I have a pretty bad exhaust leak coming from my drivers side header and need to take out the bolts and replace the crappy gasket with a nice new one. My problem is that the bolts are IMPOSSIBLE to get out, I went out and bought some new gear wrenches too and they don't fit because the bolts are too close to the header. HOW THE HELL DID THE GUY THAT INSTALLED MY HEADERS GET THE BOLTS IN AND OUT?? Thats all I need to know and I will be set, thanks for any input to help me out, take care.

 

We ground down the box end of a wrench to get access to some of my header bolts. It worked pretty well.

 

You need to make one of these.....


Just cut open the "closed" end of the wrench. For my header bolts, this 3/8 with 12pt was what fits for me.

Here's a close up of the money end:


Not only did I open the end, I had to bevel the edge to clear the header as well. The one bolt I had issues with was on the inside of a bend, so I had to trim down the end to fit inside.


It takes some time...but a disk grinder, Dremel, and file will get you there. Good luck...now if I could only clone this tool, in case I lose it.

 

What kind of bolts did you use? I got stainless ARP's, and they use a 5/16" head. No special ground down tool needed, just a regular box end. When you get them out, I would replace them with ARP's.

 

I have SLP shorties and the header bolts were from them as well. They're 12 point bolts, but I will take your suggestion about changing them if I ever take these out. The first time I had this problem, I was thinking that as well...why don't they just make this a hex head and be done with it. I think they're 12 pt, so the installer can really crank of them when installing. That doesn't do much good, since they loosen up after a while anyways.

 

The stainless ARP bolts I used are 3/8 x 1", with a 5/16 12 pt head. I only had issues with two bolts on the passenger side, but I managed to tighten them down wish shorter turns. I have already re-tightened my ARP bolts after a week. Like 4 of those were loose enough to unscrew by hand! I think it's all a matter of staying on top of tightening them down until the gasket is compressed enough so they don't back out.

 

It's easy. Put a wrench on them and turn it counterclockwise.

 

you have pacestter lt's and cant get it off? something sounds wrong. either the bolts stuck or you should probably just let someone else do it.

not to be a dick but getting a manifold bolt out with headers is nothing compared to stock manifolds.

 

I just use a regular combination Craftsmen wrench, I'm able to get to every bolt. Granted some of them are more easily accessed from the bottom and others from the top. Play around with it for awhile, you'll get the hang of it.