. The way I do it, I heat the nut up to cherry red, let it cool and then heat it up to cherry again. Before it cools I use a wrench and go back-and-forth till I feel it is loose enough to come off. Rarely do I break anything but sometimes the threads do get messed up. The exhaust can wait till you can get other things going. You have more than enough just to get the fuel, cooling, and brake systems going.

Hi David,

Without a torch would repeated soaking and gradually trying to get it to move stand a chance ?

Can you achieve the temp required with one of the handheld gas bottle torches ?

[Helirich]

Hi David,

Without a torch would repeated soaking and gradually trying to get it to move stand a chance ?

Can you achieve the temp required with one of the handheld gas bottle torches ?

Once I removed a couple studs with a car battery and jumper cables. You ground the engine and hook the cable to the stud. The stud is locked by corrosion, so it gets red hot right where you need it. Did that a couple times and then turned it out with a vise grip. It?s hard on the battery though.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Once I removed a couple studs with a car battery and jumper cables. You ground the engine and hook the cable to the stud. The stud is locked by corrosion, so it gets red hot right where you need it. Did that a couple times and then turned it out with a vise grip. It?s hard on the battery though.

That is a good idea. I have a spot welder that I could attach battery cables to which would probably also work. Also would not create a big spark.

[David T]

There are induction heaters you can buy that do it with electric but they are very expensive and can't always get into confined areas. That battery trick can work but it is hard on the battery but probably a lot cheaper than those induction heaters. I have done it with handheld propane torches but you can't get it as hot or as fast but if that is all you have, go for it. Also try a combination of sprays like Liquid Wrench in between the heating and cooling. The key here is patience. If you go in there with wrenches and just try to remove the hardware all at once you will break, round off, and strip out everything.

[Dickey]

Do you have a pic with these installed?

I do not though the car is on my lift to address an exhaust gasket leak and install a new muffler and catalytic converter. I will see about getting some pictures the next time I'm tooling on it. Turning wrenches on this particular turd is no longer a form of entertainment for me so it might be a while.

[Dickey]

Helirich, I took these pictures while I was putting in the new exhaust and addressing a manifold gasket leak. This past weekend's misadventures did prove that the eagle premier manifolds can be removed without taking the engine out. I was pretty sure that would be the case back when I put them in, but not positive until now.

70112

70113


That said, I'm likely going to pull the engine this winter to clean it and replace seals / gaskets. Ideally, I would put the car up for sale directly afterwards but I tend to forget all the rusty metal scrapes, busted knuckles and various requests to any invisible sky wizard whose name I can think of in the moment to experience coitus with their hindquarters once I take it out for the first fill up. As it is, I was requested to bring it as a Halloween display at my friend's house for the trick or treaters so the gaskets were replaced, the new exhaust tacked in place and I'll have it welded up and back on the road ahead of the weekend.

[Helirich]

They do look better than stock. Thanks.