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hembramacho wrote: The cost of a new gasket might be cheaper than the labour needed to skim the original one anyway.
Andrew
, thats a no no Andrew, if its warped get it skimmed or you will be back to square 1, as the warped manifold will put pressure on your new studs and will shear those too eventually, figers crossed it isnt warped and you have caught it in time 
Ah! Becuase they are called studs, I'd assumed they were just lengths of steel, one half threaded one way to screw into the block, the other way the other way to take a nut, and that they stayed in the block while you simply removed the nuts that held the manifold in place. Thats how I recall studs on engines I worked on years back. Are they effectively just hex headed bolts then, that screw into the block to hold the manifold in place? If so I can see what you're saying (but still £3.50 each as you say!).hembramacho wrote:Fair point about them breaking but by replacing the gasket or sort the original one they would all have to come off anyway, broken or not. That price is for the gasket only - as far as I can see the manifold itself is fine.mikeonb4c wrote:You'd think not provided the old ones come out without breaking
Ar those prices for the manifold or just the gasket?
Andrew
Thanks Wayne.waycar8 wrote:hembramacho wrote: The cost of a new gasket might be cheaper than the labour needed to skim the original one anyway.
Andrew
Regards Wayne
Can you tell if the manifold is warped just by looking at it? It looked OK but I realise this doesn't necessarily mean it is OK.They are studs as you describe Mike - permanently in the HEAD (or until they come out!) and the manifold is secured to the studs by metalok nutsmikeonb4c wrote:Ah! Becuase they are called studs, I'd assumed they were just lengths of steel, one half threaded one way to screw into the block, the other way the other way to take a nut, and that they stayed in the block while you simply removed the nuts that held the manifold in place. Thats how I recall studs on engines I worked on years back. Are they effectively just hex headed bolts then, that screw into the block to hold the manifold in place? If so I can see what you're saying (but still £3.50 each as you say!).hembramacho wrote:Fair point about them breaking but by replacing the gasket or sort the original one they would all have to come off anyway, broken or not. That price is for the gasket only - as far as I can see the manifold itself is fine.mikeonb4c wrote:You'd think not provided the old ones come out without breaking
Ar those prices for the manifold or just the gasket?
Andrew
Does that mean you can replace the gasket without the need for taking all the studs out?dandywarhol wrote: They are studs as you describe Mike - permanently in the HEAD (or until they come out!) and the manifold is secured to the studs by metalok nuts
Thanks for that Mr M.mister munkey wrote:If I could live my life again . . . . .
I would absolutely change gasket & have manifold double checked for trueness & skimmed if ness.
Having to go through the whole shananigans twice in a month was just too much!
Tread carefully, don't rush it, it costs more in the long run.
Haven't done it (yethembramacho wrote:Does that mean you can replace the gasket without the need for taking all the studs out?dandywarhol wrote: They are studs as you describe Mike - permanently in the HEAD (or until they come out!) and the manifold is secured to the studs by metalok nuts
Andrew
) - but as they're all studs then you don't need to take them out. I've yet to know why it's always no.1 that fails though................... 
Fortunately I was able (very carefully!) to centre drill this and then it shifted very easily with an 'Easiout' thread extractor. Big sighs of relief, I can assure you.
Excellent post - I enjoyed thatRomney_YW wrote:Just to add a few pennies worth.....
hembramacho's photos clearly show something unusual. Notice the dark staining on the head next to the end of the exhaust manifold, below the oil filler - particularly noticeable in photo 2. There could be a number of causes for this, but it looks suspiciously like leaking exhaust fumes to me. My Bongo showed very similar staining. Along with the squealing noises - in my case most frequent when pulling away from stopped - I'd say definite leaking manifold gasket, and given the Bongo's reputation, likely broken exhaust stud.
