I am taking off the stock manifolds and damn the boltas are hard to take off. They are hard till they come out. Has anyone else had this problem or is it just me. I dont want to strip the heads. Thanks for any feedback

 

You did spray them with some penetrant such as "PB Blaster" before attempting to take the manifolds off right?

If not douche them down and try again. Also if you don't have air tools, get you a 3/4" or 1/2" drive breaker bar. with an adapter to a 3/8" drive so you can get some leverage on the bolts.

Torque them to spec upon install. I use a dab of threadlock on each bolt (blue type) to prevent header leaks...hasn't failed me once.

 

Hey man yes they are a b$#ch. I got some www.stage8.com locking header bolts from Nitro Daves performance (an LS1tech sponsor). They are grade 8 stainless steel and are guaranteed not to break. I have heard of stock bolts breaking off in the head. They come with locking fasteners, but I mainly got them because they are the strongest. The bolts were like 25 bucks plus tax.

 

dude, my header bolts came out easy..

i did it while the heads were still hot though so maybe that helped.. ?

 

Thanks for the replies. I took the stock manifolds off and now the JBA's are in it mad the truck sound deaper. Took about 4 hours but I did slice my finger on those dam headers gaskets. Thanks again