Club 80-90 Forums

Looking for help and advice re; pitfalls on repacing blowy exhaust.

The van is a t25 with 1915DG engine reg 01-01-85. I have the full kit from JK waiting to go in this weekend and want to know what problems I may come across if any ??

I am not mechanicaly minded so please not to strong on thre techie talk lol. I do have the use of a ramp so no problems getting the van in the air.

ANY advice will be very welcome.

Phredd

get lots of plusgas (or WD40 if you must) and coat all the bolts and nuts a few times before you do the job - best done the night before at least.

Watch out for botls/studs snapping

Can only second what Louey has said.
Loads of plus gas.
I tried to change the exhaust and ended up rebuilding the engine

Plus gas all bolts a few times before starting, waiting for it to soak in.

Start by slackening each bolt less than a quarter of a turn ( it's called "cracking them" in the trade) whilst the system is still warm, then remove by undoing half a turn and then doing it up again, then a whole turn and back again etc. ( if you see what I mean )

Use decent quality sockets, not any old worn out spanner, makes a big difference.

If you do shear off a bolt, it's not good.
But there is a rescue plan for that, on the wiki bit of this forum.
Take your time and if you get frustrated, stop and have a cup of tea and a ciggy ( it's ok if you don't smoke ciggies, you probably will want to start after an hour of working on it !!!! )

When doing mine recently I found that the 4 bolts into the cylinder heads that I used a socket on sheared the heads off. (then had to drill out two of those as the stud extractor sheared them off flush ). The four that I used a spanner on; I tapped the spanner with a hammer to break them free ('cause I'm a ten stone weakling) and none of them sheared. Make of that what you will.

All had a twice daily spray with WD40 for a couple of days before-hand.

Mike.

I'm in the process of doing this now, I used plus gas on all main bolts and none of them sheared, I am however at a halt in the proceedings after getting rust in my eye ( nearly better now ) and I was wearing safety glasses not goggles ( i'll wear goggles next time).

I have also covered the whole exhaust system in a temperature proof zinc spray as the paint on the replacement system was barely adequate. I'm using some stainless steel bolts to put it back together and keeping it all well lubricated so the new bolts won't rust.

Being bone idle I don't want to do this too many times, I would have gone for a stainless system but funds wouldn't allow

@ scooterdoc

Best not to use oil or grease on the bolts as they get that hot it will carbonise and likely make it worse than if you hadn't bothered.

I use copperslip allot, but actually I am not sure if that is exhaust heat proof ? - off for a Google on it

It's copper slip I was going to use, I was watching a Jag mechanic the other day take the manifold off a car that was being scrapped, they came off really easily, and he said that he'd fitted it about tem years ago, and used copper slip

Well I have now read all the advice given and feel a bit more confident now. Could no get plus gas so it had to be WD40. just hope it helps.

The van is over to the garage this afternoon so I will let you know how things go. The only thing I am dreading is a snapped stud at the engine end.

Thanks to all. Just one thing I need now "luck" lol

Phredd

Bit late, but for future reference, Parafin and Diesel fuel work well as releasing agents.

I've just finished putting mine back on, piece of cake although some fun was had with the silencer brackets

No blows, and quiet as a mouse ( except for the clattering tappet which is next on the hit list)

Well I think it is about time I brought this to a close.

Firstly thanks to all who passed on advice, hints and the know-how. I am gratefull to you all.

The intention was to replace the complete system but it was not meant to be. The nearside only was replaced. If it was likely to happen , it did.
Two cylinderhead bolts sheared so off came the head. The head was sent away to have the studs removed (£20) took four days before it came back.

It was noticed that a water jacket plug (core plug) was leaking so this was replaced at the same time (more waiting for parts).

The off-side exhaust will have to wait untill it blows as I can not afford the time or expence to replace it now.

The good point from all this is that the van is a quiet as a mouse, so the wife thinks.

Once again thanks to all.

Fred

ps:- now saving up for a good recon engine lol