Torqueing 350 stock exh manifolds

I believe I have an exhaust leak on the left side of my 350 in my 68. I was going to re-torque the bolts, but it sure looks like a pain in the a$$ to get to all the bolts. I'll need to move the Accel coil off the fender, but it still looks like a tight fit down there. I also picked up a set of exhaust gaskets at NAPA. So, does anyone have any tips/tricks to make this job "relatively" easy, both re-torqueing and/or replacing the gaskets?

 

:ballavid :ball:
Sorry to say it but there is really no easy way to do either job.
If you try to retorque first, I suggest you invite a friend. This way you can have one above and one below. It's a tight squeeze but you should be able to reach all bolts.
If a gasket change is in order, I suggest you invite a friend and you both pray to the "Buick God" that the old gasket comes off easy and in whole pieces. Back all the bolts out about halfway,
pull the manifold away from the head, and then carefully pry the gaskets off with a narrow and thin scraper or spackle knife.
If all works well, you and friend can do the touchdown dance, drop the new gaskets in, and retorque again.
Best of luck!

 

I'm not sure on theese cars (because I haven't needed to yet), but sometimes you can pull the front tires and access the bolts thru there.

 

Thanks for the suggestions...I'm definitely going to try to re-torque first.

 

exhausting work

I believe going through the wheelwell is a good option, but I'm not certain it's going to help a great deal. There's one on the bottom which is a true s.o.b., no easy way. You might gain a bit of room if you unbolt the engine mount and "cheat" the engine up just a bit. I just took my header off, there's no easy way. BTW, if you find you've got a cracked manifold, I've got a spare set if you find you need one.

 

i can get at all the bolts from the top except for the middle bottom, which are nigh to impossible, and the bottom back ones, which are easily accessed by laying under the car behind the wheel and reaching up past the pipes.

 

Thanks for all the words of encouragement...

 

I just finished replacing the exhaust manifolds on my '69 lesabre. Those castings were thin from the factory and crack easily, mine only has 34,700 miles. When the y-pipe was replaced 5 years ago(27,557 miles) the castings cracked when the pipes were bolted to the manifolds.
I think I did it the easiest way. I pulled the engine. At that point you'll find out that the engine mounts look like they could be replaced...ect,ect,ect...
Make sure your manifolds are decent(i.e. no cracks/flaws) if so, and you want to stay with manifolds, look for castings that are '72 and newer. I know Buick had beefed them up by this time.

Good Luck!!

Matt Gartman

'69 Lesabre 400

 

not sure if you have finished yet, but the way i solved my leaky exhaust manifold problem was that i used two sets of gaskets from fel-pro and just doubled them up. worked like charm. no leaks at all.

 

Well, I'm not going to "attack" this issue any time real soon... what I did do is put a box end wrench on the front couple of bolts, and they were not very tight, especially the lower bolt. Cranked em' down a bit, and we'll see if that has any effect.