I'm doing a header install tomorrow, so today i went out and sprayed most of the manifold bolts and the y-pipe to manifold bolts with pb blaster. The problem is i could only find 1 bolt on the passenger side. I couldnt see them enough to spray them. Without having to uninstall the altenator tonight and serpentine belt, what are some techniques you guys used inorder to spray all the bolts down. And after spraying them, is it ok for me to drive the car in the morning.

 

Go underneath the car, you should be able to access a good number of bolts that way. Also, removing the alternator will help as well.

 

thats what i did, i could see one good enough to spray it. I've never removed the alternator before , so i only plan on doing it once. Since Im doing the install tomorrow, can I take the belt,alternator, ypipe, etc. off and spray the bolts then. Then install the drivers side headers while the other side soaks. Ive read step by step guides and they always recommend doing the passenger side first. I'm guessing that would be fine. I dont see why it wouldnt.

The thing Im worried about is breaking the bolts in the heads. If i give the bolts a good soak, should i still be worried about it. I cant afford to take my car to the shop and i only put aside 3 days to do this. I dont trust myself to drill it out and dont know how to take the heads off. Im pretty worried about it.

 

well, what year car are we talking about? anyway, you should be able to break the bolts loose. mine had 130,000 ,miles when i put my first set of headers. broke loose with moderate effort. the stock y pipe will give you more problem than the header bolts. soak them real well. the alternator should not take you but 3-5 minutes to take off. no big deal. be patient and have fun.

 

i thought i had a sig, my bad. Its a 94 a4. Thanks guys.

 

I sprayed from the top between the manifold and the head as well, just soaked the whole thing. I didnt really have a problem with the manifold bolts like others have said, the y-pipe was the hard part.

 

Mine broke loose with no problem @ 122,000 miles on my 97.

 

Some of those bolts you will just have to spray at blindly, it will be hard otherwise. I just did what the above guy did and sprayed the heck out of the general vicinity.

 

I keep a jar of PB blaster and a few metal acid brushes so I can get to bolts I can only feel. The brushes can be bent. Less mess than just hosing the whole thing in penetrating oil. Wear your safety glasses, that stuff stings in eyes!

 

Is PB Blaster significantly better than other penetrating oils? Is it available at Autozone, Advance etc.?

 

oh yea when you are at the auto parts store steal a straw off of a can of WD40 ... worked pretty well for me

 

Personally, I have had better results with it as compared to using WD-40. You can get it at any auto parts store, or even Wal-Mart.