#4 cylinder lower nut exhaust manifold $%^%$!!!!

Well, today's progress was six hours for 11 out of 12 exhaust manifold nuts and all intake hardware, flame heater removal and assorted other items.

I expected the exhaust nuts to pt up a fight, so I sprayed the suckers for a week and today heated the nuts up as hot as I could get them with a regular blowtorch and used a candle to melt paraffin into the threads. Cool down with water spray bottle. I shortened a 11/16 impact socket and could get at all lower exhaust manifold nuts with a wobble extension and the impact gun (intake manifold loosened). Worked fine for most nuts, except #4. The one at #4 is holding out. Of course it is the most fun one to get to.
I even made a metric 17mm "wrench" tool from a cut-short socket welded to an old wrench handle to get a wider 6 point grip on the nut (and 17mm is a tighter fit than 11/16)...no dice...the socket/wrench eventually slips. I always tighten before loosening...did not help on this one.

Any other tips? I am headed for the pool with a cold one right now because when I get angry, things break. I am planning to get a "nut cracker" and attack the nut with it on Tuesday.

August 2nd, 2015.


Locate a set of head bolt removal wrenches! With those you'll have a better chance at getting the bolts out without breaking them. These wrenches are specific to the multifuel engine. You can usually find them on E----!

saddamsnightmare said:

August 2nd, 2015.
Locate a set of head bolt removal wrenches!....!

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Not the head bolts/nuts... re-read post #1.

cattlerepairman said:

...Of course it is the most fun one to get to.  I even made a metric 17 tool from a cut-short socket and an old wrench to get a wider 8 point grip on the nut...no dice...slips eventually.<br><br>Any tips?

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I remember well the last time I had to do this, with the motor installed... sure took some cursing... plus time and all the patience in the world to finally get that last nut off. The good thing was that the nuts found there were of some sort of stainless- or "low-rust" steel at least; it just required the right size wrench.



G.

Go dig through your OLDEST wrenches. For some reason, todays wrenches(even box end) will slip. I have found that the OLD wrenches have more meat or better steel or maybe I am full of sh!t, but I seem to be able to do things with the old wrenches that I couldn't with my "regular" wrenches.

gimpyrobb said:

Go dig through your OLDEST wrenches. For some reason, todays wrenches(even box end) will slip. I have found that the OLD wrenches have more meat or better steel or maybe I am full of sh!t, but I seem to be able to do things with the old wrenches that I couldn't with my "regular" wrenches.

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Your not dreaming Chris. The newer stuff is really garbage compared to the old wrenches. Even the Snap-On wrenches are cheaper then the older ones. I really hate to lose or break one of my old Snap-Ons. When I have broken one you can see in the replacements how they cheapened them. Most of my wrenches where bought in the early 70's so they are over 40 years old now. Crap ! am I really that OLD ? Seems like yesterday I was out driving my 1954 Chevy trying to impress the young ladies ! Now they would all be grandmothers !

Grandpa!

August 3rd, 2015.

OOps! Mea Culpea! When you do replace the exhaust manifold nuts, you may want to replace them with brass nuts as they are less likely to heat seize on a steel stud. Otherwise, when you do the overhaul of the engine, I wonder if stainless steel studs and brass nuts might not work out better in the end.

Interestingly, from the Ford T to the 1951 V-8 Ford I had (F-6 Dump truck), all had steel exhaust manifold studs and brass nuts, and I never has a problem getting the nuts off to repair anything on the exhaust system.... Might be a better mousetrap!

I tried the griptite wrench http://www.griptitetools.com/ but the head is too thick to fit in the tight space. Next was the nut splitter https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=...x5TgDw&usg=AFQjCNFJDBgg_r4MgIw-VLTvwjJ3I9iajQ
which required some grinding to make it thin enough to slip over the nut. I got the nut split with a satisfying SNAP. Still would not budge. I had to get a large screw driver into the gap and hammer the nut apart, one half, then the other half. The good news is that the threads on the stud look largely untouched.

I am down to the heads now, valve train removed and five out of six injectors did not put up a fight.

saddamsnightmare said:

August 3rd, 2015.

OOps! Mea Culpea! When you do replace the exhaust manifold nuts, you may want to replace them with brass nuts as they are less likely to heat seize on a steel stud. Otherwise, when you do the overhaul of the engine, I wonder if stainless steel studs and brass nuts might not work out better in the end.

Interestingly, from the Ford T to the 1951 V-8 Ford I had (F-6 Dump truck), all had steel exhaust manifold studs and brass nuts, and I never has a problem getting the nuts off to repair anything on the exhaust system.... Might be a better mousetrap!

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I have used stainless steel studs and brass nuts on my IHC engines and my Chevy engines. Works really slick ! IHC engines especially have a history of being real pains to come off.

saddamsnightmare said:

August 3rd, 2015.

OOps! Mea Culpea! When you do replace the exhaust manifold nuts, you may want to replace them with brass nuts as they are less likely to heat seize on a steel stud. Otherwise, when you do the overhaul of the engine, I wonder if stainless steel studs and brass nuts might not work out better in the end.

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When working on the Navy ships and electric boats I saw many bolted things with the SS bolts and brass {Naval brass?} nuts. Never thought about the why of it, just thought they were using the best of the best as always. Thanks, after 40 years just passed now I know why it was fastened like that. Somewhere back in '75 or so they took the lead out of everything due to studies about the Thresher so it is now C46400 lead free.
I should have used on my Chevy engines exhaust heat riser nuts, they always "froze" on there!
http://www.nbmmetals.com/products/c46400-naval-brass-lead-free

Or use copper anti-seize compound.

VPed said:

Or use copper anti-seize compound.

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Yes, use the C5-A instead of buying brass nuts.
Many different anti-seize products out there but Fel-Pro C5-A is a classic.
They invented the stuff.

VPed said:

Or use copper anti-seize compound.

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The only problem with any "anti-seize" is it will eventually wear off (run off) due to heat or water . The best anti-seize" for wet applications ( like frames and any exposed bolts) is the "Marine Grade" anti-seize. It really sticks, but it too will eventually wear off.