I will try the air ratchet at low psi at first; as I have used this method on all of the vehicles that have gotten full exhaust systems. If they don't budge as I suspect; I will try to tighten them a smidge and then loosen them. I have avoided using that method 1st because I have broken many bolts doing it that way. With that said, I know the modular Ford engines are a whole different animal altogether. I have heard many stories of people snapping the exhaust manifold studs using both methods. For now, I am going to use the method that has worked for me in the past.

 

I managed to remove 9 of the 16 studs (actually 4 of the nuts backed off); and loosened another 2 underneath the passenger side exhaust manifold. I will move the a/c compressor out of the way to get at the other 2 studs. I ran back into the problem that I had the last time I attempted to remove the exhaust studs; the 2 that I rounded off. I will come back at them tomorrow with the rounded nut remover socket. I hope that works as I am almost done removing the exhaust manifolds. For some reason my 200psi compressor will only go to 150psi. Not too much of a problem; but for those 3 stubborn studs, I would like to hit them a little harder. Otherwise, 145psi - 150psi was doing the trick with the other studs.

Kind of unrelated note: I was underneath the car with the earmuffs (impact ratchet + noisy compressor) and felt extra vibration and a slight rumbling. Popped one of the muffs off and realized it was an extremely low-flying airliner. Barely got out from under the car to catch the tail going behind my neighbor's backyard. That was the lowest flying jet that I have ever seen/heard; and that's with Newark airport only being 10 miles away. I will be watching the news tonight to see if there is any mention of it.

 

This project is dead in the water. I got 15 of the 16 studs and nuts loosened. One of the rounded nuts reamed itself out when I used the rounded-nut remover on it. At this point, I will have to get a nut welded onto the end of that stud and remove the stud itself. I smeared Never-Seize on all of the studs and bolts that were removed before buttoning it all back up. I will confirm with the mechanic in the next town over if he wants to take a stab at removing that one stud. So, it's back to working on the Crown Vic and the house. Bright side of this is I didn't break any studs and I can still drive the car until I can have it worked on.

 

Other than the one nut that is all good news.

 

I may sound crazy, but that works for me. I was able to start her up this morning and drive to work. I confirmed with my mechanic that he will take a stab at removing that stud. If that happens, 50% of this work is done; and it's dealing with the installation afterwards. Not too worried about that.

When I blew the head gasket in my Ranger; it was down for a month before I was able to figure out what to do with it. Renting cars for an entire month is expensive. But even in that case, I discovered that I really like the Ford Focus. If they make them with a stick shift; and I made enough $$$$ to get a new car; that's what I would get.

 

Got the car back from the mechanic last night. I failed to mention that the CEL and wrench light lit up Monday afternoon because I failed to fully plug the mass air sensor connector back in. After plugging it back in, I reinstalled the stock air cleaner and sent it to the mechanic to have that galled stud removed. Since the car is acting normally with the CEL still lit (but no wrench light; which is the critical one); I reinstalled the cleaned up K&N. The car is a little snappier now for whatever reason. Though the air cleaner was pretty grungy. Now I will wait for decent weather to do the exhaust now that everything has been loosened up and replaced.

 

I guess all those frustrating attempts at the exhaust paid off. I got home with a little sunlight left to get a head start on this. So I loosened all the fasteners on the driver side exhaust manifold. Took only 20 minutes. One of the stud nuts that was coming out, got caught at the end and ended up unthreading that stud. When I brought it in to put it among the other studs that came out; I noticed a metal shaving dangling. The stud is in good shape; so I guess it was from the head. My Dad told me to be really careful threading the replacement bolt. Maybe just snug it a little until I get a properly sized tap. So that will be the plan for this.

Tomorrow I will unbolt and move the a/c compressor out of the way and unbolt the passenger side exhaust manifold with the impact ratchet. I hope all goes well.

 

So that didn't go as well as planned. My collector bolts are really tight. I managed to loosen 1 of them; but the other 3 wouldn't budge. Broke out the short breaker to coerce them a little and they still wouldn't move. At that point I gave up as I knew that if I did loosen them, I would be committed to the exhaust install; no going back from there. I kinda remember the original exhaust manifold collectors on the Crown Vic being that way. It took a good bit of wrenching to get them off; and they made quite the racket coming off. These might be the same way. Next time I do this, will be it. No putting it back together.

Oh, I bought two 8mm x 1.25 taps for the studs that I removed. Both taps, although being marked as 8mm x 1.25 wouldn't work. My Dad told me to go in the back of the basement to look in the tool cabinet that he keeps for his rarely used tools. Of course there at the bottom of one of the drawers was a single S.K. Tools 8mm x 1.25 tap. And it worked perfectly. Cleaned up the holes and now I can remove all of the bolts with just a wrench; no more air. Now I'm curious what size taps I originally purchased as they are NOT 8mm x 1.25.

So Monday, on my way to work, my Merc suddenly lost power and started bucking and backfiring through the exhaust. Had to turn around and go back home. Pulled codes P0303 and P2195 when I got back. Since I didn't have time to diagnose the problem fully, I called my mechanic. I got the car back yesterday and he said my cylinder no. 3 coil pack went bad. Which is interesting because I switched them out 3 years ago for Denso coils (who manufactures them for Ford). I hope this is just a defective coil as I was told to run the Ford Motorcraft coils because the aftermarket units are unreliable. We'll see as I put more miles on that engine.

 

 

Soooo, what are you going to do now? Reuse that stuff or start over?