Removing Exhaust Pipes from the M30 - Exhaust Manifolds

[TGreene]

I spent all day waiting on parts, so I figured I would take a video of the exhaust manifolds and front pipes, show how they fit together, and how they can be a pain to anyone dropping the exhaust in thier E34 535i.

On a side note, do yall think my broken exhaust manifold will have a chance at holding that stud in? I have two spaire exhaust manifolds and a new exhaust manifold gasket + 6 new nuts that hold the exhaust manifold to the engine, but it looks like replacing the exhaust manifold is something I want to avoid.

YouTube

YouTube

Mods, feel free to move this to the DIY section, but I thought people would have a better chance of finding it in search in the main section.

[stoney85]

I had a similar problem when doing the headgasket on my M30, i snapped the rear two exhaust manifold studs, well snapped one, and didn't try removing the other without snapping it

So what i did to remedy this was drill out the rest of the M8 studs with the plan of tapping the manifolds again to fit new studs, in the end i retapped the manifolds to an M10 x 1.5 and fitted normal exhaust manifold studs and nuts to it, so no more spring setup

Held up fine so far over the last 1,500kms

[Racerhoze]

I am glad my car lived in Texas for its entire life. Is your exhaust painted? Mine isn't black like yours... it is rusty and crummy looking.

[TGreene]

I don't think they were ever painted. The front pipes in the video are from a parts car, and I don't know where it spent its life, but they look the same as the ones that came off of my car that has spent its entire life in Northern VA.

Originally Posted by stoney85

I had a similar problem when doing the headgasket on my M30, i snapped the rear two exhaust manifold studs, well snapped one, and didn't try removing the other without snapping it

So what i did to remedy this was drill out the rest of the M8 studs with the plan of tapping the manifolds again to fit new studs, in the end i retapped the manifolds to an M10 x 1.5 and fitted normal exhaust manifold studs and nuts to it, so no more spring setup

Held up fine so far over the last 1,500kms

I am not with my car or the parts, but from your post it sounds like you can't just pull the studs up and out of the exhaust manifold and replace them with new ones if the studs break?

Can anyone give their experience with replacing exhaust manifolds/gaskets? How much work am I looking at if I have to replace that broken manifold, and what parts might break if I am not careful/lucky?

[BavariaE34]

Originally Posted by TGreene

I spent all day waiting on parts, so I figured I would take a video of the exhaust manifolds and front pipes, show how they fit together, and how they can be a pain to anyone dropping the exhaust in thier E34 535i.

On a side note, do yall think my broken exhaust manifold will have a chance at holding that stud in? I have two spaire exhaust manifolds and a new exhaust manifold gasket + 6 new nuts that hold the exhaust manifold to the engine, but it looks like replacing the exhaust manifold is something I want to avoid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QNhBt_vS8U

Mods, feel free to move this to the DIY section, but I thought people would have a better chance of finding it in search in the main section.

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[ross1]

If you change the manifolds more often than not the studs will pull out of the head and not cause any grief. Replacing them with new hardware is the painless way.

[Binjammin]

Originally Posted by TGreene

I don't think they were ever painted. The front pipes in the video are from a parts car, and I don't know where it spent its life, but they look the same as the ones that came off of my car that has spent its entire life in Northern VA.



I am not with my car or the parts, but from your post it sounds like you can't just pull the studs up and out of the exhaust manifold and replace them with new ones if the studs break?

Can anyone give their experience with replacing exhaust manifolds/gaskets? How much work am I looking at if I have to replace that broken manifold, and what parts might break if I am not careful/lucky?

That manifold that has the loose bolt in it? Yeah, that thing's been replaced at some point. It's likely that the original one broke off like described, the manifold was drilled out, and a long bolt was inserted through the stud hole.

[TGreene]

Originally Posted by Binjammin

That manifold that has the loose bolt in it? Yeah, that thing's been replaced at some point. It's likely that the original one broke off like described, the manifold was drilled out, and a long bolt was inserted through the stud hole.

