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Exhaust Manifold Removal

How difficult is it to remove the passenger side exhaust manifold? There is a gasket leak on that side. I've asked around and some have said that the bols/studs tend to break off. And for further entertainment there are those little tubes that attach to the manifold for the air pump business. I thought I'd soak the bolts/studs with Movit or PB Blaster for a day, perhaps using acetylene to heat them up before I try to remove anything. Any thoughts?
 

O'Rattlecan

Redneck Prognosticator
26,687
797
Belton, MO
I assume it's the 302 or 351?

You can do the soaking because it probably won't hurt anything. I did my 94's 351 without any soaking or heat (they get massive heat every time you run them) and they all came out fine. This was with about 210,000 miles on it at the time. Having said that, your truck does have some extra years on it, but I'm not sure how many. Is this your 87 or is it older?

Ryan
 
I assume it's the 302 or 351?

You can do the soaking because it probably won't hurt anything. I did my 94's 351 without any soaking or heat (they get massive heat every time you run them) and they all came out fine. This was with about 210,000 miles on it at the time. Having said that, your truck does have some extra years on it, but I'm not sure how many. Is this your 87 or is it older?

Ryan

smilieIagree smiliewhathesaid - i did mine (1987 F150 5.0) a couple of months ago and they came out no problem at all .
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
Hardest part typically is the heads get rusted to a different size socket... On occasion they might break, majority of the time they come out.
 
I assume it's the 302 or 351?

You can do the soaking because it probably won't hurt anything. I did my 94's 351 without any soaking or heat (they get massive heat every time you run them) and they all came out fine. This was with about 210,000 miles on it at the time. Having said that, your truck does have some extra years on it, but I'm not sure how many. Is this your 87 or is it older?

Ryan

Yeah, it's my 87 250 with a 351. It's not too bad of a rumble once everything warms up but I'd hate to get started on the project and then have some shearing off occur and the inevitable grief that goes along with that type of situation. Maybe I'll just wait until it gets really bad. It has about 110,000 miles (182,000 km's) on it.
 
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Hey kiwi f150... forgot to thank you for the tips re: my RALB situation. Just got back from holiday so I'll check those items you recommended. Thanks again.
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
My right side manifold is cracked pretty much in half, haven't gotten too excited about doing anything about it...
 
My right side manifold is cracked pretty much in half, haven't gotten too excited about doing anything about it...

I pulled one off a suzuki vitara that was like that and a friend of mine showed me an easyway of repairing it - heat up the manifold in a forge (or he said you can use an oxy torch) then he just used some cast iron welding rods and arc welded it up - much cheaper than a new one or even a used one
 
Hey kiwi f150... forgot to thank you for the tips re: my RALB situation. Just got back from holiday so I'll check those items you recommended. Thanks again.

No worries mate - hope it all goes well for you
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
Nah, taking it off is too much work... Too keep it flat and straight, it needs to be clamped down either to a head to table or something to keep it from moving around while being welded. It will move around a lot due to the cooling of the weld at different rates, causing it to no longer be flat. I don't worry about it, as if you were to see the rest of the truck, you would understand... It hasn't really gotten loud, and the engine runs good enough that I don't care to do much about it, There is enough rust in the cab that it drafts any gases out as well...
 
Nah, taking it off is too much work... Too keep it flat and straight, it needs to be clamped down either to a head to table or something to keep it from moving around while being welded. It will move around a lot due to the cooling of the weld at different rates, causing it to no longer be flat. I don't worry about it, as if you were to see the rest of the truck, you would understand... It hasn't really gotten loud, and the engine runs good enough that I don't care to do much about it, There is enough rust in the cab that it drafts any gases out as well...

Yep i forgot to mention he ran it through his head resurfacer after he finished welding it ... lol i had a truck like that for a while til the chassis got too rusty to pass safety inspection - its amazing how much chicken wire and bondo will cover though as far as holes in bodywork go - that old nissan i had i even wound up having to weld a 18 inch square panel into the floor as the floormat fell through it one day when i dumped an old starter motor on it.
 
Hardest part typically is the heads get rusted to a different size socket...
Sez the guy from Iowa! LOL :)

I'm not anywhere near as dedicated to these old trucks as you guys
from the rust belt, gotta hand it to you guys. :)

Read several places, if the engine is still running, the trick is get it hot
then try breaking all the bolts loose, that's supposed to help. If I had a
stubborn one I'd try holding dry-ice on it while the engine was hot then
try it again.

Never had any trouble with them myself, hot or cold.
All of them were Arizona trucks 'n' engines tho.

For me I'd rather take the time and fart around with a bolt than to drill
what's left of it and/or use them stinkin' (not so) easy-outs.

BTDT at work and wasn't much fun after some guy I was working with
was in a bad mood and broke the bolts off.

A lot of the older signal equipment in Arizona had been installed at or
around 1925.

Alvin in AZ
 
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BuzzGun79

Nov.TOTM 2012 / 2012 TOTY
2,388
55
in my own experiences in removing Ford Exhaust manifolds..{i have r&r many} i never broke a bolt off in the head..the bolts are of a pretty hard grade.unlike older GM V-8's.{they are prone to break}however i have broken them off at the flange where the exhaust bolts up even with heat.{i just drill & re tap once the manifold is off the vehicle}
 

Beach66Bum

Moderator
Top Poster Of Month
in my own experiences in removing Ford Exhaust manifolds..{i have r&r many} i never broke a bolt off in the head..the bolts are of a pretty hard grade.unlike older GM V-8's.{they are prone to break}however i have broken them off at the flange where the exhaust bolts up even with heat.{i just drill & re tap once the manifold is off the vehicle}

finally re/re passenger side manifold. turned out to be easy and had no issues. should have done it a long time ago. i have pics of the swap in my gallery. smilieFordlogo
 

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