I had a feeling that I was going to be in for some hard work this morning when I couldn't get the downpipe to seperate from the catback section. Took me almost an hour of pulling and banging. Eventually in a mad fit of wiggle wiggle wiggle it came apart. I set about filing some burrs off and cleaning up the outer diameter of the pipe. Checked the welds that Daz repaired for me last year and they are still good so I know now that it wasn't the downpipe cracked.
I also know that the flexi isn't broken so that left the sleeve joint itself at the catback. Anyway, i'll come to that in a minute.
Next was to seperate the old dBilas manifold from the head. Got the heat shield off and attacked the easier nuts/studs first. I then realized what all the talk was about trying to get to 2 nuts in particular. I tried all variations of spanner, open end, ring, ratchet end, socket set and nothing was letting me in so I took an old open end spanner to my off hand grinder in the garage and fashioned up a suitable tool. With that done, I was able to undo the remaining 2 nuts.
The weight of the old manifold is hidious so trying to hold it in place without resting on those remaining nuts was a pain. Eventually it gave in and the old manifold was out. This is where the games started to get a little more tricky.
I cleaned up the head surface, not that it was that dirty but never the less, removed the odd studs and cleaned them up, replaced the studs and torqued upto 12Nm, then fitted the new gasket. The new manifold is 6lbs 2oz. I've yet to weigh the dBilas but I think i'll have to get the bathroom scales!!
I navigated the new manifold in behind the head and in between the aircon pipe. Offered it up to the studs and came to an abrupt stop. It didn't fit! The location holes/slots were too small and slightly adrift. I popped out to B&Q to buy a Dremmel kit but changed my mind and bought a round file instead. The Dremmel kit was just over £40 and I couldn't justify that price just to open out some slots so the file got bought.
Witht the manifold in the bench vice, I set about it with the file. I elongated the slots slightly and opened the width by 1mm too. Once that was done it fitted nicely. Studs coated with copper grease, nuts tightened up, it was time to get that downpipe back on.
I coated the inner diameter of the catback and the outer diameter of the downpipe with Fire Gum. Offered it up and it slid back together a treat. Back to the manifold joint and I bought 3 new M10 nuts/bolts/washers and a new gasket. It was at this time that it started to rain. I was struggling for light and by now my back and arms were feeling tired. All tight and exhaust mounts and clamp back on it was time to start.
Started the engine and it was lovely. No blowing as the new Fire Gum was sealing. I let it run for 10 minutes and let all the smoke die down that was coming from the manifold. I took it out for a quick drive and it isn't the same? It seems to spin up much faster on acceleration. Not complaining, i'm very happy.
Pics.....
😉
