New headers

[icecats87]

Another update:

So there were 3 total studs broken, one in the front, 2 in the back. i went to attempt the front one. started drilling very slowly and boom bolt came lose, and i used a screwdriver to thread it out and it came right out like butter and the threads aren't that bad inside, a bolt fit right in like the others i still may tap it just to be safe.

lucky today's my day off but i called in and have everything ordered (head gasket set, exhaust manifold studs, fuel injector o rings, plug wires, spark plugs, and a lot of other things) My boss told me to bring the other head in and he will give it a go at getting the 2 studs out in the rear, he's good at that stuff. so far everything is going smoothly and i hope it stays that way, the way it looks right now the car may be running tonight =)

[chris_gt_74]

That's awesome! Hopefully the other 2 don't cause to much headache.

Lol I just saw your plug wire decided to commit suicide and stay with the plug.

[icecats87]

Originally Posted by chris_gt_74

That's awesome! Hopefully the other 2 don't cause to much headache.

Lol I just saw your plug wire decided to commit suicide and stay with the plug.

heh yeah i was planning on getting new plugs and wires anyways =P

[icecats87]

Bought a $30 left hand drill bit set at work today, put the bit in the drill then drill in the stud counter clock wise, both studs came out. so no more broken studs stuck in the heads! and used a tap and the threads are now perfect!

Gotta wait till tomorrow to get the exhaust manifold gaskets, the leak destroyed the ones it came with and the stock gaskets are no where close to pacesetter ones. car should be up and running tomorrow. Gonna clean up the engine bay today and paint some things and make it look pretty =) pretty happy right now

Here is a picture of success and a very happy person =)
(3rd and final bolt)

Anndddd then the picture that hurts the wallet =(

[icecats87]

Car is almost done, Spent 2 hours under the car trying to hook up the Y-Pipe on the new headers, its a pain in the ass! only problem i had while putting everything out was snapping one of the LIM bolts while torquing it in =( took the manifold off and bolt came out easily with pliers, there was a few shavings i got as much as i could out. Im a little afraid to tighten them again, Ill give it another go when im off work, but way it looks car will be running tonight! =)

[KillNThrill24]

hahahaha that picture "that hurts the wallet" cracks me up! i went through the same ordeal with my car, i was hoping to spend a little under $200 maybe right at it but i ended up spending $300 which then left me broke till next pay day... i too had studs broken out that had to be drilled out and man those drill bits are amazing arent they? make light work of the situation. glad to see your almost done!

[chris_gt_74]

Originally Posted by icecats87

Car is almost done, Spent 2 hours under the car trying to hook up the Y-Pipe on the new headers, its a pain in the ass! only problem i had while putting everything out was snapping one of the LIM bolts while torquing it in =( took the manifold off and bolt came out easily with pliers, there was a few shavings i got as much as i could out. Im a little afraid to tighten them again, Ill give it another go when im off work, but way it looks car will be running tonight! =)

Hey can you get me a good pic from the top view of your y pipe? I am trying to get the right orientation of the y-pipe without it on the car. Reason being I am still considering getting atleast the back header welded to the y pipe cause it just doesn't want to slide up into the y pipe as far as I'd like. The whole expanded part of the y pipe is 1.5". So far I can only it on there just shy of an inch. If I can get it on there 1.25" I think it will be good and I may clamp it if not it's getting welded as soon as I know exactly it's position. The other pipe I was considering welding I think I'm going to skip cause it goes on much easier and goes on the full 1.5".

[icecats87]

Ugh so close!!! was tightening the UIM bolts and the front middle one and right rear one felt funny right before i went to use a wrench they just kept going didnt think anything of it. Got car back together went to fire her up, and you hear a whine and car would stall. it was coming from where the middle bolt was. I removed the bolt and the whole thread in the LIM for the UIM is stripped like no other. its so bad i can put the UIM bolt in and it will drop in..Really not sure how this happened tooks the bolts out fine when i started this, and didnt touch any of those threads. Have to bring home some taps tomorrow and may even need to go with a bigger bolt,

Any one recommend doing something else! I was so upset i was so close!

