Thread: I'm in trouble - exhaust issues

I tried installing the Plog and ceramic x-over today. Plog was easy enough, at first. I broke one of the bolts holding the x-over to the rear mani. Tried everything and couldn't get it out.

Put it back together with a slight exhaust leak to go to Autozone for stud removers. Come back and they don't work. I also broke both front bolts off in my new Plog. Talk about mad...

So now I have to take off the Plog, put my ****ty stock front mani back on. Guess what??? With the lightest pressure I seem to have stripped the opening of the exhaust stud hole closest to the passenger side.

I managed to tighten down the rest of the bolts, and the new Felpro gasket isn't letting it leak. I won't even elaborate how I broke my dipstick handle.

But, I do have an exhaust leak at the rear x-over to mani joint. The car is drivable, but it needs work. Not to mention my nice shiny new stainless Plog has two bolts broken off in it.

It's enough to make me never want to mod it again. Just sell the thing.

I've broke about 3 of those dipstick handles. $7 at your local dealer will fix you up.

Tell me, when you started this project did you buy new crossover bolts or did you try and reusing the original? If you tried reusing the original, thats probably you problem. I always recommend getting new bolts. I've known of SO MANY people breaking off crossover bolts it ain't funny. Any time i've pulled off mani's (about 3 times) I throw away the old bolts, install new ones and call it a day. I also install the new bolts with antiseeze too.

You may try buying new bolts and trying to extract those broken off bolts and retap everything. If that don't work, you may have to drill a bigger hole, tap new threads, and run a bigger bolt. It won't be easy, I hate extracting broken bolts, it pisses me off.

Good luck man...

Wow, I feel better about the dipstick. I was trying to push down on the handle to reseat the tube and it broke.

I did have two new bolts or the car wouldn't be drivable right now. I had none left when I was done. After consulting some friends who have had similar issues with their Imps, I think I'm going to do one of two things.

1.) Have the old bolts drilled out completely. Don't re-tap and run Grade 8 nuts, bolts, and washers so I never have the issue again.
2.) If #1 somehow fails, I'm probably going to have to take the rear mani off. If I'm going that far, I'm ordering a ported rear from ZZP so I don't even have to worry about the bolt anymore.

Still not sure what to do about the stud hole in the head.

Originally Posted by BlitzGT

Crossover bolts are notorious for breaking.

All the more reason to drill out all the holes and run my own nuts/bolts. Get away from this unreliable design.

Quick test and my Dremel and its heavy duty 426 wheel are cutting through the bolts like butter. So that will go easy. Now I just gotta find out what drill bit sizes I need.

This may go easier than I thought. Probably won't get to work on it all until Saturday, though.

I fixed it all up today.

Drilled out the stuck bolt. Took forever but eventually worked. I had already during the week removed the stuck bolts from the Plog with a EZ-Out.

Hole in the head that I though was stripped wasn't. With the manifold off I gently threaded the bolt and once it caught screwed it in half way. Then pulled it out and it works perfectly. Just had to chase the threads a bit.

I used my own bolts from the hardware store (stainless) and anti-seize to prevent this from happening anymore. Pics:









Love the Plog, and the ceramic coating on the x-over really does keep temps in that area of the engine bay quite a bit lower.

Originally Posted by BADAZGTP

Glad to see you got her all fixed. Feel any differance in performance?

Well, in low throttle ranges it feels a bit more peppy but nothing major. A friend who just replaced his ZZP front PEM (back before the Plog) with the Plog on his L36 Monte says he feels a lot of pull in the 4k+ range that wasn't there before.

Unfortunately with the knock issues I'm still seeing I'm cautious about any WOT runs yet. I think I know the problem (missing o-ring on IAC), but I've got to order one this week (o-ring can't be ordered separate).

I'll know then.

Edit: And my TB was terrible.

GET ER DONE haha

If you do, just name what you want for it.