SilentBounty

Well I'm trying to do the dang head gasket job on the 3.0 V6 because it started pissing exhaust fumes into the radiator. I've made it down to the heads, I'm so close to getting those puppies off and to the machine shop! But all That's left before I can take the head bolts out is the friggle-diggin' stupid exhaust manifold and crossover I've managed to get all the nuts off the driver side manifold, the driver side crossover to the manifold, the passenger side crossover, but the last 4 studs (top and bottom) on the passenger side? They laugh at me...a lot... I tried searching the forum but couldn't find anything as far as some tricks that worked. I may need more guidance too because this is my first head job. I bought the flex head ratchet with the bent handle some have recommended but I still can't touch those nuts (No pun intended ) Thanks for your help, guys!

shadowbirdie

WD or some other penetrating oil, coke syrup(classic) used to work in the old days early 70's when I was driving $500 American ˟˟˟˟boxs back near the new england coast, putting a couple nuts locked on to protect the threads, tapping with a small sledge and trying over a couple few days until they finally came lose, or snapped off.
Once that resulted in buying a new car.
Then there's heating them carefully with a torch, with the resultant danger of fire.. Nothing but Toyota since crossing the Mississippi in 85 4 cylinder 22 blocks is all I do, never had to pull a head so far

Good Luck J

SilentBounty

They have been beaten with a hammer and subsequently soaked in PB Blaster haha. Maybe tomorrow the Toyota Gods will permit my access to their manifolds.
EDIT: Also, it may be worth noting that the ones I haven't got off I pretty much cant GET to. I think I could possibly break them loose but I just can't find the right way to get on them. Already rounded one off and I'm not sure how to fix that

lonfu

PB Blaster is the way to go, soak them, wait a day and then try them, soak them again, wait a day and so on. Took me 8 days to get all the ones off my 454, but...... I didn't break a one and they were severely rusted on. PB Blaster is the way to go!

SilentBounty

Yea it's been three days to get the ones I've already got off. I didn't use Pb blaster on those because I was fresh out now that I have some, I can't even get the can to some of the nuts to spray them! I had to spray and pray haha. I'll resume work this evening just to see if they cone off. If they don't, they'll get another bath!

oldblue

if you have all the crossover bolts and all the driver side manifold bolts out, I'd pull the crossover and driver side exhaust manifold off and pull that head off. then pull the passenger side head off with the manifold still on it.

HappyCamper

i snapped one clean off before. my father's a retired mechanic and he told me (unfortunately too late!) that he used to heat them up to red hot using a torch because the old bolts get seized.

in other cases, i've had success with old bolts by adding WD40 and getting a wrench on there daily; i prefer using the closed end of the wrench as it has more points of contact.

SilentBounty

Thanks for the help guys! I managed to get them off! The overnight pb blaster had to have helped a lot! But to get some of them off I had to use the ol' "Stick every 3 inch extension you can find together on the longest one you have and put the whole assembly on an impact/air ratchet" trick to get them all off. Except the top passenger side crossover bolt, it came off with a ratchet. The drivers side downpipe nuts were accessed via the access hole in the fender well with an air ratchet. The passenger side manifold bottoms were reached the same way except with the aforementioned "trick"