B230FT exhaust-side gasket and studs advice

What do you guys think is my best plan for changing my exhaust manifold gasket?

I just got the safety on my 210,000km, dealer serviced 940, so I am fully road legal and do not need to pass any other tests. This car is my daily driver, although right now I'm only driving once or twice a week. I have my winter car still on insurance for another 2 weeks, so that is the timeline I have to work with.

The exhaust manifold gasket needs to be changed, it has a bad leak near port #1 that doesn't go away when it's warm.

I have bought a 15g turbo to swap in, as well as all new coolant/oil turbo lines, Yoshifab drain, and studs and nuts for everything on that side (manifold x8, turbo x4, downpipe x3 and I think I also bought a new stud for the manifold hanger bracket. long story short, I was supposed to have this swapped in before summer, but coronavirus happened and I did not want to get a safety during that time, nor do all the work only to find out the car would not pass safety)

I have read and read many posts about manifold studs, however I am a bit unsure of the best way to proceed to make my life easiest. Ultimately, I really need the manifold gasket changed, everything else can wait until winter when the car is off the road.

I am not sure if I should;

1) Pull the head and remove the studs on the bench. This would be my most advanced car work ever, I am a bit nervous about screwing something up, but I can follow instructions. I have a new HG and head studs/bolts (i forget which) so it should be no added cost. As long as I have the TDC at the 0-mark when I pull it, is that all that is necessary to prevent screwing something up? Or am I going to have to do all the valve clearances or something? (I also have a big pile of valve shims so that's not the end of the world) I can't really absorb the cost of machining the head right now, but there is no sign of HG leaks currently, so ideally I would pull the head, replace gaskets and remove studs and then drop it back in, without messing with anythign else. I have read that you can even pull the head without touching the turbo plumbing, then install the new studs after the head has been re-installed.

I would be following these instructions https://www.brickboard.com/RWD/index.htm?id=1668229&show_all=1

2) Remove all turbo plumbing, remove turbo, remove exhaust manifold, and try to remove studs on the car. Might as well replace everything while I'm in there, swap the 13c for the 15g, replace all the oil and coolant lines, replace all studs on the head, manifold, and turbo. Lots of work that I have never done, and lots of potential to go wrong, which is why I wanted to do most of this stuff in wintertime.

3) Remove the turbo plumbing and exhaust manifold only enough to be able to get the gasket off, but only replace the gasket and not the studs (right now). Replace nuts with the copper ones I have. Possibly replace a few of the oil and coolant lines, but leave the turbo attached to prevent snapping studs. Leave the 13c installed until winter. Install all the rest of the studs in the winter, using option 1 or 2.

As far as removing studs goes, the best advice I have accumulated is;

-Use penetrating oil, up to a week in advance
-Do a heat cycle with the manifold on
-Use other heat like a MAPP torch, the aluminum surrounding thte stud will expand 3x more
-Use an ice cube on the stud after heating the area
-Give the end of the stud a sharp rap or two with a hammer
-Using 2-nut method, try tightening 1/16-turn to crack it loose before loosening
-Use more penetrating oil, possibly quenching hot stud with refrigerated penetrating oil
-Other 'shock' methods, like slide-hammer or gentle perpendicular taps

If stud is broken, the best advice I have accumulated is;

-Heat cycle however possible
-Use more heat
-Use more penetrating oil
-If there is a significant amout above the deck surface, (3/8" to 3/4") it is better to use a small pipe wrench than it is to use vice grips
-A very good and proven method, even if the stud is broken a little bit below the deck, is to hold a nut in place (with vice grips, etc) and then weld the nut to the broken stud. the weld should not stick to the head as the aluminium dissapates the heat too fast to stick. The heat from the weld should also transfer through the stud and help loosen it. Similar to this writup: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=221945
-Call the stud guy (last resort). My mechanic said they have a guy they call whenever there is a broken stud. That's all the guy does, just stud removal all day.

I'd go for #2.
I've replaced gaskets on quite a few redblocks, turbo or not, all with considerable more kms on the odo. With the techniques you describe, not one stud has snapped or pulled the threads out of the cylinder head. Pulling the head seems excessive when there are no other issues.
You can easily try to loosen the studs with turbo/mani etc installed. Then you can decide what's next. Obviously not driving.. When the studs are stubborn you'll find out immediately.

Fwiw, redblocks have excellent quality fasteners and the materials used for the head and block are very good too.
It's always good to be prepared for the worst. If one stud is stubborn, just stop and think. Apply the methods you summed up. Most likely, things will be a breeze!

Are you planning to remove the studs using the "two nuts together" method?

I'd try to remove them, and if you find only one or two absoulutely resist your efforts you can probably just leave them alone and finish the job.

Use a cam type stud installer/extractor. $60 very well spent. Also make sure to use original Volvo studs with plenty of copper anti seize, copper coated lock nuts, and cup washers.

If the stud snaps, I weld a M10 nut over that remaining part. Usually gives enough heat to loosen up that stud.

BTW I using looong arm to open those rascals. The idea is to minimize bending and get maximum torque to the thread.

To do the gaskets you have to remove turbo. It's too heavy to remove as one unit but you could do it that way. Spray penetrating on all nuts(down pipe nuts, turbo to manifold flange nuts, manifold). The one area where you can run into a problem, is the turbo down pipe nuts. The nuts have a tendency to seize up on the studs. When this happens, the stud will try to pull out as well. 2 things can happen, studs break or the stud will destroy threads on the stud itself or threads on the turbine housing. If you're not planning to swap out turbo, it's good to have a turbine housing on hand that has good threads or good studs.

