I blew a nut.....

[thekl0wn]

A donut gasket, that is. Has anybody ever replaced an exhaust donut gasket on a '96? Over lunch, I stopped in at the muffler shop right by work, and they wanted like $75 for labor and $20 for the part! Seemed high on the labor, because they said it would be more if a stud broke or something!

I just need to get it fixed, because it's starting to sound like a friggin' grain truck coming down the road, but I don't want to pump money into the factory exhaust, when I'm just going to be ripping it out whenever I get everything together to do the entire exhaust at one time.

Any estimates on how long it would take a guy to replace it himself? Tools are not an issue, and I have decent mechanical skills, I just haven't crawled under the truck to see what it looks like.

[CHEV4LIFE]

those are fairly straight forward to do, unless it badly rusted i did a couple at work in under an hour

[thekl0wn]

those are fairly straight forward to do, unless it badly rusted i did a couple at work in under an hour

I know I'll be able to do it myself, I just didn't know how much of my Saturday I was going to waste. Sounds like an acceptable amount of time to me.

[1989K1500]

I know I'll be able to do it myself, I just didn't know how much of my Saturday I was going to waste. Sounds like an acceptable amount of time to me.
Use penetrating lube, lots of it.

WHen I did mine I broke all the bolts off, even after drenching them a couple times a day for a few days before taking them off. So use lots of penetrating lube and go slow.

Otherwise its easy.

Also, dont forget to use penetrating lube/spray.

Edit: I think my donut gaskets only cost 13 a piece btw.

[FlareSide]

If you want something to really eat through rust, try break fluid. I completely drenched my O2 sensor for a weak in PB and WD-40, but to my luck it didnt work. I heard brake fluid will really loosen it up, so I tried it. To my surprise it worked!

['93Z71]

I did mine on a Ranger. Took about an hour or so including the trip to the hardware stor for some pen. lunbe because the thing was a PITA to get out. I think paying yourself $75 an hour is a good deal!

[nined4bowtie]

make sure you have a drill and some bits just in case you break the stud you'll have to drill it out. happended to me when i put my headers on.

[jeep45238]

Use penetrating lube. Go to a parts store and get the doughnut gasket, it'll be less than $20.

Grab a stud remover kit made by lisle from a parts store (like carquest) or craftsman. You hammer it on (has straight splines), and twist it off using a wrench or a socket.

Heat up the stud where the manifold is at, not cherry, but just pretty nice and warm. Spray a bit of PB blaster at the base, and twist out the stud. (yes, this is a **** load easier with the manifold removed from the vehicle)

Also get a a Motormite 03107 part number. New stud, nut, and spring. The stud is LONGER so you don't have to fight the spring to get the nut on. Makes life a whole lot quicker.

Re-install the manfiold, make sure it doesn't catch up on anything, toss the gasket in there, and bolt the y pipe back up.

Took me 2 hours to do the driver's side and grind off the power steering pump braket over the exhaust manifold studs, and 45 minutes on the passenger side. (this was working on the street also, by the way).

New exhaust manfiold gaskets only cost 10-15 bucks for a quality set, and you don't have to spend the downtime at a machine shop for them to be milled.

[oldred95]

Want a simple fix? TAke the damn boat anchors off, and cut the Y pipe out of there and put some real exhaust on there. My dad for some reason replaced the dognuts on mine one time and it took him a few hours and things came loose ok I think. Dognuts never really did seal though. They are a joke IMO.

[Pauly]

A set of headers and get rid of the brutal Vortec 350 headpipe assembly.
peace
Pauly

[thekl0wn]

To OldRed & Pauly:

Later this summer! I'm just trying to get rid of the grain truck sound for now! I have a few bills to deal with first, then the fun begins!

I'm planning on going with Hooker Comp headers (coated), plumbed back to dual high-flow cats, X, dual Bullets, dumped right after Bullets. Plus rear O2 deletion when I get a tune.

[oldred95]

To OldRed & Pauly:

Later this summer! I'm just trying to get rid of the grain truck sound for now! I have a few bills to deal with first, then the fun begins!

I'm planning on going with Hooker Comp headers (coated), plumbed back to dual high-flow cats, X, dual Bullets, dumped right after Bullets. Plus rear O2 deletion when I get a tune.
Want the simple fix? Leave it as is. Mine sounded like an old wheat truck too and still does but its because the engine has an annoying tick that I can't find. I had that same exhaust leak your talking about and yea it was annoying but I didn't think too much of it because I knew the piece of chit was coming off.

[82Scottsdale]

The annoying tick can be from the headers mine does the same and it is annoying