I was having problems with an exhaust leak and found that i was missing a bolt in my exhaust manifold on the driver side furthest back closest to the steering wheel. I did a search and found the correct size for this bolt and went ahead and bought one. The problem is that the bolt will not fit, I cant even get it to grab into the hole. I even went ahead and took one off of the front of the manifold to relocate to the back and that one would not even fit. Is there a different size for the bolt on the rear of the manifold, or could it be that this bolt just needs to be broken in to grab? Can someone plz help this exhaust leak is driving me crazy. I am almost about to consider buying headers.

 

does it go in the hole most of the way?


it is likely that the old bolt is broken off in the head

 

I second the old bolt likely being broken in the head, this is especially common on the b-bodies.
Plus side is that bolthole is not used by headers, headers use the one closest to the port so this is a good excuse to do headers.

 

ok, looks like im buying new headers. but, is it ok to drive my car with the exhaust leak while im waiting for headers? my firebird is my only car I dont really want to borrow my moms camry.

 

If there is a broken bolt in the cylinder head, headers aren't going to solve that problem. It will be very difficult to extract a broken bolt from the head with the head still inside the car. It seems to be a pretty common problem though, good luck to you.

 

when I put on my headers, the one bolt furthest back on the drivers side was broken in two but finger tight and the next one forward was finger tight and flopped right out.

 

actually, if it is one of the end manifold bolts, yes, headers will solve it, since headers don't use the same end holes as the manifolds

 

correct, with headers, the last thread in the head is not used.

 

I have noticed some headers use 6 bolts and some use 8 which is a good set that uses only 6 so i can skip my broken bolt?