gjc71

Been reading quite a bit on the forum and found some very good info that helped a lot with my repair. My passenger side exhaust manifold was cracked and after reading some of the posts and worrying a lot about breaking the studs off in the head I decided to take the plunge and move forward. Although this did not end up being my problem I had a tough go of it and I thought I would share for someone else to learn from my misfortune.
I have a Haynes manual and frankly the directions were not great. From memory they were take off the fender skirt, take off negative terminal on battery, take off oxygen sensor electrical plugs on front and back then take out oxygen sensor, take out the starter, unbolt the cat from the manifold and simply take of the nuts from the manifold, take off the gaskets, replace the studs clean it up and put tall back together.
The first thing I noticed when I took the fender skirt off and after examining under the vehicle is that there is literally no room at all to get to the front bottom two bolts. If there is a tool that can do it without breaking the studs off, I have never come across it. Also after taking the nuts off the studs there is no room at all to take the manifold out the side or for it to come off of the studs.
That is when I really started searching the forum. I found in a few places to take out the engine mount through bolt and jack the engine up from below. The manual made no mention of this at all. I proceeded to do this and it did make all the difference. It gave me plenty of room to work. I did not have any problems with the studs but I did soak them with pb blaster over and over. Actually three of the studs came out when I broke the nuts loose from the manifold. I only had one that gave me a little problem and I read somewhere to heat up the head with a torch around the stud for about a minute then let it cool. Proceed to do this three times. After this procedure I used a special stud removal socket and it came out no problem. I felt a great weight had been lifted. I made it without breaking a stud off. I think I might have even made a big whoop when the last one came out.
This is when my troubles began. I had celebrated to early. I cleaned it up, put the new studs in and torqued them, gaskets on, manifold on and torqued to specs. Then I ever so gently lowered the engine and that is where my nightmare began. The stupid engine was hitting on the front of the motor mount. It was like in the process of lifting the engine the whole engine and transmission slid back approximately 1/2 inch. I messed with this for another couple of hours the first day and it was getting very late at night. I thought first thing in the morning I will have a fresh start at this,

gjc71

The Next Day I grabbed my biggest ratchet strap grabbed onto a substantial part of the block near the back and hooked up to the tow ring on the front of the truck. Ratcheted it forward and let the jack down quite a bit quicker this time. Still hitting on the metal tube that runs through the rubber motor mount. I tried loosening the mount from the bottom hoping there might be a little slop there to work with but this did not work either. After several hours of this I ended up grabbing a tire iron putting it through the backside of the motor mount pulling it down as far as I could, wedged a 2x4 in between the transmission and frame to hold the tire iron down and let the jack down just enough so that the front of the motor mount was just barely caught on the front of the engine mount. I then let all of the pressure off of the jack. This put all the weight of the engine on the mount and the center tube of the mount in a bind. Shook the engine like crazy and still would not fall in. I crawled under the vehicle staying back away from the engine as far as I could and with a hammer and a long screw driver tapped the back side of the motor mount tube and thank god the engine finally dropped in.
Looking back on this with the amount of room between the frame and the manifold after it was installed and messing with this stupid motor mount I feel very lucky to still have my hand.
Just out of curiosity once I had the through bolt back in the mount and having spent so much time with this particular part I jacked the motor back up with the through bolt left in and I think I would have had plenty of room to do the job without taking the through bolt out. I do not think there would have been any way to do the job without lifting the engine just don't take the through bolt out or another alternative that I thought of afterwards would be to loosen the studs on the bottom of the mount which would give you another 1" to 1 1/2" if needed.

gjc71

I did not take out the oxygen sensor either. I am not sure why that was part of the procedure in the manual as the wires are plenty long or why you would need to actually take the oxygen sensors out. There may be a reason for this but I did not do that particular step. I did however unbolt the drivers side cat from the manifold which made things easier.
I think it is also worth mentioning that I bought the Dorman Manifold instead of the Ford part. When I checked for flat on the new manifold it was not. Thankfully I bought mine at a parts store that has a machine shop and they quickly flattened it for me. The parts guy said thats just the way that it is some come perfectly flat and others don't.
If I wouldn't have had to mess with the motor mount this would not have been that bad of a job. Probably 7 to 8 hours by myself. Two days with the motor mount problem.
Wow this ended up being a small book. Sorry about that. Hopefully this helps someone. I had to do a lot of searching around the internet and piecing things together for my year of vehicle. If you see something that I did wrong in my procedure please let me know. I am always eager to learn better ways of doing things.

10susan

oy vey! what an experience.. some good, some bad and like most vehicles they can have their individual quirks. And sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees and miss something simple. Surprised no one else didn't chime in on why your engine seemed to move back the 1/2". Changed the motor mounts and then a few months later the oil pan gasket on my 76 Bronco with out movement issues like you had. Just tight working spaces with headers etc.

Focstay

Spoke with a mechanic who said the ex. manifold gasket replacement labor and parts might even be up to $4000 if the engine has to be lifted and studs break off. I told him that was insanity. I'm retired and can't afford that but fumes are getting bad in the cab. I'm getting a second opinion.

techrep

iTrader: (1)

$800 is the average price ... $4000 you could have a motor removed and replaced.

Focstay

Yes, I flipped at that estimate. A second opinion and another mechanic

DarrinT04

Good choice

Moose02

that quote is insane that just says I'm a mechanic and don't want to do that job