New Exhaust - Fitting Concerns

[silvtr1000]

Hi All,

I just ordered my new exhaust from Milner (£293.08 complete, inc all seals & brackets, VAT & delivery). I've had a look under the car and it all looks simple enough, except the front of the front pipe.

There seems to be a lot of clutter/not a lot of space at/around the manifold.

I've no problem getting dirty or anything, but I don't want to find half way through the job that I should have removed something I'm not able to remove/replace.

I don't have a workshop manual.

Do I need any special tools?

Has anyone done this yet so they can shed some light for me? All help apreciated. If it arrives this week, I hope to fit it on either Saturday or Sunday.

BTW, my wife is onto me. I'm conscious of my developing a trait I'm sure most if not all of you are familiar with - since this exhaust is costing €440, I've told her that it's a whizzbang one that'll last forever . Also, when I was pulling out of a parking spot yesterday, the right side steering bump stop made itself heared in no uncertain way (the rubber is still on the left). I tried to explain that it's not a mechanical problem - it really IS just a noise, but aparrently I would say that, cos I want the Surf so bad that anything that goes wrong will be faffed over cos I won't concede it was an error buying such an old car .


Mark

[Guest]

Hi All,

I just ordered my new exhaust from Milner (£293.08 complete, inc all seals & brackets, VAT & delivery). I've had a look under the car and it all looks simple enough, except the front of the front pipe.

There seems to be a lot of clutter/not a lot of space at/around the manifold.

I've no problem getting dirty or anything, but I don't want to find half way through the job that I should have removed something I'm not able to remove/replace.

I don't have a workshop manual.

Do I need any special tools?

Has anyone done this yet so they can shed some light for me? All help apreciated. If it arrives this week, I hope to fit it on either Saturday or Sunday.

BTW, my wife is onto me. I'm conscious of my developing a trait I'm sure most if not all of you are familiar with - since this exhaust is costing €440, I've told her that it's a whizzbang one that'll last forever . Also, when I was pulling out of a parking spot yesterday, the right side steering bump stop made itself heared in no uncertain way (the rubber is still on the left). I tried to explain that it's not a mechanical problem - it really IS just a noise, but aparrently I would say that, cos I want the Surf so bad that anything that goes wrong will be faffed over cos I won't concede it was an error buying such an old car .


Mark

Mark.

I haven't done it myself however I would say that the most difficult part is undoing the connections from the turbo. Make sure that the engine is really cold otherwise you will burn yourself on the turbo housing. Remove the heat shields (take a photo of them fitted to aid refitting, then you should be able to undo them with either a small ring spanner or from underneath with a socket, ratchet and a couple of extension bars.

There aren't any special tools required for this job except for arms that bend in three different planes and skin as tough a leather.

I would take off the rear part first from the joint under the car so that it is easier to remove the front pipe. You should be able to take off the rear section without having to jack up the car.

Cheers and good luck

[Dougster]

Hi Mark,

Just read your post, do you have or have you fitted a flex pipe to your exhaust as Hilux diesels are prone to cracking them near the gearbox area due to tortion forces when starting and stopping motor.

Doug.

[silvtr1000]

I replaced my exhaust on Saturday. It took 5 hours, but I reckon I’d have done it in under 3, if my sister had taken my kids away for a walk or something. My 4-year old boy insisted on “helping”... I was able to do the whole job without jacking up the car, even with a saggy butt...

I did soak everything I could see with WD40 on Friday night and Saturday morning – i.e. all the flange bolts and the manifold bolts. However, as I went along, I realised that I had to take some more bits & pieces off that I hadn’t squirted. Luckily, nothing snapped off. I have full sets of sockets and spanners, but for what it’s worth, the manifold nuts are 14mm, and all of the exhaust flange nuts/bolts are 17mm.

One of the forklift service guys in work suggested removing the manifold to make it easier to work on those 3 studs/nuts. I did this, after removing the three heat shields covering the manifold ("manifold_heat_shields"). I hack sawed the front pipe as far forward as I could, and lowered the front of the pipe with the manifold still on the end down through the gap in the engine bay.

I had to remove 2 protector plates from under the transmission to get the pipe out because clearance was crap. There was a sort of shroud thing (I assume it’s a heat shield) on the front end of the front pipe, which caused the trouble ("front_pipe_heat_shield"). There’s no shroud on the Milner replacement, and some of the original shroud was a permanent part of the original pipe, so I just put the Milner one on as was. The Milner system has a 4” flexi section about 6” down from the manifold, and another 10” flexi section in the middle of the intermediate pipe ("front_pipe" & "centre_flexi").

I didn’t have a deep 14mm socket, so I used a 14mm ring spanner and a rubber mallet to free off the three nuts from the studs. Two of the nuts freed off like a dream. With the third, the stud turned, rather than the nut. It wasn’t a problem, but I did notice that if the spanner hadn’t worked for me, the studs are TX heads, and I didn’t have TX bits, so I might have been stuck.

I fitted the manifold to the new front pipe with one of the three new seals (all three of these seemed a bit of an odd fit – the flanges of each join didn’t pull together when the bolt/nuts were tightened. But the seals aren’t blowing, so I guess they work…) and finger tightened the studs/nuts. I fed it all back up the gap in the engine bay, located the manifold back onto its 4 studs, and reached up to finger tighten the nuts back on ("manifold").

