Cracked Exhaust Manifold

[rocky2]

Did the RH exhaust manifold yesterday. Took 4 hours and some swearing. The R50's must be easier than the D21's with larger bolts and less material fatigue. All the nuts came off with no busted bolts. But the new manifold was slightly different in shape and it's damn near impossible to get to one of the nuts to tighten it completely. Had to use an open end and got an 1/8 of a turn at a time. So I'll give her another try today so I can sleep better. Pulled the pipe off just after the Cat and took the manifold and cat out in one piece, then took cat off and re-assembled on the floor. Had to pull the Alt. in order to get enough room to get the heat shield out of the way and some elbow room. The old manifold was cracked damn near all the way. I hit it against the floor and it fell apart. Cheap cast I reckon. The RH side exhaust pipe, right before the muffler has a flex union and got me thinking. It must be an attempt to relieve some stress to that side of the system.

Anyhow, pretty easy and sounds awesome to not hear that leaking sound.

Edited November 24, 2012 by rocky2

[rick88ss]

There is or was a recall for that cracked manifold. Mine was replaced for free back in 2004 or 2005. Check to make sure and keep your reciepts because Nissan might give you a refund on the parts since you did the work yourself.

[projekz]

I had mine looked at for recalls when they did the strut tower recall a few months ago. They had nothing. I'll have to do mine as well soon. Not looking forward to it at all.