Krivasauto and others,
I’d like to offer a reason for the long time (14 hours), some observations of the whole job, and finally some tips that I did or should have done.
Why did it take me so long? I am a very methodical person, who does things step-by-step. By profession I am a mechanical design engineer, specializing in high-speed rotating machinery typically for aerospace applications (over 31 years experience, thus you can figure about how old I am). Am I a “gearhead”? No, but I would rather be tinkering in the garage with the stereo on, changing the oil on a car before participating in “house-cleaning day” with the Misses. This was definitely the biggest repair I’ve done in a long time, as the last big repair I did was rebuild a TurboHydramatic tranny with the help a friend. Mostly I just do oil-changes, plugs, and brakes on my vehicles. I was a little worried about this project.
So why did it take me so long? As I said in the previous post I did not want to make a mistake. I do such things as wire brush all the bolts that have corrosion damage, and carefully scrape the old gaskets off (see below trick that I used), and as I remove stuff I carefully organize it on the garage floor (with its respective fasteners) in the order I removed it (so I know how to put it back on). And if a lousy song shuffles up on the iPod playing over the garage speakers, I don’t hesitate to get up and hit the skip button.
Before I took on this job I did buy a complete set of official shop manuals I found on Amazon. They were used and I got them for about $65. I already had the Chilton manual I bought from the local auto parts store but obviously it didn’t discuss the crossover manifold. The manuals proved to be a very good reference for me. The Fel-Pro gaskets I ordered are (all from Kragen Auto parts):
#35722 (qty 3), crossover manifold (3X $7.00)
#70788, EGR ($2.49)
#61304, Throttle body (paper) ($.99)
#61305, Throttle plate (molded rubber) ($2.49)
#MS96346, Exhaust manifold SET (left, right, crossover donut, and the EGR oring for the pipe going back into the intake manifold) ($22.00)
#61310, Exhaust pipe ($7.50)
Is this a complicated repair? Not really, when you think about it there is really only a handful of fasteners and about 5 things to remove (exhaust-12 fasteners total, throttle body/intake-9, crossover/EGR stuff-14, engine cover-2, water hoses-3, and a few electrical plugs-7). But honestly, the exhaust removal and assembly took about 7 hours on its own (2.5 hours to remove and 4.5 to put back on).
I started by removing the obvious stuff on top: negative battery terminal, intake duct, linkage from the throttle body, engine stabilizer, drain the coolant, throttle body (3 nuts), then the throttle body plate (three studs using a 5mm socket, and the little screw hidden under the paper throttle body gasket). I only took one of the little hoses off the throttle plate, leaving the smaller hose attached between the crossover manifold and the throttle plate. I did this solely thinking that the less hoses removed the better chance I won’t have a leak. Removed the other two hoses (to radiator and heater). The heater hose I ended just cutting off, as there was still enough length to be able to reattach.
Tried the pry-bar trick, but as mentioned above it didn’t do the trick for me. And realizing that I wanted room to properly clean the sealing surface, and to be able to get my hands in there, I decided to remove the right manifold (RM).
From underneath began removing the 3 foot pipe attached to the RM, using penetrating oil and the ½” drive sockets (1/2” SAE). I did not remove any O2 sensors, only disconnected the one connector. The hardest fasteners to remove on the hole job were the two nuts between the pipe and the RM. The manifold was easy to remove the 6 bolts. you will need to remove the tranny dip-stick pipe (one screw) but have a container ready to catch about a pint of tranny fluid (I wasn't ready!).
The crossover bolts were difficult as on one of them (lower left) I almost rounded the head. Hindsight I wish I had used a ½ SAE socket instead of the 13mm, as it probably would have gripped the bolt better. Two of the bolts were heavily corroded from the leaking fluid. The seals literally crumbled into pieces. Then put it all back together.
The most difficult part in putting everything back on was the RM. First put the donut on the LM pipe, position the RM on the LM pipe, and crawl under the car for a couple of hours trying carefully to finger-thread the 6 bolts in. I believe I may have cross-threaded possibly 2 of the lower bolts, but literally gave up trying to get the bolts in. If you have smaller hands and arms it should be much easier for you. Try your hardest not to drop the bolts as some will fall to the ground but I had one fall between the transmission and the engine and could not retrieve it. Luckily my local hardware store had one! When putting the RM back on you will want to work slow and carefully. The three top bolts are easiest, but the bottoms are the hardest. I used about 20" of extensions for all these bolts, and as long as you had wobble ends you can get to all 6. Everything finally torqued down OK.
My tips:
1. Use Anti-sieze on all the fasteners.
2. Use GM sealant ($17, requiring a caulking gun) on all coolant gasket surfaces.
3. I used an electric Palm sander on several sealing surfaces to clean them up. This is a wonderful trick I’ve done many times in the past.
4. I used a Come-along to pull the engine forward, to facilitate access to the RM bolts. Tied one end to a stud in the garage, the other to a crow-bar wedged in the motor stabilizing bracketry. Ust be careful you don’t pull too much as to flip the car off any jack-stands.
5. As discussed earlier, a ½” socket may work better on difficult 13mm bolts.
6. I used several Wobble extensions, and a wobble impact “Ball” adapter (Craftsman 3/8” drive)
7. You will need a little mirror to find bolts you dropped.
8. And get one of those little grabber gizmos (about 2 feet long) that has the little metal prongs that flair out.
9. Jack-stands for the whole car (4). Be careful!!!!
10. Manuals I found very useful
11. And most importantly, a Radio playing your favorite music.
I want to discuss one more topic… Sealing. I generally put either GM Sealant (the best), or Permatex sealant (I think either 2A or 2B? the black one) on all seals for coolant, trannies, oil pans. Years ago a mechanic told me you never have to put goop on gaskets as long as you torque them correctly. But I use sealant (goop), and have never had a leak. Someone may say, I don’t need to put sealant on the crossover seals as they have built-in rubber gaskets. I would rather put the sealant on the mating surfaces and be safe, than to put everything together (14 hours) and discover a little weeping leak.
That’s my experience. I may have left something out, please feel free to contact me with any questions. Sorry I didn’t take pictures, but my hands were dirty and it would have added another hour to my effort. Hey it took me over an hour to write this!!!
Let me know how your crossover repair goes, and good luck and be careful when under the vehicle. Steve