[AaronGTR]

Nice work getting the exhaust studs out of the heads!


I'm surprised you broke a LIM bolt though. Those aren't even supposed to be torqued that tight so I've never heard of one breaking. If the metal was that fatigued that it got brittle and cracked, I would consider replacing all of them. Might need to do the same with the UIM bolts from the sound of it. I've only heard of people stripping them is they tighten them too much. I usually use a torque wrench on those. It's odd though since you said there was no sign of anything wrong when it came out. At this point your only real choice is to drill and tap the hole for a larger thread bolt. It's that or pull the LIM off again and replace the whole thing which would be more work.

[icecats87]

Originally Posted by AaronGTR

Nice work getting the exhaust studs out of the heads!


I'm surprised you broke a LIM bolt though. Those aren't even supposed to be torqued that tight so I've never heard of one breaking. If the metal was that fatigued that it got brittle and cracked, I would consider replacing all of them. Might need to do the same with the UIM bolts from the sound of it. I've only heard of people stripping them is they tighten them too much. I usually use a torque wrench on those. It's odd though since you said there was no sign of anything wrong when it came out. At this point your only real choice is to drill and tap the hole for a larger thread bolt. It's that or pull the LIM off again and replace the whole thing which would be more work.

Ha well im still a noob and i really haven't used torque wrenches before, the one i had is a 25-250 ft-lbs i thought if i went below 25 then it would be around 5 ft-lbs like the manual said for torque specs. well i guess when i was torquing it i was doing 25 lbs-ft the whole time so it just snapped. It was a brand new bolt too i bought a new set of them. so i used one of the old ones and the 3 new ones and just used a 1/2inch drive and got it as tight as i could and a extra 30 degree turn.

For the UIM im gonna get new bolts and a heli coil set. gonna try that out. Sucks i have to work till 4:30 today when i know 2 bolts are stopping my car from running! its gonna be a long day at work hahaha

[icecats87]

Originally Posted by chris_gt_74

Hey can you get me a good pic from the top view of your y pipe? I am trying to get the right orientation of the y-pipe without it on the car. Reason being I am still considering getting atleast the back header welded to the y pipe cause it just doesn't want to slide up into the y pipe as far as I'd like. The whole expanded part of the y pipe is 1.5". So far I can only it on there just shy of an inch. If I can get it on there 1.25" I think it will be good and I may clamp it if not it's getting welded as soon as I know exactly it's position. The other pipe I was considering welding I think I'm going to skip cause it goes on much easier and goes on the full 1.5".

Yeah ill get one this afternoon. I was thinking that too maybe getting the crossover and Y-Pipe welded. but i got it on really good this time. make sure the clamps are right at the edge of the Y-Pipe. the pipe has slots in it a inch or so on each side so the clamp squeezes the pipe and the pipe bends. also you need to remove o2 sensor so you can reach the left side exhaust clamp bolt. there's really only 1 spot for the left side that will give you enough room to tighten bolt and same on the other side. Its looking good now.

[AaronGTR]

Originally Posted by icecats87

Ha well im still a noob and i really haven't used torque wrenches before, the one i had is a 25-250 ft-lbs i thought if i went below 25 then it would be around 5 ft-lbs like the manual said for torque specs. well i guess when i was torquing it i was doing 25 lbs-ft the whole time so it just snapped. It was a brand new bolt too i bought a new set of them. so i used one of the old ones and the 3 new ones and just used a 1/2inch drive and got it as tight as i could and a extra 30 degree turn.

