nightmere removing inlet manifold!

right then im stripping my scirocco engine for all the bits to complete my conversion and the inlet manifold is being a right bugger

i cant get at the last bolt due to the exhaust manifold being there, and i cant get at a few of the exhaust manifold bolts due to the inlet manifold being there    also bolts are well tight and when theyve crackd of  OUCHHHHHHH  ive smackd my hand and cut it all up.
nothing like making it simple ay! :mrgreen:
so my question is, is there an easy way? am i being stupid and blind? (bearing in mind it is 7pm whilst im doing this so visability is abit poor. will crack on with it tomoz though in the daylight.

also theres a freen sphere thing not connected looks like a vacuum thingy do i need this or not, engine seems to have been running fine without it :dontknow:

chears

simon

Is your engine out of the car, and what tool are you using to get the bolts free?

I used a socket set with an allen key fitting on the end, and although they were tight they all came off in the end - even though having the engine in the car meant some serious contortionist activity  

HTH

Rich

i wish i had of done it whilst the engine was out, but sadly the engines in, ive been using a normal allen key to get the easy to reach ones and the harder to reach ones im using a allen key bit for a socket, but im struggling to find the last bolt  i no its there somewhere lol.

do you take the inlet manifold of first? then the exhaust manifold
or the exhaust manifold first then the inlet?

simon

chears mate

It might be easier if the inlet manifold is removed first as it makes access easier to the exhaust manifold nuts.

Sometimes it helps to use a smaller size socket on the exhaust manifold nuts. I found that they rust smaller with age. Make sure your socket fits the nuts well before you attempt to undo otherwise you might just chew then nuts up and make the job nastier.

Get new nuts for reassembly, it'll make the job far easier next time. The replacement nuts from VW are now copper so they dont rust.

I'd replace any studs that come out when you undo the nuts too but leave any that stay in. If you try and remove studs that are really stuck hard in the head, you could end up snapping them off or chewing the threads up and not being able to remove them.

I'd also recommend taking the inlet off first.

There are 6 bolts in total, 1 at either end of the whole thing (which I'm sure you'll have got off already) and then 4 others between the pipes which I struggled with at the time…

The one that gave me most grief was the bolt just to the right of the No. 2 cylinder inlet pipe, which is recessed in the gap between No. 2 and 3 pipes.

One tip which may come in handy is that if you already have the new inlet manifold gasket, you can see where the bolts ought to be by lining it up with the manifold while it's in place.

HTH

Rich

Remove inlet first, An easy tip is the way i get them out, use a small mirror so you can see them, job is simple then for you bud :wink:
Another tip, soak the exhaust manifold nuts the night before your working on it wiht wd40, they come off with out a problem fella :wink:

chears guys, mirror trickd workd perfect!

nice one

simon

Peddersgolf said

Remove inlet first, An easy tip is the way i get them out, use a small mirror so you can see them, job is simple then for you bud :wink:
Another tip, soak the exhaust manifold nuts the night before your working on it wiht wd40, they come off with out a problem fella :wink:

Pete - is it better to remove the exhaust manifold to replace the core plugs? (Engine in situ - I've already taken the inlet manifold off) or can I do it from underneath without taking off the exhaust?

For the price of an exhaust manifold gasket and extra 30 mins cleaning up the faces of manifold and block, you will have the free spaces to move without the issue of arms being cut etc from metal lol.
But please before you remove the exhaust manifold, do at least one day of soaking the studs, i do 2 x in one day and again i do for the next day, but if you start early do 3 times, basically the more soaking the less chance of problems.
Get the exhaust nuts and tighten them very slightly to unlock them and you'll find they will come out easily, sometimes the whole stud comes out, but that is not a bad thing  afterall it is better than snapping the stud in the block.
Buy some new studs and nuts (Copper) from gsf along with the gasket.
Once done put some copper grease or silicon grease covering the studs
Pete

Mainly doing the work at the weekend, so whole week of soaking the nuts/studs with WD40 if that's going to make life easier!!  Good advice as usual, thanks mate.

Soaked nuts / studs for last three days - went to test one this morning and they almost jumped out!  Top four came out easy (one nut/three studs and nuts); outside bottom two no problem; rhs bottom not too difficult but lhs bottom couldn't get a spanner on it - one socket extension too short, the other too long lol.
Rather than round the nut or snap the stud I'll do it from underneath tomorrow.