I’d love to say this was the trickiest bit. It certainly should have been. But I had to remove the (underslung) spare wheel to get the back pipe over the back axle (AND LSPV pipe, ahem…) I urge anyone who has not removed their underslung spare wheel before to do it soon, in comfort, at home, with all your tools, in daylight… I didn’t see the release mechanism (which lowers the wheel-supporting chain) till AFTER I had removed the 2 brackets above the wheel. I am looking for a swing out spare wheel carrier.

Anyway, I then went about removing the flange nuts/bolts from the rest of the system. Some were well stuck, but with a bit of grunting, skin, more WD40, and some bold words, they all came free. I’m a big fan of making a tightening attempt (not actually tightening) these kinds of fasteners before trying in earnest to open them. It has always seemed to help.

Then it was a simple matter of removing the old/fitting the new sections one at a time (so I could see what was supposed to go where). I finger tightened all the (new) bolts/nuts as I went and had all the alignment right. I used grease on all the bolts and put a little bit on the steel lugs that locate into the rubber carrier grommets for the silencer and the end of the back pipe. The lugs wouldn’t go in without the grease.

Then I tightened everything up with sockets/spanners. Only one problem – the stud that came out of the manifold at the start couldn’t be tightened without a deep 14mm socket on a LONG extension, from under the engine bay. I got it finger tight, and checked it was still there after a spin around my estate. I was able to get to the other 2 with a ring spanner from above. So I’ll be buying those items today to finish the job this evening.

I’m delighted I was able to do it. If no other problems had presented themselves, I would give the job a Haynes 2-spanner rating.

Mark

[Guest]

I replaced my exhaust on Saturday. It took 5 hours, but I reckon I’d have done it in under 3, if my sister had taken my kids away for a walk or something. My 4-year old boy insisted on “helping”... I was able to do the whole job without jacking up the car, even with a saggy butt...

I did soak everything I could see with WD40 on Friday night and Saturday morning – i.e. all the flange bolts and the manifold bolts. However, as I went along, I realised that I had to take some more bits & pieces off that I hadn’t squirted. Luckily, nothing snapped off. I have full sets of sockets and spanners, but for what it’s worth, the manifold nuts are 14mm, and all of the exhaust flange nuts/bolts are 17mm.

One of the forklift service guys in work suggested removing the manifold to make it easier to work on those 3 studs/nuts. I did this, after removing the three heat shields covering the manifold ("manifold_heat_shields"). I hack sawed the front pipe as far forward as I could, and lowered the front of the pipe with the manifold still on the end down through the gap in the engine bay.

I had to remove 2 protector plates from under the transmission to get the pipe out becaese clearance was crap. There was a sort of shroud thing (I assume it’s a heat shield) on the front end of the front pipe, which caused the trouble ("front_pipe_heat_shield"). There’s no shroud on the Milner replacement, and some of the original shroud was a permanent part of the original pipe, so I just put the Milner one on as was. The Milner system has a 4” flexi section about 6” down from the manifold, and another 10” flexi section in the middle of the intermediate pipe ("front_pipe" & "centre_flexi").

I didn’t have a deep 14mm socket, so I used a 14mm ring spanner and a rubber mallet to free off the three nuts from the studs. Two of the nuts freed off like a dream. With the third, the stud turned, rather than the nut. It wasn’t a problem, but I did notice that if the spanner hadn’t worked for me, the studs are TX heads, and I didn’t have TX bits, so I might have been stuck.

I fitted the manifold to the new front pipe with one of the three new seals (all three of these seemed a bit of an odd fit – the flanges of each join didn’t pull together when the bolt/nuts were tightened. But the seals aren’t blowing, so I guess they work…) and finger tightened the studs/nuts. I fed it all back up the gap in the engine bay, located the manifold back onto its 4 studs, and reached up to finger tighten the screws back on ("manifold").

I’d love to say this was the trickiest bit. It certainly should have been. But I had to remove the (underslung) spare wheel to get the back pipe over the back axle (AND LSPV pipe, ahem…) I urge anyone who has not removed their underslung spare wheel before to do it soon, in comfort, at home, with all your tools, in daylight… I didn’t see the release mechanism (which lowers the wheel-supporting chain) till AFTER I had removed the 2 brackets above the wheel. I am looking for a swing out spare wheel carrier.

Anyway, I then went about removing the flange nuts/bolts from the rest of the system. Some were well stuck, but with a bit of grunting, skin, more WD40, and some bold words, they all came free. I’m a big fan of making a tightening attempt (not actually tightening) these kinds of fasteners before trying in earnest to open them. It has always seemed to help.

Then it was a simple matter of removing the old/fitting the new sections one at a time (so I could see what was supposed to go where). I finger tightened all the (new) bolts/nuts as I went and had all the alignment right. I used grease on all the bolts and put a little bit on the steel lugs that locate into the rubber carrier grommets for the silencer ant the end of the back pipe. The lugs wouldn’t go in without the grease.

Then I tightened everything up with sockets/spanners. Only one problem – the stud that came out of the manifold at the start couldn’t be tightened without a deep 14mm socket on a LONG extension, from under the engine bay. I got it finger tight, and checked it was still there after a spin around my estate. I was able to get to the other 2 with a ring spanner from above. So I’ll be buying those items today to finish the job this evening.

I’m delighted I was able to do it. If no other problems had presented themselves, I would give the job a Haynes 2-spanner rating.

Mark

Mark.

Glad you got it done, one bit of help for the future is that the studs while having a TX head on them can be undone with a normal multiface type socket. I think it is 8mm but it may be 10mm. When I did my cylinder head, I removed all the studs from the manifold / turbo / head as this made it easier to refit the turbo.

Cheers and well done.