Nothing to really see, and it’s not back together yet, but I’ve been out there the last couple nights for an hour or two here or there.
I was very concerned about getting the gasket over the manifold studs and about getting the one manifold bolt installed, so after sourcing the new Fel-Pro gasket, I took a really deep breath and got out my pry bar. Amazingly, it took almost no effort at all to get the gasket slipped over the studs and in to place! The only part that required some effort was the act of holding the really long really heavy pry bar in one hand while manipulating the gasket with the other hand.
With the gasket in place, I’ve started the re-assembly process. I put the other 9 bolts and nuts on first and snugged them up before I even attempted the devil bolt. The biggest fear I had was cross-threading it since there wasn’t an obvious way to come at it straight on. My approach was to put some blue RTV on the head of the bold and use that to attach my 10mm socket to the bolt and then use an extension on the other end of the socket. By manipulating the lower heatshield, I was was able to find a place that I could slide that whole contraption forward and try to start the bolt by feel alone. It was one of those situations where I knew I’d have to try to turn it a bit, then back everything out and take a look, then try to start it a second time, and so on. The first time I pulled the socket out to take a look, I was shocked to find that the bolt was no longer attached to the socket but was, in fact, halfway threaded in to the head! Huzzah!
From there, it was torquing down the manifold bolts, re-attaching the manifold braces, and re-setting the engine position and re-connecting the front and rear mounts.
In other bonus news, while I was down there, I discovered that the right sway bar end link was loose! I’m hoping against hope that is the cause of the suspension banging that I keep hearing. If tightening that up solves it, that will be the fourth vehicle on which I had a front end suspension noise and the fourth vehicle where the fix for that noise was the sway bar. Updates as they become available.
Later this week, I should be able to get the headshield reconnected and the power steering and coolant reservoirs re-mounted. Then I can start it up and see how she sounds. Looking at the flex section on the downpipe, I’m pretty sure there will still be an exhaust leak in the system, but at least it will be after the turbo this time!