first off, thank you all. the write-ups about the stud replacement were invaluable to me.

now it's done, and i've got about 15 min. of running time out of my engine but there's some wicked plumes of smoke coming from the manifolds. i'm hoping it's just the gaskets melting? into place and it'll stop soon but i'm a little freaked about driving my car until it goes away or i get an explanation.
there (it seems to my foggy memory) was a mention about gaskets smoking immediately after install somewhere but i don't remember the context, which thread or write up it was in.

so my question goes out to anyone who's done the stud replacement yourself, should i freak and pull it all apart again (dear god please no)or am i being appropriately optimistic in thinking it'll stop as soon as the gaskets get a few miles on them.
thanks in advance

 

Its probably burning oil off of the exhaust manifold. It should be fine. I cant recal the gasket smoking but if it got oily then it could be too.

 

did you spray anything down with penetrating fluid or oil or anything like that? were the manifolds clean when you put them back on?

the gaskets won't do anything but sit there, but if you got any oil or penetrating fluids on the manifolds or even the side of the head, they're going to smoke for a while. 15-30 minutes is not uncommon, as it takes 10-15 minutes for the manifolds just to get hot enough to start smoking, then it has to burn it all off.

 

NO WORRIES, I just replace mine and they smoked for a little while too..

 

*breathe* phew.
yeah, i used liberal amounts of the 'ol WD on the studs and also changed my oil in the middle of the proccess to get the filter out of the way...

 

On my Tacoma the fiber and metal type gaskets that went on either side of the cat smoked for a while when I first put them in, but the manifold didn't as it was a metal only gasket. should be ok, probably just oil like everyone else said or if its got some fiber material in the gasket that could be it too. Is there anything that you would add to the writeups about changing the manifold and studs that you found made things easier or worse?

I'm thinking mine is leaking on the front side.

Thanks.

 

ok. i think if i had to do it again i'd go matt's route & remove the mounts & centerbrace to go at it from the bottom.
you should remove the y-pipe completely, not just move it out of the way.
when (not if) you drill, do so CAREFULLY. it wouldn't be fun to have to remove the whole head to drag it to a machinist 'cuz you drilled through some threads.
also, i wound up using a locking wrench to set the studs in place THEN put the gaskets & manifolds back on. getting those things in through the manifold & gasket and keeping things straight is ... well i didn't do it. besides there is room enough even if you don't remove mounts & centerbrace to tetris the manifold over the bolts. tricky, but possible.
ummm yea the smoke i wan't expecting.
most importantly though, LUBE THEM UP FIRST it's not fun to break more bolts going in than there were broken before(i used an excessive amount of wd-40 and didn't break anything.)and this is enough of a b**ch w/o making you drill more.
and a carbide drill bit goes slow and smooth straight through those bolts.
have an extra set of eyes to check your angle and (of course) use eye protection such as goggles to keep the teeny metal bits out of your eyes.
that's about it.
front side is easy 'cept for getting the ac/alternator/bracket/belts out of the way.

 

I need a big sign that says I TOLD YOU SO!!!

 

Here we go.. couple min in photoshop and I've got it.

 

Thanks for the tips!

 

Matt,