Stage 0: Background

Stage 1: Removal

Basically, there are six connections in the exhaust system with which we will deal.  Head - manifold, manifold - up-pipe, up-pipe - collector, collector - housing, housing - EBPV, and EBPV - downpipe.  This is more important for when be go back because it will dictate the order in which stuff gets reinstalled.  Another critical "connection", if you will, is turbo pedestal-to-block; this is how the turbo gets fed its life-giving oil supply.  If we mess this one up, our engine gets all oily and our turbo gets all squeaky and stops.  Not good.

First of all, to remove the turbo, remove the two hose clamps holding the boot feeding into the inlet of the turbo, off the intake tract.  Then remove the V-band clamp on the compressor outlet, and loosen the four clamps on the two silicone boots off the Y-pipe.  The Y should slip up and off fairly easily.  This a good time to inspect for oil slobber and determine whether or not you want to reroute your crankcase breather.  I will probably do this now in preparation for my intercooler install.

Remove the V-band clamp at the back of the EBPV housing, and if you have a two-piece downpipe, it is best to loosen the middle joint and slide the top half up and out of the way.  I can imagine what a bear the rest of the project would be if the factory or a one-piece downpipe is present but I I believe it  could be worked around.  Remove the three 12-point 8mm bolts that hold the EBPV housing to the exhaust housing and disconnect the actuator rod, if present, by sliding the collar back and dropping it off the ball on the bottom of the EBPV housing.  If the three 8mm are tight like mine and cannot be loosened with a 12-point socket, use a good wrench and pry on it with a prybar.  Use a 13mm 6-point wobble socket or stubby wrench to remove the two bolts on the top half of the collector/housing joint and use a 15mm stubby wrench to remove the two nuts on the studs on the bottom half of this joint.  Trust Swamp Donkey and I on this, get the stubby wrenches...

Now for the fun part.  I cannot imagine doing this without the proper tools.  Remove the two forward pedestal bolts with a 10mm socket.  Use a mirror on a stick to locate the two back bolts.  You can probably see the passenger side back bolt without the mirror; it will be just fore of the end of the EBPV actuator barrel where the rod sticks out.  The "back bolt" can only be reached with a 1/4 inch drive 10mm socket on a 1/4 inch drive universal joint stuck on a fairly long 1/4 inch drive extension.  This pesky thing is in FRONT of the barrel where out of which the EBPV rod protrudes.  If you get fancy with the mirror or get atop the engine enough, you can see a groove cut in the front of this barrel.  Use the mirror on the stick, bend the wobble so it and the socket are perpendicular to the ground, and ease it down on to this bolt.  Once you find it the first time it is a breeze but not until then.  Beware that there is another bolt or nut you can see with the mirror that is easy to get to; THIS AIN'T IT.  The 10mm you need to remove is sitting at the same height as the other back bolt.  If you spot that one in the mirror, pan over towards the master cylinder and look for it.  I have removed my turbo enough that I can get on it without the mirror now.

Once the four bolts are out, lift the turbo up and off the collector and set it on the workbench.  There are four bolts that hold the housing to the cartridge.  Remove them with an 8mm 12-point wrench, and GENTLY ease the housing off the turbine and set aside.  Rebuild the turbo if necessary.

The next step in my removal was to remove the manifolds from the heads.  I believe here I went out of order because I felt this would be the hardest part.  Considering how everything fits together (remember our six joints?) I am going to suggest you learn from my mistake and do as I say, not as I do.  If it does not work for you, let me know and I will adjust the write-up.

I am going to suggest removing the up-pipe - manifold bolts and nuts here, while the manifolds are still on tight.  These are 10mm 6-point heads on the bolts and 13mm 6-point heads on the nuts.  I tried this after the manifolds were loose and it was not pretty; with the manifolds falling around and me not having anything to pull against with the wrench.  Once these are loose, you can tell how tight the up-pipes are in the collector.  My driver side pipe fell out without the bolts being loosened.  This was a bad thing because I did not discover what a bear it was to get to this bolt until I went back in with it.

The next step is to remove the collector - up-pipe bolts.  Three of these are fairly accessible from the top side and the lower on the driver side, well, get ready to bandage yourself.  These are 10mm 6-point again and mine were VERY tight.  I was fortunate at this part to have very loose donut gaskets; my driver side up-pipe basically fell out without any loosening.  I loosened the fore bolt on the passenger side and that pipe fell out.  The aft bolt on the driver side can be reached by lying under the truck and using a 10mm stubby wrench.  I loosened the two 14mm bolts that hold the transmission shift linkage so I could scoot it out and get my arm by it and up over the bellhousing to reach this bolt with the stubby when I replaced it.  I did not have to loosen it though; the pipe fell out... so I did not find out about this access problem until the reinstall.

