well it was up for a while as i was doing the stud replacement of the front exhaust manifold. never had time to finish the job until today. i bought it with that problem, now it is fixed and ready to be my daily driver. its my 3rd VE 5speed ive owned so far. just ran into a couple of problems i need help on. first of all, i couldnt get the old gaskets out of the y-pipe. they were caked and rusted on. anyone have any suggestions? i figure i would just get a warpspeed y-pipe and be done with it. also, all the studs on the bottom of both manifolds that connect to the ypipe had to be drilled out because of rust. i only have two bolts on holding each side up. only one bolt missing on each side, no big deal, but would like to get it fixed. also, it looks like im leaking oil from the crank pulley. im sure its just a seal or gasket behind there, can anyone give me an estimate on how long this job is and any suggestions? thanks

joshua

 

to remove the caked on gasket from the y-pipe, i'd suggest a rough wire brush or brazing bit on a drill. that should clean it up pretty easily.

to drop the oil pan and re-seal it,
you'll need the two half moon gaskets and some medium grade gasket maker to seal the oil pan back up.
first drain your oil.
the oil pan is held up by about 16 small 10mm bolts. you'll need to remove the crossmember from the engine bay to drop the pan. so, you need to prop up the as engine securely as you can. unbolt the crossmember from the engine mounts, remove, then start taking out the oil pan bolts. the oil pan will not just fall down, you'll need to pry gently around the edges to seperate it from the engine.
while the oil pan is down, clean it out as thoroughly as you can.
goodluck,
the job it self shouldn't take more than 2 hours but most gasket makers take 12 hours to set, so your car will be out of commission for the day.