mr2nique

For the love of cod,
please tell me there is a secret here. I am disassembling the motor and avoiding removing the turbo exhaust manifold as I know to be a Royal PITA.
Well, it looks like I need to do it.

Does anyone have advice or a magical tool they can recommend?

This is for a Flyin Miata turbo kit, so their turbo exhaust manifold (see image below for reference, it is just below the intercooler in that pic).

The 8 to 12 different 14mm nuts keeping it connected to the engine are just so hard to get to as they are tucked in. I don't believe any socket could fit. I can only see a crescent wrench fitting and even then it is very hard. A crescent is sure to strip them (I can see one nut starting to strip so I stopped).
Is there a magical tool or wizardry advice that can save me from this perilous situation?

irollgen4s

a Map gas torch, penetrating oil, a deadblow and patience.

A donor open end wrench and a bench grinder to grind it to fit the various places is also very helpful. Both narrower as well as thinner without compromising the strength of the teeth of the open end.

heat stuck nut, spray penetrating oil, repeat x2(or until it works), put open end wrench securely on nut(grind where necessary) and tap with the dead blow to loosen(not bash, tap). If you find great resistance where it feels it may strip or break, tighten again, then loosen some more, then tighten again, loosen again; so on so forth.

This method has quite literally always worked for me.

On some of the nuts you may get lucky and be able to fit an 6 point socket with a ratchet. In my experience the nuts tend to stick to the studs and the entire stud comes out.

DNMakinson

iTrader: (3)

Box Wrench, If can get between end of stud and manifold for the center nut. Else, a Tube Wrench, which is like most of a box wrench.



EDIT: Then, for exhaust and turbine bolts, I use Nickel based Anti-sieze to allow for easier undoing in the future. Your Ford dealer has it for use on 5.4L spark plugs.

andyfloyd

Ive never had an issue pulling the manifold. You should be able to get to all the bolts with a 14mm socket with a swivel and a 14mm wrench. Ive pulled my turbo manifold more times than i can count youll be fine. FM designed their kit to be fairly easy to service.

mr2nique

SOLVED:
No sockets can fit on any of the nuts beyond the far corners.
However, my neighbor has the best wrench for the job. It is an offset box wrench (pic below).
With your great advice, I soaked them in PB Blaster (penetration oil) the night before. Not sure that did much, but it was worth a shot.
I then used a propane torch to get the nuts super hot prior to working on each one.
I then got this offset wrench on it and extended the leverage 4 feet with the handle of my jack. Some would move by hand and some required a few hits from the deadblow hammer.

With that, I succeeded on 8 of the 9 nuts. One looked to be previously a bit rounded and it wouldn't budge. Sadly, there is always one :(
I had to go at it with a Dremel tool and cut the nut out. That sucked, but at least it is out and will get a new bolt when it's time to go back in.

Thank you ALL so much for the advice. It was super helpful