Last, but not least, is to break the manifold - cylinder head joint.  There are eight 13mm bolts on each manifold.  I used the 13mm wobble socket (from before) and could access every one on both sides without removing the inner fenders.  This is pretty straightforward; I blocked the axle securely, removed the front tire, and with a 3/8" drive ratchet, extension, and the 13mm wobble socket, broke them all loose.  (Now we see why I had five cylinders leaking exhaust).  I worked from the center out.  The passenger side manifold contains the EBP sensor tube; I could not get this loose with a regular wrench (did not have my stubbys yet) so I got mad and broke it.  It was plugged (as I suspected!) so no loss there.  I believe removing the this first with a stubby wrench would be the ticket; there is just no hand room under there.  Once the manifolds are loose, slide them out towards the back.

DONE!

Stage 1: Coating

First, I washed all my parts with a brush in a pan of acetone.  Techline says to use a non-petroleum solvent (therefore residue-free) such as acetone, MEK, or lacquer thinner.  I used a liberal amount of penetrating oil on the manifold bolts, since they tend to seize to the manifold, not in the cylinder head, and this took a while to soak out.  Then, on a whim, I doused the manifolds with acetone and set them on fire in the garage floor and when the went out, they were wet AGAIN with the penetrating oil! It had cooked out of the metal.  I suggest if you have access to an industrial oven that you bake all these parts out for 4-5 hours at 700+ degrees.  I used to work in an electric motor shop where we had one that we ran at 800 degrees for 4 hours each night.  That is the only way to really degrease a part.

I bought a cabinet-type sandblaster from Harbor Freight for $70 just for this project.  Techline recommends using 120 grit aluminum oxide to blast the parts.  100 grit is acceptable per Techline on exhaust stuff.  All I could find locally was 80 grit, so 80 it was.  At any rate, I suggest if you do not have access to a commercial blaster already set up to make sure the one you select has a good dust collection system and a decent pickup system.  The one I got from Harbor Freight will work great when I get done with it but as it was, the inside stayed very dusty so I could not see and the short pickup tubes provided kept coming out of the blasting agent in the bottom, which made the process very time-consuming.  I plan on installing a good fan on the provided filter in the cabinet and I already bought longer tube material which I will zip-tie down to the inside of the cabinet.

Sandblasting this stuff is fairly straightforward; just make sure all the rust is off.  I mean ALL the rust.  When I get pictures posted, you can see what even the smallest bit of rust will do to the coating.  It will not stick at all.  You need NO red visible when done; it should all be light gray.  The manifolds I thought looked really clean had problems down near the bolts where the blasting agent did not clean as well.  Everything else did well because they were easy to blast inside the cabinet.

Give everything a quick rinse in acetone again and get ready to shoot the coating.  I will suggest here doing the blasting, final rinse, and coating all in one day to prevent flash rust.  Basically, the only problems I had here were running out of CBC and having never painted with a paint gun before.  Had I painted with a paint gun, perhaps I would not have wasted so much coating.  I suggest that 6 oz. of the coating be purchased instead of three.  (It comes in 3 oz. bottles.)  The instructions say to stir and shake well, and spray until the part has a wet look.  This is tough because the stuff you are spraying is the same color as the properly sandblasted parts.  At any rate, I cannot provide advice on how to set up the paint gun, other than to use a quality gravity feed detail gun and apply one heavy coat (per the instructions).  I believe there would be no harm in re-coating AFTER the baking process.  I noticed where I re-sprayed my up-pipes that after this water-based coating sits (it looks like dishwater), the solids seem to settle; and spraying this settled coating again seemed to disturb it in a bad way.  It looked like improperly agitated metal flake paint after that.  Couple this with a spot of grease I found on an up-pipe and I did not get a good coating on these at all.

Let air dry until matte and bake at 300 degrees for one hour.  Note the one hour starts when the part gets to temp.  I just baked it all two hours.  If you use the Techline stuff that says "no baking required" (meaning it is exhaust heat cured), 500 degrees for one hour is partial cure and 750 degrees for one hour is full cure.  I suggest, from other's experiences, the partial cure be done; that way you do not knock the stuff off when installing.

Let me back up here and address "firing surfaces": when you look at a ceramic or porcelain product, you will find there is almost always a spot on it that has no glaze.  This the firing surface; where the part sits during the firing process.  For us, we can lay the manifolds with the head side down on the floor.  I hung the up-pipes by bending a coat hanger into too big a "U" and shoving it inside to hold them without touching the outside.  The collector can be set upside down on the floor propped up up on the studs and the flange.  However, it is best, in my opinion, to put the EBPV housing and the exhaust housing back together, and stand the exhaust housing up on the EBPV housing for drying and baking.  This way, no external surfaces are rested upon during the air dry and baking process so you get no visible blemishes.

