Hi guys,
I am creating this post in hopes of getting some solid advice. So here's the deal …
I have a 1993 Bronco with a 351W & a E4OD and we're at 276K miles. Recently the passenger side exhaust manifold cracked in half. Needless to say this created a huge exhaust leak and the heat burned up a couple of plug wires.
So I thought, great time to bolt on some headers and rebuild the entire exhaust (which was way overdue) … This is my daily driver BTW. So I bought Hooker full length headers and all the other components needed thinking this was going to be a quick and easy fix and upgrade to boot.
WRONG.
The passenger side manifold was a wreck, not only was in broke in half, but it had 2 other large cracks and the EGR tube was also broke in half. I guess no big deal at this point but I was concerned about exhaust valve damage. Both manifolds came old fairly easy except one rather large issue. Each cylinder head has a broken off exhaust manifold bolt in it. From the looks of it these have be broken off for years.
All that being said, I'd have to pull the heads to remove the broken bolts. Mind you, this engine has never been opened up. I wasn't looking for a rebuild project right now and I'm not sure what can of worms I'd be opening up by removing the heads on such a high milage engine. I've thought maybe I could have the heads reworked or replace them with aftermarket, but is that a really bad idea w/out rebuilding the engine too?
This is where I am stuck. Because I've done little to the truck since I bought it 8 years ago. There are cleaner Broncos out there to start with for a project vehicle, of course I'd have to turn this one around and buy another when this one was paid for the day I bought it. And there's the tranny that has the same amount of milage. Is it not a good idea to just do the heads and move on for now?
Anyway, any advice is welcome. Thanks.
I am creating this post in hopes of getting some solid advice. So here's the deal …
I have a 1993 Bronco with a 351W & a E4OD and we're at 276K miles. Recently the passenger side exhaust manifold cracked in half. Needless to say this created a huge exhaust leak and the heat burned up a couple of plug wires.
So I thought, great time to bolt on some headers and rebuild the entire exhaust (which was way overdue) … This is my daily driver BTW. So I bought Hooker full length headers and all the other components needed thinking this was going to be a quick and easy fix and upgrade to boot.
WRONG.
The passenger side manifold was a wreck, not only was in broke in half, but it had 2 other large cracks and the EGR tube was also broke in half. I guess no big deal at this point but I was concerned about exhaust valve damage. Both manifolds came old fairly easy except one rather large issue. Each cylinder head has a broken off exhaust manifold bolt in it. From the looks of it these have be broken off for years.
All that being said, I'd have to pull the heads to remove the broken bolts. Mind you, this engine has never been opened up. I wasn't looking for a rebuild project right now and I'm not sure what can of worms I'd be opening up by removing the heads on such a high milage engine. I've thought maybe I could have the heads reworked or replace them with aftermarket, but is that a really bad idea w/out rebuilding the engine too?
This is where I am stuck. Because I've done little to the truck since I bought it 8 years ago. There are cleaner Broncos out there to start with for a project vehicle, of course I'd have to turn this one around and buy another when this one was paid for the day I bought it. And there's the tranny that has the same amount of milage. Is it not a good idea to just do the heads and move on for now?
Anyway, any advice is welcome. Thanks.
