Manifold grease fitting

RPW · Jan 19, 2011

If the studs are really rusty you might end up breaking them while installing the new manifold. If you feel real lucky soak studs in PB Blaster or equivelent let soak in for awhile apply a bit of heat to the block and hope to get studs out. Replace with new and use antisieze on threads.

Good luck.

Soundguy · Jan 20, 2011

milkman said:
In your first post, you said "exhaust manifold", it threw me for a loop along with others, now that we know that it is in the intake manifold, it makes sense. :thumbsup:

ditto that. my first impression was intake manifold vacume port.. but the op said exhaust manifold.. ford N's with oem manifolds have those fittings tapped and plugged for use as needed.

soudnguy

jimmysisson · Jan 22, 2011

I doubt you'll have trouble with the studs. Run a die over them if you want, after plugging the head openings with tape or something. Those are pretty good steel even after all these years.
Jim

birddog10 · Jan 22, 2011

No, i didn't have any problem at all. I got the old manifold off and the new one on today. One problem though. The manifold is an "intake/exhaust" combination. There are 8 nuts, 4 on top and 4 on the bottom, that hold it on. I was able to tighten 6 of those nuts. The two inner, UPPER, nuts are impossible. The gas tank is in the way for me to get a wrench to move upward. The new manifold is very thick compared to the old rusty one so I can't get a ratchet on the nut, and I can't reach in between the exhaust part and the intake part with a 9/16 socket because the socket won't go through the gap. Too big. I was able to put the nut on with my finger but that was it. I need to devise a way to come straight at it, like a socket, with something that will grip onto the nut and allow me to turn it. OR

take the stupid gas tank off. Man, i don't really want to do that. The old manifold broke into 3 pieces as I took it off so I was glad I changed it but this is driving me NUTS (pun intended):laughing:

Soundguy · Jan 22, 2011

4 choices I see.. 2 involve yardsale or chinese or cheap tools.

1, loosen fuel tank and see if it buys you any room without taking it completely off. even if you can get 1 turn facing at a time it's worth it.

2, get a set of crowsfoot wrench heads for your ratchet, IF they will have clearance... visualy inspect BEFORE purchasing.

3, make a stubby wrench

ie.. cut a cheap wrench or heat it and bend. I got a whole set of stubby or bent wrenches that I made up for specific time saving 'cheater' repairs.

4, grind a socket real thin so it grabs the nut.. but not so thin it brakes thru.

and a 5th as honorable mention.. use a die grinder with chainsaw sharpening stone and very slightly enlarge the area around the nut so you can get that shaved down socket you just made, in there..

btdt and got the cut up tools to proove it...

soundguy

jimmysisson · Jan 23, 2011

Did you try with a 9/16" 1/4" drive socket? Barely strong enough to tighten with 1/4" drive but quite a bit better than loose. I have one I have used a lot.
Jim

birddog10 · Jan 23, 2011

I was thinking about trying a 1/4 inch 9/16 but the last 2 hardware stores I went in to didn't have one. I'll look around and see. I'm probably going to buy a cheap, thin 9/16th wrench, cut the handle to make it stubby (about an inch or so long) (as mentioned above:thumbsup

which will allow me to tighten the nut down enough on the stud which will allow me to get my close end 9/16 on it to tighten it further. If I made it with only a 2 inch handle I'll bet I could get a 1/2 turn out of it. I really don't want to even begin screwing around with removing or lifting the gas tank.

Thanks to all those with good ideas and suggestions:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Jim

Soundguy · Jan 23, 2011

i've even made a stubby rwench that accepted a socket drive.. IE.. cheap crows foot.. etc.

soundguy

638 · Jan 23, 2011

I've made long (tall?) nuts by welding two nuts together. Another way would be to weld a short piece of pipe between two nuts. You can also buy long nuts from your local electrical supply house. Electricans use them to join allthread together for conduit hangers.