S3 N/a Exhaust Manifold Removal

[82s3]

My exhaust manifold has cracked and I plan to replace it with a stainless steel tubular job from SJ.

The timing belt is also due for renewal and I was thinking that I may as well go the whole hog and pull the head and get it gas flowed, etc. as well as renewing the water pump.

My question is, can the head be removed (with the engine installed), with the manifold attached, or do you have to go endure the aggro of removing the manifold first?

[fenton]

This is basically the scenario i was faced with.

I chose to pull the engine. Trust me when you get to have a good look at that exhaust manifold you'll take the engine out. The nuts are hard enough to get at with the engine on a stand. Doing the belt and water pump in situ are also not pleasant.

go on pull it out !!!!!!!!!!! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TOO

[82s3]

Nooooooo, I really don't want to pull the motor out!!

Anyone else got any views on whether it's possible to pull the head of with the exhaust manifold attached?

[silverfrost]

Hi, The answer is yes the head can be pulled with the manifold attached

I have done mine when i did the headgasket a while back,

regards danny :yes

[molemot]

Save yourself a lot of problems, heartache, chestache (wait untill you've laid on all those spiky bits for hours!), inaccessibilty, invisibility etc.etc. and pull the engine out..it really is far easier that way, working on the engine in situ is a job for a gynaecologist, not an engineer. If you don't, you'll wish you had!! Best of luck!!

[iainskea]

I vote for the engine-out plan - for the same reasons above (Lotus praying it's called 'round here ), and cos you will most likely sheer off a nut/stud anyway. Might as well have good access to fix it!

Iain

ps. note the safety boots...

[PVK 596Y]

I agree. save your sanity and pull the engine/transmission as a unit. Its not that difficult.

I even managed to get the hatch off and on by myself with a bit of care and forethought. I found that if you remove the alternator, you only have to rotate the engine a few degrees in the horizonal plane to lift it out of the car.

Once it was out, some of the manifold nuts were so corroded, I had to cut up the manifold to give sufficient access to get a good grip on them. This would have been completely impossible with the engine in the car. This was on a six year old N/A S3 that had done less than 30k miles too.

Unless the clutch is recent, consider changing that whilst the engine is out. I didn't change mine, and had to pull the transmission a couple of months later to change the clutch. I was not amused !!

Paul.

[fenton]

Just finished getting my manifold off. Its been a week of soaking with penetrating fluid, undoing a little, chiseling a little, heating a little and swearing a lot. I still managed to snap two but i managed to get them out with mole grips and heat via blow torch.

[82s3]

Many thanks for coming back to me guys; ... I'm gonna think about it a while longer.

It seems as though the head can be removed with the manifold attached (thanks Danny) and I am tempted to do that not least because I just know that if I pull the whole lump out, ... I won't be able to resist pulling it to pieces, whether it needs it or not (which it doesn't)!

[PVK 596Y]

If you take it out, you'll also be able to give it a good clean.

You'll be glad you did everytime you have to do some work in the future.

Paul.

[86esprits3]

The only way I know of removing the head, is lifting the engine out slightly back and rotate toward left side and twisting it so everything will clear. Good luck. My manifold was loose, and I decided to take the whole thing out in March-it will hit the road next month. I dont work on it every day.

[jetace25]

Hello,

Removing the manifold easily depends on how corroded the nuts are. I got my S3 manifold off in 2 hours but that was thanks to a previous owner who'd used brass nuts. If you don't fancy the stainless four pipe manifold South West Lotus do a standard design one made of a stronger Spherodine Graphite and it's less expensive than the original.

http://www.lotusespritworld.com/EGuides/EM...e/manifold.html

(See bottom of the page)

Best wishes,

Si

[doynk2]

Got mine off by removing the engine surround . . . . which wasnt fun but the engine was in the car. it is possible and if you cant face the terror of pulling the engine out, its possible - helps if you remove the cam covers and cams too. forgot to mention.

[Splashout]

If you are planning on doing anything other than head work the I would suggest pulling the whole lot.

However if you are confident that nothing else will need doing then go for it and pull the head and manifold together.

I have done it both ways on mine and the head was not that difficult to get out with a sodding great turbo hanging off the manifold as well.

If there is even an incling you may want to look at something else eg waterpump then pull the lot and be done with it.

Glyn

[bigsi]

pull the lot, get it cleaned up, check it all ver inc all the connections etc, with everything ut it becomes clearer and yu will thank yourself for it in the long run, i promise you when its all out the urge to clean and make it shiny will take hold, and youwill not beable to resist

[fenton]

I just ordered stainless studs from JAE in US. So Jeff told me there really good and screw in by allen key and only

[hilly]

Hi Shane

I get all my nut/bolt supplies from a company called Apex fasteners in Slough.

They have pretty much every nut/bolt/washer you can think of, will sell you any quantity you ask for (from 1 to thousands) and are always very helpful.

They don't have a web site, but their contact details are Apex Fasteners Clicky

Your other option is RS, but you will need to by 50 at a time which is a bit overkill for you.

You will however need to find out what grade Stainless the studs are made from as you need to get compatable nuts.

Hilly