Stage 2: Bolts, bolts, bolts...

SAE grade 2 = 60,000 psi (60 ksi) yield stuff
Metric class 4.6 or 5.8 = 60.9 ksi

SAE grade 5 = 120 ksi
Metric class 8.8 = 120.35 ksi

SAE grade 8 = 150 ksi
Metric class 10.9 = 150.8 ksi

ASTM A574 = 170 ksi
Metric class 12.9 = 176.9 ksi

AMS 6304 = 180 ksi yield for use up to 1000° F

ASTM B16 = 125 ksi yield for use up to 1100° F

Note that metric stuff is Class whereas SAE is Grade.  They are NOT 'equivalent;' class 10.9 is not much different than grade 8.  From Patrick Feeley's post:

"The Property Class for Metric threads is described using Classes.  Each metric Class symbol consists of two numbers separated by a period.  The first number is 1/100 of the nominal tensile strength in N/mm2 (newtons per square millimeter; 1 N/mm2 = 145.038 psi).  The second number is 10 times the ratio of nominal yield stress to nominal tensile strength.  For example, a Class 8.8 bolt has a nominal tensile strength of 800 N/mm2 (or about 116,000 psi) and a nominal yield stress of 640 N/mm2 (8 times 800 divided by 10)."

Anyway, on the factory bolts:

Manifold are 10mm x 60mm 1.5 pitch AMS 6304
Flange are 8mm x 60mm 1.25 pitch AMS 6304
Collector that holds donuts are 8mm x 30mm 1.25 pitch (C on head; I suspect AMS 6304 here)
Collector flange bolts are 10mm x 30mm 1.5 pitch (C on head; I suspect AMS 6304 here)
Collector flange nuts are 10mm 1.25 pitch (note the fine threads, looks to be a Class 8 marker: no 'x.y' type for metric nuts, just bolts.  Nuts are classed only by yield strength of material; no real tensile strength measurement on a nut)
Pedestal bolts are 8mm x 50mm 1.25 pitch class 10.9
12 point for EBPV housing and all through the turbo are 8mm x 20mm 1.25 pitch ASTM B16.

Anyway, I am replaceing as such:

Manifold are class 12.9 socket head bolts backed with grade 8 washers
Flange are class 10.9 bolts, class 10 nuts, and grade 8 washers
Collector that holds donuts are class 12.9 socket head with grade 8 washers
Collector flange bolts are class 10.9 with grade 8 washers
Collector flange nuts are class 10 with grade 8 washers
Pedestal bolts are factory in back, class 10.9 with grade 8 washers in front
12 point for EBPV housing and all through the turbo are class 12.9 socket head

The reason for the washers is two-fold.  One, I wanted more holding area to reduce stress on parts and two, all the factory stuff has flanges and the bolt shop I used did not carry this stuff in metric, so I needed washers to make up for the lesser holding area of the standard type bolts I am putting back in.  The 8mm 12-points have a smaller head than the socket head replacements so I am not required to use washers here.

Stage 3: Reinstall

First of all, if you have ever replaced the turbo, you know what a bear it is to re-set it on the block and not disturb the o-rings with the collector and up-pipes in place.  Swamp Donkey had a couple of good tips on doing this.  First of all, the two back bolts will want to fall all the way through the pedestal and stick down and knock the o-rings out of place.  Twist up some paper towel and slide in the holes with the bolts to scotch them up and make sure they are flush on the bottom.  Actually, the passenger side bolt will want to interfere and bind with the collector, so if it sticks out the bottom 1/4" or a little less it will be okay.  It will not be as bad about hitting the o-rings as the hidden bolt anyway.  You can then cut the side out of a gallon jug and shape it to just fit over the o-rings, oil both sides of it well, and lay it over them.  Leave a handle so you can pull it back out.  Set the turbo on the collector and down, start the front two bolts, and then slip the jug out.  Works great; Swamp's the man.

But wait, I completely removed my exhaust system.  So, what I did is loosely bolt the collector to the exhaust housing of the turbo while sitting on the workbench.  Now you can shim the bolts up (remember about the left bolt; you can see how if it is left sticking up too high it will bind with the collector) and just set the turbo straight down onto the engine without the jug trick.  The reason for the jug trick is with the collector in place you go to come out and go in at a 45 degree angle or so because of the two studs but since there is nothing below them, you are good to go.

Once the turbo is in place, bolt it up tight (all four pedestal bolts).  This is a fixed, non-variable joint with no play, so tighten 'er on up.  Then do the same with the collector.

