Exhaust issue

hi all! I noticed last week a strange noise; which led to an exhaust leak right at the manifold.

Today I went to take the exhaust off, and even with days of PB Blaster, the nuts snapped at the exhaust studs. I the exhaust basically fell off the manifold. Looking in the exhaust hole, it almost looks like part of the exhaust is still rusted inside the cylinder.

Has anyone had to tap new studs before? And also, any insight on if that is part of the exhaust still in there or the gasket ring would be greatly helpful!

Yes there is a big chunk of the exhaust in there. The head should be removed and taken to a machine shop or a mechanic with a torch and skills.

Darn it. I didn’t want to here that. Is this something that could be repaired or fixed by myself? I’m quite handy, and tend to think I may be able to fix it.

Would it make more sense at this point to try and source a new cylinder head?

Also, can someone provide details on if everything inside the read should be removed? I am going to try and remove the broken exhaust from the head using PB Blaster, possibly heat, and i also read some guidance to use a chisel to help remove the broken piece.

Removing the exhaust pipe fragment is the easier of the two repairs. If you have a drill press, a series of small holes could be drilled into the flange, along its circumference. The more metal you can remove, around the circumference of the flange, the more flexible it will be and the easier it will be to break the rust bond between it & the head. The final aspect of the extraction involves slicing the the thick flange pipe. That's where you may learn to appreciate the "missing metal", the gap surrounding the lower side of the port. If you can drill a decent-sized hole here, it'll be easier to slice with a saw, or carbide burr. When you finally have one complete slice through the flange, it will be possible to break the bond, using a hammer & chisel. Still won't be easy, especially getting the initial movement. But, once you manage to get the steel to begin breaking away from the aluminum, things should progress rapidly.

The more difficult repair will be R&Ring the broken studs. Those should be precision-drilled, easy for a machine shop...for everyone else, not so much. A machinist should be able to drill & re-thread the holes, no inserts needed.

Finally, the casting will probably benefit from a serious cleanup, including glass bead blasting of the exhaust port area to remove all traces of iron oxide. All of this is much more easily accomplished with the head off the engine.

Hey all! Just wanted to update, after 4 hours I was able to get the rest of the exhaust collar out. I cleaned the exhaust port as much as possible.

I also used the stud extractor to remove the studs. I would recommend the stud extractor to anyone that has to remove them, it was worth its weight in gold!
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p...8-ac4556/11632013-P?searchTerm=Stud+extractor

Congrats! Looks like it turned out quite well. A few swipes with a file, or some light touch-up with your Dremel ought to clean up those few surgical nicks...then you're good-to-go.

Thanks Racer! I actually used my Dremel to cut through the side of the collar in a few spots; than a few hits with a chisel took it out. I tried cleaning the surgical nicks, but may have to go back over them. Would the nick, the way it is, cause any type of issue or it is merely cosmet appearance?

Also, i thought i recall reading that the aftermarket exhaust pipes do not need an exhaust gasket. Is that the case?

Yes, very nice! Getting those studs out is BIG! Great job.

thanks @kirrbby! Patience goes a long way, and honestly that extractor tool worked flawless!

Addison said:

Also, i thought i recall reading that the aftermarket exhaust pipes do not need an exhaust gasket. Is that the case?

Click to expand...

You'll still need a gasket but you won't need those split collars that were used on the original pipe.

What does the inside of the stud extractor look like? If your studs would have broke off a little closer to the head would it have still worked?

Heres the best review i could find where you could also see the inside of the extractor.

Depending on how close to the head they broke off, i would definitely give it a shot. If you are flush to the head, then theres nothing to grip. If theres enough there to put vice grips on, than the stud extractor should work perfectly fine. Of course, the more stud to grip the better, but i would not hesitate to try this prior to drilling it out.

I recently stripped a Phillips head screw, and used a Speed Out Damaged Screw Extractor to remove it. It basically bores a hole in the top of the stripped screw (completely boring out whatever’s left of the slot) so it’d probably work for flush, or near flush bolts... provided you could get a little hole started.