For the UIM im gonna get new bolts and a heli coil set. gonna try that out. Sucks i have to work till 4:30 today when i know 2 bolts are stopping my car from running! its gonna be a long day at work hahaha

YIKES! Yeah, that is waaaay too tight! You don't need to use 1/2" drive on those little bolts. Especially in aluminum, that's just a recipe for striped threads. They can't handle that kind of torque, and over torquing the LIM bolts can also cause leaks. The LIM bolts are only supposed to be torqued to 115 lb/in and then the four outside bolts torqued again to 18 lb/ft, and the UIM bolts are 18 lb/ft too. I use a little 1/4" drive torque wrench on the LIM that reads lb/in and N/m and a 3/8" drive one for the upper. If you are going to do that kind of engine work you really should get some proper torque wrenches, or rent some from an auto parts store. It will save you headaches in the long run.

[Starglow]

Yeah, you really have to pay attention to the torque specs because there's a big difference between inch pounds and foot pounds. FWIW, the UIM to.LIM bolt holes on my old 3400 engine stripped out too and I was really careful with tightening the bolts.

Part of the problem is the nature of soft aluminum to easily strip out, especially if you take things apart and re-assemble them repeatedly. Don't beat yourself up too bad, but it is a PITA to fix and it happens to the best of us sooner or later.

[locoman99]

Glad to see a young kid who is eager to learn...nothing beats expeience...and a set of ez outs. The best advice I can give you is too be patient during assembly. ALWAYS seat fasteners with your fingers to avoid crossthreading and torque them at 25% 50% 75% thru ur sequence.... Never shoot for spec torque value goin into aluminum unless u can calibrate ur wrench before assembly... 95% is fine.

[icecats87]

I love cars and learning about them. every mod i do i always learn something. My uncle is a car guy which is why i started to love it. I was 8 or 9 and would go to the track and watch him race his mustang i loved it! He helped me do my head gasket 2 years ago when it cracked and i learn alot from him. Been in the auto industry for 30+ years. I thought i wanted to work on cars for my life and went to a mechanic school last year but decided I dont want to do it for a living. just a hobby.

There is always something new and something to spend my money on this car =P the neighbors always see me in my garage working on the car. I just wanna get off work and install these helicoils and drive my car again!!!!!!!!

[02GT_SkyHigh]

Originally Posted by icecats87

Ha well im still a noob and i really haven't used torque wrenches before, the one i had is a 25-250 ft-lbs i thought if i went below 25 then it would be around 5 ft-lbs like the manual said for torque specs. well i guess when i was torquing it i was doing 25 lbs-ft the whole time so it just snapped. It was a brand new bolt too i bought a new set of them. so i used one of the old ones and the 3 new ones and just used a 1/2inch drive and got it as tight as i could and a extra 30 degree turn.

For the UIM im gonna get new bolts and a heli coil set. gonna try that out. Sucks i have to work till 4:30 today when i know 2 bolts are stopping my car from running! its gonna be a long day at work hahaha

Get a IN/LBS torque wrench... Please. I stripped 2 or 3 rocker threads before I learned my lesson. the last time I did it I broke the Tap off in the head....
No problems since I got the IN/Lbs wrench.

[02GT_SkyHigh]

Hey great job getting the headers on! I just did mine cause I read your thread earlier this week. had to get my ass in gear.

[chris_gt_74]

Originally Posted by 02GT_SkyHigh

Hey great job getting the headers on! I just did mine cause I read your thread earlier this week. had to get my ass in gear.

Did you get the pacesetters too? I just stripped mine cause I got the black one's.

Duh I found the other thread with me asking if you put them on.

[icecats87]

Ha yeah was gonna get a in/lbs torque wrench, but i talked to a guy at a shop i deliver too for work (he's and awesome guy i probably ask him 10 questions about my car a day ) He cant even count on his hands how many head gaskets hes done on these 3400's. He said the rocker arms should be fine, I did them to around 20 lbs. He said those big torque wrenches aren't accurate when the dials all the way down. so if its a 25-250 lbs and its at 25 you'll prolly be doing 20 or less.

[icecats87]

Originally Posted by 02GT_SkyHigh

Hey great job getting the headers on! I just did mine cause I read your thread earlier this week. had to get my ass in gear.

Too bad i haven't been able to try them out yet! If you saw my other thread i really hope this jb weld works cause i wanna try these bad boys!!!!