dragon-ryder

I pulled a dumbass move...Tonight i've been reassembling my engine (12v) and i could have had it completely done in a few hours. I went and looked in my box of gaskets and goodies to see what to put on next. At the bottom of the box was one of the new exhaust manifold gaskets ( The heads are already reinstalled, torqued down, and the exhaust manifold was put on, but somehow i managed to completely forget to put on the new gasket. So right now it's competely assembled, with no exhaust manifold gasket on the driver's side... I hope to god that it's possible to remove without taking that head off again. Thanks for any help you can offer

JWG

I have heard taking the exhuast manifold off without taking the head off is a PITA. I have not done it myself, but I have heard that it can be done. One of the guys that told me about it said, that I would have an easier time removing the head to remove the exhaust manifold rather than just the exhaust manifold itself. If you have the fortitude, you may prevail. Good luck, and may the Force be you. Hopefully, Mance or Miktip or someone more experienced with such things will give you first-hand advice.

4Driver4

I've done head gaskets and fixed bent valves numerous times, and I've never changed that gasket. I've never seen a blown one either.

dragon-ryder

There is NO gasket in there at the moment. I just completely forgot to put the new one in when i was reassembling the engine.

CrazyCab

If you got new head bolts then don't pull the head off to get at the gasket. I am not so sure how it will slide in and out but I believe the only way to get the manifolds off without taking the head off is to remove the exhaust studs.

This will require a stud extractor and limited space. I am pretty sure that if you were to take the heads off again that you could re-use the gasket. It should be fine since no heat has been applied to it (but I would double check with another expert first).

dragon-ryder

I jacked the engine up about 1.5" which was just enough to get the exhaust manifold clear enough to slip the gasket in place. So that's all taken care of now, i'm currently just about done. Just finished putting the timing belt on, just need to finish the serpenting belt and put flush the fluids and i'll finally get to start it up )