Thank god I have not cracked a valve yet that I know of! This thing just throws it's exhaust bolts out all the time. I had to fix it because it was all stripped out so I used bolts instead of studs and that stripped finally. On one side I used a 7/16ths tap to tap out the hole and used a 7/16ths stud in place of the original. It held pretty well and I am doing the same for the other side and hopefully that will hold. I am a little concerend though because I have noted that both holes are completely stripped out of the head and it would have to be heli-coiled to fix it properly. Is it enough to have the inside of the bolted on manifold peice threaded and have the studs screwed into?

 

PS I am DIRT POOR and I am trying to get another month or two out of this car (I run a motorized newspaper route). It gets great mileage and the engine seems good, but everything else is falling apart. I have actually had to use exhaust goop on the inside of a tin can (both ends cut out and slit up the side) and clamp the thing down to hold the two halves of the exhaust pipe in place together. I simply cannot afford a new CAT and the parts cars I have have been so raided for wheels and steering knuckles that they are sitting on the ground now and thats probably very bad for the exhaust systems.

I have the same deal with mine. The exhaust had been on and off so many times that the threads had stripped out and one of the drivers side studs just fell out. So i did the same thing you did and tapped the hole and put a bolt in it. I did this over the summer and it still holding. I will eventually have to do something more permanant but i dont have the time right now. Yours should hold for awhile that way but its not nearly as strong as the original.

Is there extra vibration on the left side due to a worn motormount or something like that?

you should put helicoils in your heads to replace the old studs. A bolt is not the best choice for some reason I can't recall right now, something about making it easier to ruin the head if the exhaust takes a hit, I think? not sure.

Well what I've done is tapped both manifolds to fit 7/16ths/14 so it now has studs on both sides with matching nuts and lock washers. Let's hope it holds.....As for my motor mount I see no visible issue but that doesnt mean much considering you have to be very careful where to employ a jack under this car as it's lived in WA a while and is badly rusted.