Hey everyone im changing my headgasket and i need to move my manifold. However the bolts are stripped to the downpipe brace and i cant fit a wheel grinder in there. Are there any other ideas to taking it out..? I dont care if it gets broken, i wont use it on my turbo downpipe. Also, i can get the bottom Tranny bolt, but not the top one..

 

take the trans bolts out that hold it down and undo the downpipe from the cat and pull the whole thing out the top

 

I cut mine out with a sawzall

 

can a sawzall really cut through that, i guess that's my next step.

 

yeah. Get under it, and use a shorter blade.

 

im guessing you cut where the 2 bolts are? Really can't tell from the picture. Alrighty, now i've got a grin on my face heh. Also, any idea on how to take the head off once that's done? I have all the bolts off. Scott said to rock back and forth until the "seal" is broken.

 

What's left of the brace

 

Taking off a head is tricky sometimes. Just depends on the car. No good advice from me, I think (I can't recall anything anymore) I tapped it with a rubber hammer and nothing happened, but that might be completly wrong. It's not going to "shake" loose. It should just lift off nice n easy, but it probably wont. Good advice I know.

I think just applying slow, even pressure on one side lifting straight up ended up working.

I'd just listen to Scott.

 

thanks for the advice, i'll tackle it tomorrow.