L28 exhaust manifold source

[Zed Head]

The muffler for my 76 has an offset exit and central inlet and tucks up next to the gas tank. Yours looks like it has center inlet and exit, which forces the muffler to hang lower. Did you get the package from MSA or did you piece some of it together? Can't really tell from the MSA site what a buyer really gets.

[Jeff G 78]

Mine too has a center and offset. I tried it both ways and it fit much worse with the center as the inlet. It was the $150 MSA kit. Reading other installation reviews on this forum, it sounds like most people had the best luck the way I installed it, but most had similar issues. Maybe with a R180 diff, it would fit better, but the larger R200 forces the 90° bend out further which causes the muffler out too far with the center inlet.

[Zed Head]

I have a muffler shop fitted pipe from the resonator to the muffler. My muffler looks like it was meant to be there but the outlet pipe is not tucked up as tight to the bumper as yours because of the offset.

Seems like MSA's stuff might not be a perfect fit for all cars. Might be worthwhile to get everything from MSA but the final pipe and have that piece custom bent.

[Virto]

Yhea, I could see that - and I do have a feeling the R200 makes things a little more difficult.

But, my good mood has been ruined for the night, . Dog decided to go get skunked right in the face, but I had no idea since I was out the other side of the house with my pipe. Didn't realize until we stepped back inside, and the first thing she did was run and dive under the bed.

This is the 3rd time this year, and 5th in the last two years. I'm not getting any more used to it. : P

[Patcon]

Ewwww. That's a good place for a "stick up"...

Charles

[siteunseen]

I'll mention something but on tip toes, I personally would throw the MSA header stud kit hex nuts in the trash. Something about them spinning down to easily and no lock washers to keep them from spinning back off. Conical nuts or slightly out of round is what's needed, in MY opinion.

[Virto]

Good to keep in mind. I really just wanted the set of studs, assuming that some will break off when the manifolds are removed - no reason to try bolting everything back down on old studs.

[Virto]

Headers and exhaust came today - I unpacked everything to look for damage. Everything was very well packed, thick gauge cardboard, lots of bubble wrap. MSA did good, here, and it looks like FedEx didn't beat the hell out of everything while they had it.

[zKars]

Great news about the packing. Maybe there was a fly on the wall listening to the above "comments"...

[Virto]

Bit of a follow-up on this, for those that are curious.

I still do not have the car back. We pulled the manifolds and found that the #1 stud was previously broken off deep inside the head by the PO. Provided the existing exhaust wasn't cracked or leaking, we'd probably have heard a tick from the lack of sealing well up front. We only broken one other stud, which makes replacing them easier.

The mechanic does NOT feel comfortable drilling out the broken number 1 stud because it's cracked off inside the head and it's not a clean break, so he thinks there's a good chance he'd hit the head, and being aluminum, he doesn't want to risk it. This means the head is coming off and getting farmed out to the machine shop where it'll be drilled out with a press. While it's off, we'll replace the valve seals and check the condition of the seats and such. The car doesn't smoke currently, but may as well get things done now rather than later.

I already ordered the seals and new gaskets from rockauto, so I'll get them sometime next week, and then hopefully things go a little more smoothly from there.

Oh, the airbox to AFM boot is cracked, big surprise there. I'll have to tape it up like nobody's business. Any I should have known that something was going to go wrong, because I got lucky and scored a good, uncracked set of hood vents on eBay just the day before we pulled the manifold. Just my luck.

[EuroDat]

Thats a bit of bad luck with the stud, but at least your taking the right approach to fix it.

Chas

[Jeff G 78]

Virto, fighting broken studs is all too common. More often than not, there is at least one broken stud when I remove a manifold for the first time. Take the time now and replace them all with quality new ones. If you find any head threads that are iffy, use a Heli Coil to repair them. Manifolds are fairly forgiving, but headers love to leak, so you are better off making sure everything is good before you drop the head back on the block.

Good luck getting it all finished and back on the road.