If you can safely remove turbo, then doing gaskets is simple. After manifold have been soaking in penetrating fluid for a few days, break each nut free slowly and carefully and then once again spray penetrating fluid and let it sit for a bit. Then of course attempt to remove the nuts, hopefully no studs pull out but no big deal if they do. You can reinstall the nut/stud together. This is an easy job but can turn ugly quick. So if this is your only car, you need to plan ahead. Also I would not attempt this in winter, that's asking for trouble.

If the car has lots of rusty hardware, unfortunately this will not be an easy process for you.

Mr. V said:

Are you planning to remove the studs using the "two nuts together" method?

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Yes, this method worked quite well when I did the intake side, and it would be really nice if I didn't have to buy any more tools for this job, although I will if I have to!

Harlard said:

Use a cam type stud installer/extractor. $60 very well spent. Also make sure to use original Volvo studs with plenty of copper anti seize, copper coated lock nuts, and cup washers.

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Thanks! I'm hoping to do it without further expense, aside from clearance issues, is there any difference between a cam-style extractor and a pipe wrench?

I bought all my studs through Volvo, as well as the nuts for turbo>manifold and turbo>downpipe. I bought copper nuts from yoshifab for the manifold>head. I bought some Liquid Moly LM508 copper anti-seize for application.

OttoB said:

If the stud snaps, I weld a M10 nut over that remaining part. Usually gives enough heat to loosen up that stud.

BTW I using looong arm to open those rascals. The idea is to minimize bending and get maximum torque to the thread.

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Thank you! I do have pretty long arms, but I just want to make sure, you mean a long-arm ratchet + socket? Longer arm = more torque?

white855T said:

If you can safely remove turbo, then doing gaskets is simple. After manifold have been soaking in penetrating fluid for a few days, break each nut free slowly and carefully and then once again spray penetrating fluid and let it sit for a bit. Then of course attempt to remove the nuts, hopefully no studs pull out but no big deal if they do. You can reinstall the nut/stud together. This is an easy job but can turn ugly quick. So if this is your only car, you need to plan ahead. Also I would not attempt this in winter, that's asking for trouble.

If the car has lots of rusty hardware, unfortunately this will not be an easy process for you.

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Hopefully I will be able to get the turbo off and all of the studs out without issue! I live in the salt belt, but luckily the car spent most of it's life up in Winnipeg where they use sand. There is some corrosion on the exhaust side but doesn't seem like any more than surface rust, overall the vehicle is not very rusty at all.

Would you recommend bringing the car to operating temp before starting the process? Does the penetrating oil just burn/evaporate off?

Why would you recommend not doing it in winter? It would be done in a heated (60 degrees F) garage. Is it easier in summer heat to extract the studs?

Thank you!

No need to bring it to operating temp. Just make sure nuts soak for a day or two before starting disassembly. I assumed you would be working out side. Heated garage you definitely can do this job. Working in the cold can cause studs to break very easily.

A pipe wrench will gall up the threads on the studs.

https://youtu.be/83LPsPi_cSQ

Harlard said:

A pipe wrench will gall up the threads on the studs.

https://youtu.be/83LPsPi_cSQ

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ahh okay. That one in the video you linked looks really nice. I had never heard of these extractors, so when I googled it, I found this style (amazon link for ease) which seemed like it would impart a fair amount of twist to the stud if it was stubborn.

Thanks!

This type of stud extractor worked the best for me.
PRODUCT DETAILS
Part No. W83203
Warranty Details (30 DAY REPLACEMENT IF DEFECTIVE)

Product Features:

Stud Extractor is used to remove seized or broken studs and bolts.

That is the performance tool version as sold at Advance auto parts. I believe there is a Lisle tool version as well. This works better than the cam style because it grabs the stud and twists directly inline with the stud instead of off to the side like the cam type ones. It will also work on broken stuff that sticks out far enough.

The problem with those is that they will tear up the threads of good studs. Here is a link to a hood set. It's under $40 now, too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FDLY1F3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_JjJaFbFG1HQPJ

Harlard said:

The problem with those is that they will tear up the threads of good studs. Here is a link to a hood set. It's under $40 now, too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FDLY1F3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_JjJaFbFG1HQPJ

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That's why it's an extractor. NOT a stud installer. Although you could use it for that. The side compression type of extractors ruin threads as well. If you need to preserve the threads then one of the other type of extractors like you linked to in the blow molded box is better. Using two nuts to install new studs is the usual method I use.

G-Tech 940 said:

Thank you! I do have pretty long arms, but I just want to make sure, you mean a long-arm ratchet + socket? Longer arm = more torque?
?

Thank you!

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Huga huga!

Yes, long breaker bar might be the name of that tool. With out ratchet it is more handy to open it with small forth and back twisting. And long tool kinda "tells" is it going to snap or open.

I have gone through university level education with frozen bolts and my 121. They use so much salt on de-icing here that it affects my blood pressure.

OttoB said:

Yes, long breaker bar might be the name of that tool. With out ratchet it is more handy to open it with small forth and back twisting. And long tool kinda "tells" is it going to snap or open.

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Thank you! I have one that is about 40cm / 16inches, hopefully that will be good enough. I have removed every stud in my life so far (very few) with only a 15cm wrench on the bottom nut, so a nice longer arm should be good.

I went and bought a 3/8" drive 13mm deep hex socket for the job, as all I had were 12-sided.

I also bought a 32mm socket to remove the oil cooler throwback arm (to access turbo oil feed banjo bolt). I ordered new gaskets from Volvo for the oil cooler, but I noticed that there is RTV on there now between the arm and the block. Is that normal to see that for a professional repair? Is it recommended to use RTV there when re-installing? I have both Permatex Black and Hondabond Grey on hand.

I also practiced removing turbo>manifold studs on a turbo on the workbench. They would not budge after a couple days of PB, but with some heat and a couple raps with a hammer on the end of the stud, they came out super easy, even with the little 15cm wrench.