Winter project - new exhaust manifolds.

As part of ongoing preventative maintenance om my C4S, I'm replacing my exhaust manifolds with stainless steel ones. I manged to get a set off Ebay for circa £150 and they look really good quality but fitting will tell. I've got titanium M8 studs and nuts to replace the old manifold bolts and stainless bolts and nuts for the rest of the exhaust joints. I know that the real PITA is getting the old bolts out. I've sprayed them with both plus gas and then ACF 50 and will give them another go before I attempt removal. If anyone knows of other tricks to get them out let me know. I'm under no illusions, some of them will snap and I'll need to get a Stomski jig and drill them out. This is going to be a one off job for me, so I've got two options. 1. buy the jig and Ebay it when finished or 2. If someone has a jig that they're willing to rent/loan to me that would be ideal. I'll put new drill bits back in when finished. PM me if you can help and we can sort details. TIA Mark

Some info here and loads more if you search the forum. http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=101738&start=1300&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

Thanks for flagging that thread up. Potential use of a more standard stud extractor before going the Stomski route might be less financially painful! Mark

Unless you can get a bucket load of heat into the area of the seized bolt you'll probably be wasting your time.

Mark, I wouldn't see the Stomski as a big cost - they have a good resale value once you've finished with them - prob cost you £50 once sold. Mine has just been sorn with the intention of doing the same job this winter! Ian

Titanium is more noble the stainless steel, so expect galvanic corrosion where the stainless manifolds will corrode. Not an issue if you don't drive in the winter / salt.

That's what I was thinking and is an option, I'd buy the jig do the one off job and resell it. From what I've read I might remove the the whole exhaust system to get better access. The mufflers (PSE) were off less than a year ago to get them seam welded and new mounting hardware was used so that bit shouldn't be too painful. Mark

Thanks for the input, from what I understand there isn't a big issue with titanium and stainless steel. The titanium won't corrode and any corrosion may just be on the manifolds as you say. Stainless is what it's says on the tin, it's not stain/corrosion proof just less so than steel. The titanium studs I've got are just that... studs that screw onto the head and then titanium flanged nuts that hold the manifolds tight to the head. Has to be better than the originals! Mark

I'm sure there was a comment from PopPopBangBang (F1 engineer) not to use Ti studs and nuts together. Better to use normal steel K nuts IIRC. I have one of his stud kits and the K nuts dont look like Ti. It was probably written on his 'knackered old Porsche with loads of miles' thread over on PH. Worth a read if you've not found it already! Ian

Thanks Ian, I'll take a look. My car's not a daily driver and is off road for the winter (hence a few projects) so it won't be subject to salt and winter weather. That's the plan anyway. Mark

If you're interested I bought the exact model of stud extractor mentioned in the linked thread but due to a postage SNAFU it arrived too late for me. You're welcome to have it for postage and beer money?

Hi that's great I'll PM you. :thumbs: Mark