fun2sun

I just got new exhaust put on however, with the new exhaust my manifold gaskets are leaking (probably stock and never been off) I attempted the other day and twisted one bolt off. Now I’m afraid to touch it. Any suggestions for getting the manifold bolts out? Do I try my luck and then pull the heads?

1970 Cutlass S 350 Rocket

fun2sun

95 views and no replies, Does anyone on this site work on their own cars? Not even something humorous like drop a grenade into it.

pogo69

your at the mercy of the age and rust and constant heating and cooling of those manifold bolts which makes the brittle and shrunken....your best bet is to use a lot of penetrating oil tap on the bolts and let it sit and a propane torch and slowly try to turn them a little backwards then a little forwards and so on... if they break off well your sort of screwed and you will have to drill them or ''easy out'' them... post a pic or so of how they look....good luck

Oldsmaniac

Thing is there were no exhaust manifold gaskets in there. They dont usually start to leak unless there is a crack. Those bolts can be a real pain and little can be done with a broken one while the heads are on, or engine in place. If there is some part of the bolt still sicking out of the head you may weld a nut on it and try again after the manifold is off or grab the stud with a small pipe wrench. This is where heat and penetrating oil come into play.

pogo69

i noticed you mentioned one already broke off? if thats the case there are probably more to follow if it broke off flush with the head and depending on locacation you may be able to extract it on the car but you may end up having o take the heads off and extracting the broken studs on the bench its a set back but may unavoidable....if one is broken off now the leak will just get worse

fun2sun

Yes I already broke one off flush, so I will try the others and I guess pull the heads. Should I go back in with headers? Someone once told me that the original manifolds where better than headers?

pogo69

the header question is 50 50... they sound nice...give the engine a few extra horses breath a bit better than manifolds but the down side is increased under hood temp and they get in the way more when working on the engine and when installing them you are bound to have some installation issues more or less depending on tube size,brand, and what type car you have.... all in all they are manditory for very high performance engines but for a daily cruiser or mild performance manifold do fine and again that depends on what engine you have

Fun71

"Better" in what way?
Easier to install? Yes.
Easier to drop the starter? Yes.
Easier to connect the pipes (no modifications)? Yes.
Flow better? No.

My car ran just fine with factory manifolds / dual exhaust for a long time. I put headers on when I rebuilt the engine for a couple reasons - they obviously flow better and I had the engine out so installation was easy.