What a bear this job was and I was a mechanic for 10 years. My whole body aches. Granite I did the whole job on a jack stand. Both old manifolds were cracked at the front ports.
DT Head Install finally complete...
- Thread starter SouthJerseyJim
- Start date
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VVTi or non?
How much of the difficulty can you contribute to rust?
Burn out video available?
How much of the difficulty can you contribute to rust?
Burn out video available?
- Thread starter
- #3
Non Vvti. Nothing was rusty that mattered. Passenger side 7 of 8 nuts came off studs. Driverside 7 out of 8 studs came out with nuts. Had to source manifold studs but already had 16 new nuts. I cant show the burnout videos because im still laying low from the 5-0....
Just had mine done, vvti, no dyno but it is more responsive plus no more leaking.
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- #5
I agree with that statement. Feels peppy and no ticky.
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- #7
Its not the headers themselves its toyota engineering. Getting the old manifolds out is the hard part. Tightening the new headers also difficult because its mostly by gearwrench and not ratchet. Just a tight job to do regardless.
- Thread starter
- #10
You must be a special guy. Maybe offer to do all the members that need then done then?
Good job, did you break any bolts in the process? I'm starting to think removing the UCA and shock itself would make it easier to just stick your whole head in the wheel well and get access to the bolts easier.
- Thread starter
- #12
No broken bolts. Jacking the motor up on the driver side def helped a bit with access.
I did help another member we did two trucks but that's not my day job.
I took off motor mounts loosen trans mounts and steering column maybe that's why? I'm not saying it was easy I'm just saying folks speak about it like it was a nightmare and scare others off from instalI, even had a broken bolt I had to cheat out. Anyway I think with enough clearance it's not bad. About the same as changing the starter I would imagine. I would not do it for others that's not my day job. I'm no mechanic.
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is your hundy rusty? That makes all the difference, it doesn't look hard at all, all the bolts are accessible, i have plethora off wobbly sockets, flex head ratcheting wrenches, stubby wrenches, all will find a way to get to the bolts. The problem is getting them out without breaking is the key.
No mine is not rusty, I can see that causing issues. I still did have a broken bolt though.
- Thread starter
- #16
Wobble sockets will only get you so far. The majority of what you can actually fit into there comes down to a shaved down 14mm box end wrench and small 14.gear wrenches. The job was a nightmare and I would want to do 4 starters before I did another manifold job again. You will see Fx. Its not fun. Also its harder AFTER you get the headers on to access the bolts so keep that in mind.
Oh my 05 is not leaking so i dont plan on doing it 
if it does leak, i'll live with the tack tack tack tack tack tack noise. I have a lift at work and all the tools, but like every repair job, i always dive in thinking it's easy then get slapped in the face. I have a swear jar at work, there's like $34,000 in there now.
Kudos to you for doing this at home on your back, did you soak the bolts down in PB blaster before hand?
if it does leak, i'll live with the tack tack tack tack tack tack noise. I have a lift at work and all the tools, but like every repair job, i always dive in thinking it's easy then get slapped in the face. I have a swear jar at work, there's like $34,000 in there now.Kudos to you for doing this at home on your back, did you soak the bolts down in PB blaster before hand?
We did have to use a variety of special tools. We had stubby wrenches and a "L" shaped wrench. Definitely went to the part store to buy a couple of new tools to get in there just right. It took about 7 hours time, with breaks. PB blasting day before did wonders.
Lol about the starters. Job well done, there is a sense of great victory when done with such a time consuming job. It felt great getting that extra take off power. They also look great visually I haven't put the splash guards back on.
