7 months between updates is ok right? Well thats what happened. I can make all the usual excuses of life, busy, aliens but really its been lack of motivation and passion for nearly anything with an engine. I think Ive been burned out for quite a bit on these projects and have taken a 7 month hiatus to regroup. Yesterday I decided to give the garage a real good clean up and at the end of it the passion seemed to ignite a tiny bit so I took the opportunity to get a few jobs done.
The exhaust manifold and new studs have been sitting on my bench since I got them back in January and have just been moved from place to place but never made it to the car. I started out just pulling the studs from the head telling myself "if we just do this then thats fine". Pulled them all out and ended up progressing to installing the new ones in the head and the manifold. Took my time and it took about an hour and a half to do the job but I worked slowly ensuring to clean out the threads with a tap set and painted on anti seize to each stud before it went in.
It turns out that when I built this motor way back in 2015 I was probably in a huge rush as well as inexperienced and installed whatever studs I had laying around. Ive always had problems with the manifold sealing and this is probably why. They are not only different lengths but different types with the thread size and pitch being the only thing common between them. Last year I ordered new studs from IPD along with the dome washers and copper lock nuts. The manifold had to be machined flat due to it warping and pulling out the studs from the head which is why I had to tap each hole to make sure the new studs had a good home to go to.
Anyway, it was kind of refreshing to be working on the car again with a new relaxed perspective that doesnt revolve around getting maximum gain from minimal time. I only did a trivial task such as replacing exhaust studs and usually that would bum me out, but just being out in the garage working on the car felt good. Anyway here are some photos.