Mine had sheared No1 stud (as shown in the photos) and the nut was quite clearly missing when I inspected it. I also had No8 sheared - not so easy to inspect because of the exhaust heat baffle, and also the head had not dropped off! It hadn't sheared right through - so I only found it when I put the spanner on it to remove the whole manifold in order to get the stud extractor on the broken stud at No1, when of course it just twisted off leaving the broken bit flush with the head.
I was able to get almost identical replacement studs at a local Land Rover spares shop (Land Rover Supermarket - http://www.lrparts.net/) - about £1.50 for 2 if I recall.
I put a steel straight-edge across the exhaust manifold and discovered that it was badly warped - possibly several mm from one end to the other. Not surprising the studs had snapped. Luckily for me, my brother has a decent workshop - so we mounted the manifold up and cautiously milled a little bit off it until the straight-edge showed it was flat again. A bit nerve-wracking but fortunately no major cost. I hope that my manifold has done all the warping it is going to, and will now remain flat in the future.
I seem to recall once reading something about leaving rough castings (outside?) for a while to let the stresses and strains dissipate before the machining is carried out. I guess if it isn't left long enough ....... Also an exhaust manifold has a pretty severe life - heating up to quite high temperatures, cooling down again, etc., etc. It's enough to drive any self-respecting casting round the bend ......
Oh, and while I had it all in bits, we made up a plug for the back of the manifold and dismantled the EGR valve which was showing signs of leaking fumes at the weld on the flange underneath the EGR valve itself.
The Bongo now shows a tidy turn of speed for a vehicle of its size.
Thanks for that.Romney_YW wrote:Just to add a few pennies worth.....
hembramacho's photos clearly show something unusual. Notice the dark staining on the head next to the end of the exhaust manifold, below the oil filler - particularly noticeable in photo 2. There could be a number of causes for this, but it looks suspiciously like leaking exhaust fumes to me. My Bongo showed very similar staining. Along with the squealing noises - in my case most frequent when pulling away from stopped - I'd say definite leaking manifold gasket, and given the Bongo's reputation, likely broken exhaust stud.
Mine had sheared No1 stud (as shown in the photos) and the nut was quite clearly missing when I inspected it. I also had No8 sheared - not so easy to inspect because of the exhaust heat baffle, and also the head had not dropped off! It hadn't sheared right through - so I only found it when I put the spanner on it to remove the whole manifold in order to get the stud extractor on the broken stud at No1, when of course it just twisted off leaving the broken bit flush with the head.
I was able to get almost identical replacement studs at a local Land Rover spares shop (Land Rover Supermarket - http://www.lrparts.net/) - about £1.50 for 2 if I recall.
I put a steel straight-edge across the exhaust manifold and discovered that it was badly warped - possibly several mm from one end to the other. Not surprising the studs had snapped. Luckily for me, my brother has a decent workshop - so we mounted the manifold up and cautiously milled a little bit off it until the straight-edge showed it was flat again. A bit nerve-wracking but fortunately no major cost. I hope that my manifold has done all the warping it is going to, and will now remain flat in the future.
I seem to recall once reading something about leaving rough castings (outside?) for a while to let the stresses and strains dissipate before the machining is carried out. I guess if it isn't left long enough ....... Also an exhaust manifold has a pretty severe life - heating up to quite high temperatures, cooling down again, etc., etc. It's enough to drive any self-respecting casting round the bend ......
Oh, and while I had it all in bits, we made up a plug for the back of the manifold and dismantled the EGR valve which was showing signs of leaking fumes at the weld on the flange underneath the EGR valve itself.
The Bongo now shows a tidy turn of speed for a vehicle of its size.
I'm also wondering if my starting up juddering issue could be caused by this also, although this seems to have been cured by fitting a non-return valve on the fuel filter. What would be nice is that after the bongo goes in to get this work done it runs like a dream! No worries. You may be new to Bongos, but you appear to be no stranger to common sense and resourcefullnessRomney_YW wrote:mikeonb4c - thanks for the praise. I try my best, but I'm still very much a Bongo beginner!