So if the stud/bolt is a bit loose and can wiggle around in the exhaust manifold, it is not the original? If that is correct, I guess that would explain my confusion of why it was called a stud, and not a bolt.

[ILoveMPower]

Yeah I snapped every god damn bolt removing mine, fun stuff for sure.

[5senses]

hey hey hey... try doing this without a floor creeper, no power tools, and a fubar guibo and centerbearing... pic..



to get the manifold off i carefully removed all 6 bolts (after hosing them with PB)holding the manifold without stripping them but the manifold gasket was fubar...so i went to pull apart and got a used 1 for the time being... now to get the stud out of the manifold and a new 1 inserted i found a local shop to r/r for $25

[TGreene]

Yeah, I went back and watched this video again and see that I made some mistakes that need to be cleared up via editing so that I do not mislead people and do more harm than good. I said people would need to hold the bolt still to loosen the nut, but like Ben said, that was because my stud had already been broken off by whoever worked on it last. I don't want people searching for a bolt head to be sticking up when theirs will not have one.

[yorkermiles]

I am glad I found this post and I can add more to it really because any poor bugger who is about to try this for the first time is in for a day of grief.
When I got my manifolds of,every single manifold stud had snapped whilst I tried to undo the nuts and I was left with these broken studs sticking out.
I can tell you now that I tried a:
Stud extractor socket device which just snapped the bolts,
more penetrative oil and that made no difference,
Did get a stud extractor drill in slightly but that snapped and boy thats when I knew I was in it...
I tried drilling them out and after spending all day just to get through one and also broke a good 5/6 drills,I decided this was a job for the local garage.
(some chap mentioned he was able to drill them out and I would love to know what drills he used because even my cobalt drills just spun around doing nothing).
Took them to the garage and he charged me £60.00 to get 3 out.
I asked how he did it and he said they initially drilled through one with a hardened drill and inserted the stud extractor drill bit which some call the "easy" something or rather and this would not budge them so they got the mig welder and attached a length of metal as leverage and that did the trick,so I was able to use 3 of the original threads.
I would say to anyone who is going to attempt this that you are very likely going to need some top notch equipment to get these mothers off and as the studs are hardened steel and the manifolds are cast iron then over time with the heat they just stick to one another like they are complete and it takes a skilled individual to get these off.
I say take it to the garage because if you are not able to get under the car as in it being raised, or in a mechanics pit then you really have to struggle to get to these parts and I had to take off at least 3 aluminium heat shields just to be able to get my arms in.
Good luck,it is worth and i got to paint the manifolds up out of that horrible rust colouring into a groovy but tidy black.

ALSO TRY HEATING THE MANIFOLDS UP WITH A GAS TORCH AND THEN USE A SOCKET STUD REMOVER

[zubbie]

They all do it. You have 2 choices.

1. Drill them out and use a bigger bolt right through. As stated drilling is a PIA without the right bits and a drill press / drill vise.

2. Take em to a machine shop and have them drill, retap and insert new studs for @ $20 each hole (plus the cost of the stud).

The decision was easy for me.

[5senses]

What an M30 issue... I enjoyed learning this as it comes with ownership.

[TGreene]

I would say just to get your hands on a used exhaust manifold or two and the corresponding gaskets ($9 each).

I think it would be safer to spend the money in advance and have those parts at the ready. If you don't need them, you can save them for next time. If you do need them, you may end up saving some money depending on how cheap you found the used manifolds (usually very easy, since they are not commonly sought after parts, and there are tons of 535i parts cars), and save a lot of time.

I was tightening the spring loaded nuts down there one afternoon because I thought they were loose, and one of the studs snapped. If I had not thought ahead, and had an spare exhaust manifold and gasket ready, I would have missed a few days of work. I spent the $40 up front, and saved hundreds.