Well I got started on this today finally. Rear manifold was cracked and leaking bad so I had to replace it. Four of the six rear studs were broke. Wow!! what a job..I had to remove y-pipe, stabilizer bar, cat-converter, cross member(one of the rear bolts was a bitc#!),rear motor mount and bracket. I used a jack and a block of wood to support the motor.

Rear flange bolts were rusted beyond recognition, I used impact gun and nut extractors and the studs backed right out of the manifold flange. The cat-conv bolts were even worse..I had to cut them off with a dremel. Front flange bolts were in pretty good shape and they came right off with impact gun. After getting the only two studs that were good out I started on the broken ones. It's not to bad with the motor mount bracket out of the way but it is almost impossible to get both hands up in there. Hardest part is center punching the studs you just cant move once you get your arms up there and if there is a burr on the studd you have to flatten it out or you will never get it center punched.
I managed to get one drilled and extracted before it got dark. I used a 7/64" drill bit and Ampro extractor. My neck was killing me from laying on my back with my head raised up all day so I called it a night. I guess I will spend my Memorial day under my Max.

I see that my power steering lines are in the way of one of the studs so I will have to figure that one out..might have to remove compressor..I will see tomorrow. For now it is Beer O'clock and the race is on so night all..

 

yeah, those things are a PITA to do, but they are doable on the car...
one thing I found that helps is to lower the engine down inside the engine bay. since you've got the crossmember and rear mount out, you should be able to lower the engine several inches to increase working room back there.

for the AC lines, you can unbolt the compressor and the mounting brackets on the lines and bend them slightly out of the way without having to actually discharge the system.

 

How far will the engine lower with out breaking something? I was thinking about that today while under the car..seems like the axles will prevent it from lowering to far..also..what gasket goes between the y-pipe and the manifold? the kit I bought has a metal ring but it also has a gasket with three wholes in it that looks like it would work also??
thanks for the ideas!!!

 

Well I got 5 out of six out. I will have to drill and tap the one it just wont come out and I do not want to break the easy out off in it.These studs take a M8x1.25x12.0mm helicoil with a 21/64 drill bit. I will have to track down a kit and drill it out. One other thing..if you take your oil filter and power steering pump off it gives you twice the room. Also if you do not have a right angle drill buy one..it is a must.

 

For the y pipe to manifold, use only the copper colored the ring gasket, I dunno what the 3 hole gasket is for. Yeah I lowered the engine a few inches when I did my studs, it really helps. GL on the rest..

 

I had to drill and tap two of the stud holes and put heli coils in. I had a heck of a time getting the y-pipe back on and one of the rear crossmember bolts in, I had to lower the engine about five inches to allow room for the cross member bolt to get in. I had to file the y-pipe flange holes a bit to get it to line up with manifold flange studs. I was not sure how tight to crank the manifols bolts..aint no way to get a torque wrench up in there at least not the one I have so I hope I have them tight enough. All I have left is putting new end link kits on torsion bar and new cat converter on. This is a really big and time consuming job. If you can afford it pay someone to do this!!

 

This is why Im swapping my 166K motor and fixing the studs before I put it in. No PITA for me...

~Alex

 

funny you should say that... what do you guys estimate this repair to be? assume the worst, rear AND front manifold bolts. it finally happened on mine and im at a crossroads. with so much on the car to fix, its time to start thinking about (gulp) putting her down.

 

Well if you take it to the Stealership they will pull the rear head to fix the back ones..heck you will have about $300 just in gaskets with removing the intake(three gaskets) head gasket, manifold gaskets, flange gaskets, the studs and nuts will cost you another $60 and unless the rest of you exhaust is tip top they are going to hammer you for converter and rear section pipe. Not to mention...are your manifolds themselves good?? these are $380 each at stealership ($160 aftermarket each). Add all that up plus labor at $55 an hour and you can buy another car! If you have a shde tree mechanic with a lift is the only way to go! .Otherwise bite the bullet like I did and get crankin on her.

 

Believe it or not, I was able to get my torque wrench on all the nuts to torque them up properly. For the socket, I used a 12mm deep socket. Some had to be accessed from underneath the car.

 

I only have 1/2 inch drive one and it is about 20 inches long.

 

I had time tnight between thunderstorms to button this up so I put the cat-converter back on and...my max is quiet again!!!
I had to let it run for 15 minutes to burn the PB Blaster smoke off but she is quiet and no tick tick tick...It took me almost 3 days total to do but I saved alot of $$$$ If I did it again it would not take me near as long.

 

After reading this thread I am not looking forward to doing this.

George

 

Congrats on getting the job done. I agree, the first time is the worst. When I did it on my second maxima, it took me less than half the time.

 

Can you tell I had a bad day?