Header question
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TECH Resident
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From: Simi Valley, CA
Header question So I took of my stock exhaust manifold last night and as I was unbolting the cat from the manifold I snapped one of the three rods and bent another one. Is there anyway to get those rods out to replace them? I know you will say just trash em and get long tubes, but I live in Cali and I have to smog this year. My car is a '98 with almost 104k miles so they were pretty rusted, is there anyway to get the rods out?
Try PB blaster, honestly I really don't think you are going to get those studs off...just get some headers (American Racing Headers to be exact!), I'm sure you can get around that inspection somehow 
Why were you removing the stock manifolds if you're not installing headers???
Why were you removing the stock manifolds if you're not installing headers???
I had the same thing happen to mine, but I was installing headers when I took them off so I wasn't excatly in your position and I haven't heard of anyway to repair them. A few sponsers carry emission legal headers that let you keep the AIR system, might be an option.
I swapped a motor in 93 Blazer and broke a couple of collector studs on the manifolds while removing the donor motor. I used a bolt extractor on one and the other I ended up drilling out and rethreading with a tap. The collector studs should thread out of the manifold and you should be able to purchase new studs either from GM or an aftermarket parts store. And BANG! you can reinstall your manifolds. Although I must admit, I'm with these guys. If you're going to the trouble of removing the factory exhaust, you should totally replace it with some upgraded parts. <=-)
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I just pulled off my stock exhaust with 50k on it. I didn't even try remove those bolts
Thread Starter
TECH Resident
iTrader: (22)
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 888
Likes: 1
From: Simi Valley, CA
Its do able to unbolt em, I have 103k on mine, but I ended up snapping one and bending two or three others
i dont know if this has been mentioned yet bc im lazy and didnt want to read it, but you could grind the rest of the bolt off and then Tap a new hole where the other bolt was... get the correct bolt size and tighten a nut on the other side.
Edit i read some of it... and only tightening 2 bolts might be a bad idea... you could have an exhaust leak from the lack of pressure on the third side unless they were identical and the gasket fit perfectly
Edit i read some of it... and only tightening 2 bolts might be a bad idea... you could have an exhaust leak from the lack of pressure on the third side unless they were identical and the gasket fit perfectly