Alright lads, about a week ago my car started making a loud ticking like noise, so I started to investigate, after poking around the site, and checking on the car, I confirmed it was coming from the exhaust manifold, a broken stud, as it seems common on these cars. So I ordered a replacement stud set, and a gasket, just waiting for it to get here. Figured I'd pull off the manifolds and get it ready so i could put it all back together in a day (hopefully). Well I'm stuck on the intake manifold.

It looks like there's 4 bolts on top that keep the intake manifold on,i've taken all of them off, but the thing won't budge. So i looked online for pictures of the manifold to see if there's any underneath, but from the picture (below) it doesn't look like there are. I'm following this guide: https://www.zdriver.com/forums/240z-...-gasket-18779/

and this thread: https://www.zdriver.com/forums/280zx...anifold-34480/

Mine has a turbo so there's a little more in the way, but so far i've been able to work around it. What am I missing here? Are there bolts on the bottom? Or studs? Something that's keeping the intake manifold on? or is it just stuck on there because it's 30 years old?

Thanks!
-Nick

 

Yeah the bottoms are shared with the exhaust manifold, the washers are half on intake mani, half on exhaust...

picy for reference


edit edit:

Shady step #16
16. Start to undo all 12mm bolts off of exhaust under to intake, do not undo the 2 end bolts on the ends of exhaust or the 3 center bolts, they do not need to be removed to remove intake. for this step use a wrench, long extension, mirror, flashlight, whatever it takes to get these nuts off.

 

Awesome! thank you Skully, i was able to get them all out with surprising ease. But now i'm stuck on the EGR lower tube. (Recommended by this thread: https://www.zdriver.com/forums/280zx...removal-25227/) I've got a torch, i've got WD-40, but I don't know which way to turn the nut.

If I am looking straight down at the intake manifold, do I turn the wrench clockwise, or counterclockwise to undo the lower EGR tube?

 

Clock-wise, if it is the nut I am thinking off you are removing. It will look like you are tightening it, but since it is upside down screwed under the EGR, it will loosen it. Righty tight, lefty loosy, unless upside down, then opposite lol.

I think you should throw a few bolts back into the manifold, so it doesn't move when you try to undo the EGR tube.

 

Thanks again Skully, I got it all off, alls left to do is get the last of the exhaust manifold off, and then wait for the parts to get here. Fun stuff.

 

Once everything is back together and after a few drive heat cycles, recheck / retorque the manifold nuts and bolts. They will be slightly loose. If you don't, you'll be doing the job again in a few thousand miles.

 

Thanks for the tip Nismo! will do...as soon as it works.

I put everything back together and it's still puffin air out the side of the manifold somewhere. So it's coming all off again.

 

Puffing air out?

Not sure what you mean by this... the intake manifold only sucks air in, and the exhaust manifold only outputs exhaust. I assume you mean it still has an exhaust leak? Did you cut the EGR tube? Weld closed or otherwise reinstall / cap? New gasket between turbocharger and exhaust manifold and turbocharger to downpipe?

 

i might have to take a video later so you can hear the sound, but essentially what's happening is when i start the car there is a definitive clicking/puffing noise. I've found that this noise is caused by air being forced out, what must be, the exhaust manifold. The noise goes away when i unplug the injector or the spark plug because it's no longer creating a gas. It's coming from the first cylinder (starting at the radiator side).

 

Well there is still a leak out of the exhaust, i'm wondering if it could be a crack in the actual manifold itself? is there any easy way to tell this? Or any other things I should be checking that might cause this leak?

 

Video....

And general area of the leak?

 

taking one tomorrow morning, I keep getting off work too late to have a chance to go take one, and I don't like to start it late at night because it has no muffler, don't want to wake up the neighbors.

From what I can feel, it's coming out of the first cylinder (starting at the radiator). It feels like it's coming out the side that faces the next cylinder, so it might be the second cylinder, not positive. I'm going to try and reach my hand in further to try and get to the source tomorrow, but it's a tight squeeze.

 

well I don't need to post a video anymore, I followed it to the source, and found out why replacing the manifold gasket didn't work...i'm in for a bigger adventure than I had planned. Time to remove the head...

Is all the torque information in the FSM when putting the head back on?

 

Ohoh!!! Yes it is all in there, make sure you go the right sequence when taking off the head bolts as well! It is reverse of putting it on, don't just undo them wherever. Have fun, there is a lot of writeups as well on how to do it, shouldn't be a big deal!

 

Ok, thanks Skully. I'll let you all know how it goes. I probably won't get to it for a week while i order the parts.

 

WHAT?! Am I looking at what I think I'm looking at? Your head gasket blew right out the side? I'm surprised you didn't have other symptoms... like no power, disappearing coolant, coolant exploding out the overflow, milky oil, steam cleaned spark plug, etc.

Next time do a compression check.

And I suggest going MLS head gasket and ARP head studs. Do it once, do it right.

 

yes sir right out the side. I stopped driving it once it started making the noise. I'm going to start the process today, wish me luck.

 

I am looking at the bolts shown in your photo. Didn't yours come
with studs installed? I don't like that setup at all. Way too easy to
strip the threads out of an aluminum head.

 

Do you mean studs like these guys?

 

There you go! Excellent.
I would also take the head to an auto machine
shop for a surface clean up cut.
If it were mine that is.