Replacing header/exhaust manifold gasket question
Replacing header/exhaust manifold gasket question My car came with long tubes when I bought it. I fixed an exhaust leak at one of the y-pipe connections last week, and then noticed I had another leak on the passenger side exhaust manifold. I bought a set of replacement gaskets, and am just curious if it will be pretty straight forward to get them replaced since I don't have the experience of installing the long tubes myself. Will I have to take the header out of the engine bay completely in order to get enough room to get the new gasket in there, or will I be able to remove all the bolts and shift the header far enough out of the way to get the new gasket in? It looks like I *might* have enough room to do it that way, but if not I'd rather wait until I've got a week off from work since this is my dd.
You should be able to remove the header bolts from the head and drop them in. Depending on how tight your Y pipe is, you might need to loosen it from the collectors to get enough play in the headers to slide the gasket in.
Sweet, that's what I wanted to hear. I was planning on loosening it up at the y-pipe as well; fortunately I had the y-pipe off not too long ago so it should come off with relative ease. I'll hopefully get this taken care of tomorrow then. Thanks!
Teching In
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 43
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From: Port Orchard, WA
Hey, just wondering if you got it done. I am in the exact same situation, literally. I just bought the gaskets and I'm thinking of replacing them this afternoon after class. Thanks.
Are there any specific tools other than a 1/2 inch wrench and car jacks that I need? Is it decently easy? Anything you wish you'd known before doing it?
Are there any specific tools other than a 1/2 inch wrench and car jacks that I need? Is it decently easy? Anything you wish you'd known before doing it?
Last edited by Turtle64b; Jun 7, 2010 at 08:56 AM. Reason: More specific questions
Do your gaskets have slots on them for the front and back holes? What I did to make this really easy was loosen every bolt and take out all but the 2nd and 5th bolts. Then using a flathead or something I broke the old gasket (it was a cheap one that came with my Pacesetters) and moved the gasket enough to get the 1st and 6th bolts back in without going through the gasket. Then took 2nd and 5th out so that way my headers never moved and I got all the gasket out. Then I slid the new gasket onto the 1st and 6th bolts and put the rest back in and tightened it back up. Took me maybe 3 hours. Probably an hour of it was just getting the coils off the passenger side since they still had all 5 bolts holding them on. I had limited tools so the back bolts were a pain but overall it was a lot easier than i thought it'd be.
Teching In
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 43
Likes: 0
From: Port Orchard, WA
I actually gave up. Literally 5 minutes ago. I can only reach the first two forward bolts. I looked from above and below. I went by an auto parts store and had a few guys take a look to try and guide me in the right direction, but they told me that I would need to basically remove some AC pipes which would = much bigger pain in the butt and a few other things. I honestly cannot see how to do this myself...
So, to those who can,
.
I, on the other hand, will take it in when I get paid next week unless I can find someone who knows somewhat what they are doing to give me a hand or a guide.
I don't know how I could work my way through all the stuff in my way (pictured below)
I appreciate the input.
So, to those who can,
.I, on the other hand, will take it in when I get paid next week unless I can find someone who knows somewhat what they are doing to give me a hand or a guide.
I don't know how I could work my way through all the stuff in my way (pictured below)
I appreciate the input.
I actually gave up. Literally 5 minutes ago. I can only reach the first two forward bolts. I looked from above and below. I went by an auto parts store and had a few guys take a look to try and guide me in the right direction, but they told me that I would need to basically remove some AC pipes which would = much bigger pain in the butt and a few other things. I honestly cannot see how to do this myself...
So, to those who can,.
I, on the other hand, will take it in when I get paid next week unless I can find someone who knows somewhat what they are doing to give me a hand or a guide.
I don't know how I could work my way through all the stuff in my way (pictured below)
I appreciate the input.
So, to those who can,
.I, on the other hand, will take it in when I get paid next week unless I can find someone who knows somewhat what they are doing to give me a hand or a guide.
I don't know how I could work my way through all the stuff in my way (pictured below)
I appreciate the input.
Oh, it was a HELL of a lot easier replacing the gasket on my ITR since all you had to do was slide the gasket over the bolts that were in the head. I was almost ready to give up when I realized I was loosening bolts and not nuts on the header
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Teching In
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 43
Likes: 0
From: Port Orchard, WA
No problem dude. Thanks for the info. I found someone who's gonna lend me a hand on this thing. I'm just a little hesitant because this is my daily as well. Maybe biking to class would be a good thing though... lol. I'm gonna give it another go sometime this week. It's motivating to hear a success story.
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Verdad Gallardo No problem dude. Thanks for the info. I found someone who's gonna lend me a hand on this thing. I'm just a little hesitant because this is my daily as well. Maybe biking to class would be a good thing though... lol. I'm gonna give it another go sometime this week. It's motivating to hear a success story.
Yeah, if you can you could try to get it on the weekend to give you plenty of time. If worse comes to worst you can always just bolt the header back up and then bring it in somewhere if you can't get it lined up yourself. Just don't do what I did and forget to hook the 4 spark plug wires back up on that side before you try to pull it out of the garage.
Teching In
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 43
Likes: 0
From: Port Orchard, WA
As it turns out, after further inspection by someone who knows a little better, it is not my exhaust manifold gasket, but possibly my intake manifold gasket. There's no major issue, it's just it sounds like air rushing through my exhaust pipes vice the sound it used to make. That and I thought if it was the header gasket, it would explain a rattle in the exhaust system (rattling at the engine propagating through the pipes). I'm back to square one... It woulda been easier if I had done the obvious first step and taken of my coil packs haha. Thanks again for the help