Next come the exhaust manifolds.  The passenger side went really well for me.  One hitch is you have to thread the gasket behind the oil dipstick tube but the manifold goes in front of it; this was a little aggravating without a helper.  If you notice on each manifold, the fourth hole up from the outlet is smaller than the rest.  I started this one first.  I painted all the insides of the holes with a little never-seize, and the bolts too, although the service manual said to use loctite.  I will see how that goes.  Anyway, slide the manifold in from the back, start the bolts, and tighten them to about 20 ft-lbs.  The re-torque to 45 ft-lbs and do a final check (I had a couple move a little more as the gasket compressed more).  Remember, I replaced my bolts with socket heads so I used I used an 8mm 3/8" driver on a 3/8" wobble on a 24" extension off the torque wrench.  The 24" extension will get you out past the hub where you will have much more room to work.  I hope the wobble socket did not affect torque values.  I did discover too, on reinstall of the EBP tube, that if you use an open end 5/8" wrench and come up beside the frame rail, you can get 1/12 of a round each time (turn, flip the wrench, turn, flip, turn, you know) instead of just having to snatch it out.  I was afraid I would have to remove the inner fender liner but did not.

Anyway, the exhaust manifold / cylinder head joint is fixed, no play, so you can pull her on down tight too.

The driver side is the same, except the gasket can lay atop the manifold and you can slip a couple bolt through it, and leave it laying.  What I did on both manifolds is lay under the truck and slide them in from the back and rest them on the frame rail.  Then, get up in the wheel well and roll them up to the head.  You will have to thread your extension / wobble / socket or hex head through the fuel lines but they will not be damaged.  Snug her on down too...  Now all that is left is the up-pipes...  heh, heh.

This is where the the ordeal began for me.  I did the passenger side first and it went okay but I would suggest doing the driver side first.  There is absolutely zero room to get to the under bolt on the driver side, and having all out of the way possible may help.

The last two joints we have to make up are semi-variable.  That is, you can adjust the depth at which the up-pipe fits in the collector and the angle (although very slightly) which the up-pipe comes off the manifold by twisting the pipe that is still loose in the collector.  My biggest problem with the driver side install was the collector flange (that bolts up to it and pinches the donut) kept sliding down and eventually got bound on something on the back of the engine and I did not know it.  I had tightened up the manifold end of the up-pipe and then could not start the collector bolts so it had to come back out.  I suggest putting the donut gasket close to where it goes, then pulling the flange up to it and putting a zip-tie around the up-pipe just below the flange to hold it in place.  You could cut the zip tie off after the bolts are tight or just let it melt.  Anyway, I loosened the 14mm bolts on the side of the transmission that hold the shift cable so I could get my fat arm in and up to the rear bolt on the collector.  A 10mm stubby is the only way I found to tighten this one.  The upper one I got with a bunch of extensions and a 10mm wobble socket.  However, there is a bolt head in the way on the back of the engine that prevents doing this on the bottom one.  You can almost get a 1/4" drive extension and wobble / socket combo on it.  If you had a 1/4" drive wobble socket instead of the wobble adapter like I did it may work but the thickness of the wobble adapter was hitting the bolt on the back of the engine.  After starting these two, adjust the pipe to fit the manifold, and tighten that down, then tighten the collector bolts to pinch the donut.

The other side is about the same, except you can reach the two bolts form the top (whew!).  Start the collector bolts, then bolt the bottom part up at the manifold tightly and then the top part at the collector.

I guess it goes without saying but use never seize on every bolt.

DONE!

(With the hard part.)  Enjoy a beverage of your choice (right now it is Lime Diet Coke for me; I love that stuff) because you got it licked.

Now, reinstall the EBPV housing (gut it if you do not live in Alaska; see the archives for instructions), downpipe top half, and the inlet stuff on the turbo.

DONE!

I can now lay my hand on the manifolds (but cannot squeeze them) with the engine up to temperature; there is a noticeable difference.  They do not look all that good now because I made a mess with never seize.  My wife's first comment was "wow, it is quiet (she can speak in italics) in here."  This is due to having a tight exhaust system now...

Another trick I did not mention that mi amigo Swamp Donkey told me is if your up-pipes are well worn from the donuts, there is a chance the new donuts will not tighten up.  I took mine to a muffler shop and had them fit the donuts where they go and then swell the pipes up.  The did not even charge me for it; took only a couple minutes.  One thing to note, you may want to go back with them and have it done in two stages.  The expander they used had about six plates and as such, my up-pipes got sort of hex-sided instead of round.  These pipes are very thick material and they will have to really get down on the expander to expand them.  You could have them stretch it a little, then turn it 1/12 round and stretch it some more to keep it rounder.  No big deal though... they are nice and snug.  Tell them to only swell them enough to snug the donuts; you will still want to be able to move them and possibly remove them.  I also sanded all the ceramic off under where the donuts go to keep a good seal.