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Guys...

So i went racing yesterday and ive either cracked my exhaust manafold or the bolts that secure it have loosened. I am going to take the heat shield of this afternoon and have a look... if i find its the manafold bolts being loose, does anyone know the tension they are meant to be redone at ? or where i can find this information ? or does it not matter ?

Thanks in advance,

Andrew

A known problem with the SP the Sutds strech and boom there goes the gasket . (just ask CT )
the fix is Inconel Suts and Copper nuts , have had this on my race SP and
never had a problem

If the bolts have come loose you'll need a special spanner to have any chance of tightening them. If they have been loose for a while then the manifold face will most likely have warped, meaning it needs to be machined back to flat. If it was me i would replace the whole lot with inkonel studs and nuts - i have had my turbo bolts done and lockwired, but the manifold nuts weren't and continue to come loose weekly You can see where it leaks past the gasket - look for a black soot mark on the gasket or cylinder head. Daniel maintains it is quicker to take the engine out and work on it than to do it in situ - when he did mine I got the 100K service done at the same time to make it worthwhile. Just wish I'd had the head studs done too...

Is there any specific tension i have to adhear to ?

When you say a special spanner... are you talking about the shape of the bolts ? or their location and associated difficulty ?

There is no way you can get any sort of torque wrench onto the manifold nuts. You are lucky to be able to get any spanner onto some of them. The \"special spanner\" is an open ended spanner with enough ground off it to let it fit into the space allocated. If you take off the heatshield and try to tighten the nuts up you will see what I mean. Best get the uber good studs and nuts and make it a one time job.

Ive just had a chat to my uncle and i think i know everything i need to now... im headed home soon to start work on the car... i just need to get myself a grinder

Have a look here Marador.

http://www.aus-cartalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=27386&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

This will give you some insight.


Jules

The problem with making a spanner fit is the ground down spanner is then very weak and will invariably bend or break. Some have taken to the manifold with a grinder to increase the clearance around the nuts, but i am unsure of the thickness of the casting, so you could risk destroying the manifold.The centre stud on the underside is the worst to get to - it can apparently be done from underneath. Any way you look at it this is a job you only want to do once, so make sure you have everything you need

Russellb wrote:A known problem with the SP the Sutds strech and boom there goes the gasket . (just ask CT )
the fix is Inconel Suts and Copper nuts , have had this on my race SP and
never had a problem

Hmmm, been there, done this. All fixed now. (Thanks to Russell:))

CT wrote:

Russellb wrote:A known problem with the SP the Sutds strech and boom there goes the gasket . (just ask CT )
the fix is Inconel Suts and Copper nuts , have had this on my race SP and
never had a problem

Hmmm, been there, done this. All fixed now. (Thanks to Russell:))

Yeah i spoke to my uncle yesterday... im going to get one of those kits. I'd prefer to fix the problem once and for all.