- Joined
- Dec 3, 2018
- Points
- 89
- Location
- The English Riviera - Torquay
- Model of Z
- 2.2 sport Individual Estoril
SWMBO has been advising me over the last week or so, that her exhaust seems to be blowing a bit. So yesterday I relented and had a look.
The leak was the manifold to exhaust joints, both of them, the nuts have disappeared on one stud each, lucky for me it is the most accessible on both flanges.
The upper nuts are still holding, so I have left them in place for now. My plan of action was, cut off the offending studs as close to the manifold flange as possible, then drill through the remaining stud, as it seems they are a bit of a bugger to knock out, then stick a bolt through and tighten up with a nut on the other side.
This will seal it up, hopefully, until a proper repair can be carried out. This being a new flange welded in place on the exhaust and the manifold studs removed properly.
So that was the plan.
The studs cut off ok, I used the angle grinder with a very thin disc on it.
The drilling of the remaining stud was another matter, normal, run of the mill 'jobber' drills just bounce off, you would think that getting hot and being allowed to cool would anneal them, but it seems the opposite is the case.
I got a good pilot hole through using some very hard and sharp drills used in the aerospace industry, but I only had up to 4mm, so I ruined a few HSS drills and lost a bit of sweat opening them up to 8mm, and thus removing the stud. My theory is the studs are made from recycled Samurai swords, or meteorites! They took 2 hours each!
I then knocked a screwdriver into the gap to open the joint to allow me to squidge some RTV silicone in between, I then fit a bolt through from the manifold side, then fit a thick washer and nut, and tightened it up.
It appears a success, I will get some gaskets ordered, and use one of these as a pattern to make a couple of new flanges for the exhaust, then I'll finish the job properly, I must see my mate about scrounging some of the decent drills he uses at work.....
The leak was the manifold to exhaust joints, both of them, the nuts have disappeared on one stud each, lucky for me it is the most accessible on both flanges.
The upper nuts are still holding, so I have left them in place for now. My plan of action was, cut off the offending studs as close to the manifold flange as possible, then drill through the remaining stud, as it seems they are a bit of a bugger to knock out, then stick a bolt through and tighten up with a nut on the other side.
This will seal it up, hopefully, until a proper repair can be carried out. This being a new flange welded in place on the exhaust and the manifold studs removed properly.
So that was the plan.
The studs cut off ok, I used the angle grinder with a very thin disc on it.
The drilling of the remaining stud was another matter, normal, run of the mill 'jobber' drills just bounce off, you would think that getting hot and being allowed to cool would anneal them, but it seems the opposite is the case.
I got a good pilot hole through using some very hard and sharp drills used in the aerospace industry, but I only had up to 4mm, so I ruined a few HSS drills and lost a bit of sweat opening them up to 8mm, and thus removing the stud. My theory is the studs are made from recycled Samurai swords, or meteorites! They took 2 hours each!
I then knocked a screwdriver into the gap to open the joint to allow me to squidge some RTV silicone in between, I then fit a bolt through from the manifold side, then fit a thick washer and nut, and tightened it up.
It appears a success, I will get some gaskets ordered, and use one of these as a pattern to make a couple of new flanges for the exhaust, then I'll finish the job properly, I must see my mate about scrounging some of the decent drills he uses at work.....