It is definitely easier to raise the motor than to remove the heads. Most of the hardware is easy to reach except for the bottom fastener towards the firewall end of the manifold. It is hard to get a real wrench on that one. Use something like Deep Creep before you go to bed and then take your time the next day removing the fasteners after you've raised the engine. You'll most likely find, as I did, that it is impossible to get a torque wrench onto that same bottom firewall-end fastener when you are reinstalling the manifolds. I tightened it so that it had about the same amount of thread visible as the ones that had been done with a torque wrench and it worked out fine. I might have needed a crow's foot to deal with limited fastener access. Get new studs and nuts before you start. Also I'd strongly consider chasing the threads with a tap while the manifolds are out, and to use copper high temp anti-sieze on the threads.autostick wrote:I did both left and right manifolds by jacking up the engine. It was also an excuse to buy more tools to get to those bolts. Yes indeed it was a difficult job, did it before I got my lift. I think I did an okay job as ten years later there are no signs of leaks, so I now attached a stainless steel dual exhaust. Finally the car drives and sounds like it should.
One thing to keep in mind when raising the engine is that if the transmission mounts are worn or shot, the entire drivetrain will shift back a little bit, and then the studs on the motor mounts won't align into the crossmember when you lower the engine back down. You can use a second jack to apply pressure under the transmission mount to compensate, but I'd check to see if that rubber is shot and if needed, replace it before raising the engine. If your motor mounts are shot, now is definitely the time.
If you're feeling passionate, take the manifolds to a powder coating place and get a ceramic coating on them. It lasts way longer than paint and does not have to be gaudy. I went with a dark grey that held up well and looks pretty natural.
I did not find it terribly difficult to install the Remflex gaskets with the engine in the car. If the studs are threaded into the block, you just need to line up all the holes so that it is parallel to the block and slide it into place. It is really not that hard to take a minute to make sure you're not trying to put it on at an angle to avoid stressing the gasket too much. It does not feel brittle when handling it, its more like the way a sponge can feel stiff after its been used a few times and dried. It feels like if you apply too much stress, it'll form cracks, but it's not some insanely delicate thing. Bending it would probably destroy it though.
I found that the graphite gasket would just hang in place on the studs. Then I held the manifold partly on the studs and lightly threaded a brass nut at each corner. After that it's just a question of pushing the manifold up slowly so that the gasket stays square, and then hand tightening the two brass nuts a little bit more. Then you go back and do all the rest of the nuts and torque everything to spec. Obviously use high temp anti-size everywhere. Also the Remflex gasket is so thick and can absorb so much surface variance that eyeballing the threads to torque the hardware that a torque wrench can't be used on worked out fine for me.
