And the carnage begins....

[07EddyB]

It might not have been the success you were exactly looking for but I'd say all in all it was a success. If anything, a major learning experience, no? Again, major balls, EddyB, and major props!

Yes - thank you - I do consider it a success. I drove the truck this morning - dropped the kids off at school and went to work. The Ex was very much quieter than it was. It's a relatively straight forward job really. It just requires a lot of extra tear down to get there and you are always working in tight quarters and that can be frustrating. It takes a lot of tools too - if you can carry all your tools in one tool box then forget doing this. The nuts are 13MM - I probably used three different ratchets, 4 different sockets, and two different wrenches just to get them off.
I did screw up one stud but I actually drilled and extracted the other one very successfully. Even with the excellent advice I received here there were a lot of things I had to work through for the first time. At this point, I'm pretty sure I can cut the time down at least by half.
Would I do it again? Probably. I know at this point that I can actually pull it off so it would be harder for me to hire it out. I just need to be more careful drilling - I think I got a little lax after I got the first one out.

 

[07EddyB]

Well - it's been a few days and so far most is well. I did an oil change and rotated the tires today. I also checked the manifold nuts and they were tight. Noise levels are still down considerably - no more ticking. Of course, I have another noise that seems even louder now that the exhaust leak has been fixed. It's not really a tick - it's hard to describe but it sounds the same all over the engine bay and through both wheel wells. Since I had the fender liners out it seemed louder I think.
I do have one problem - when I went to change the oil today there was water under it. Not much - but leaking. I traced it back to the infamous tee that sends water to the front and rear heater cores. Of course, it's right there where I was working last weekend - I don't know if I nicked it or moving it around so much just exposed a weakness. Of course, I just put a new radiator in it a few months ago so the antifreeze I'm about to lose to fix this is practically brand new.
Man - would love to catch a break on this thing - it seems to be coming at me pretty steadily lately. In other news, Friday at lunch it hit the 100K mark.

I did not buy it a cake.

 

[Explorer_PL]

Yep, the T, everyone gets that eventually.
You did not think you were special or something ?

Just get a 5/8" metal or plastic Y and 3 good hose clamps and be done for good.

 

[PotatoExplorer]

So I was surfing around Craigslist out of all places and stumbled across this company called Pro Maxx and they have a kit specifically for the exhaust manifold leak -
http://www.promaxxtool.com/rocky200series.html

Maybe this will be useful to someone in the future? It would be nice to find what shops use this set up and charge accordingly.

 

[Explorer_PL]

That's a cool tool. Little pricey. Maybe something could be fabricated out of a thick steel plate using the manifold as a template. Getting the drill started exactly in the center of the broken stud is half of the win. I know it did not work for 2 of mine and ended drilling to the side.

 

[tripplec]

Looks nifty for sure. Pricey yes, maybe some Ford repair shops will invest in them and make their repair almost goof proof. Saves them time and you money if they pass on the time aspect to you.

 

[07EddyB]

Totally useless from my experience - unless it aligns an angled bit. There is no way even with a right angle drill to get a perfectly aligned bit without jacking the engine up severely. You may get a pilot in shallow but even cut off the next size up is too long. Actually, you want to make it easier? Give me a center punch that I can use. You can't easily center punch a broken stud when the punch barely fits. How do you hit it with a hammer at that point? On my job, I gave up on trying to center punch. Part of the reason my upper stud extraction failed so miserably.

 

[07EddyB]

Checking back in. As you know I only have 7 studs holding my manifold on so I'll continue to let you know how that holds up. Everything is great so far. You probably know that I just went through a noise exactly above my missing stud - that turned out to be a seized roller on a follower. Once I fixed that, the engine is quiet. So the repair is holding up so far. My engine has never been quieter than it is right now.