Help with undoing the exhaust from a mk2 gti manifold! any tips

[Dibz]

Having to remove the head from my golf to do the head gasket but there's two bolts (on the front and rear of the right hand side of the manifold, looking from the front) that i cant seem to get to, is there a secret tip or way of attack that I should know of?
one of the studs had snapped off and it would seem that a lot of the manifold nuts are seized, looks like once if i manage to get the head off I'm going to have a mare with them, hope i can get some heat on them or soak them in wd 40 so they will loosen.
Can I get new studs on the exhaust manifold fitted when i take the head to the machine shop to get it skimmed?

[vwkevgti]

if the car is still running id put a bit of oil on the bolts you have to undo the heat should help it penatrate a bit if not just plenty of wd40 or you can get some stuff called deblock oil its for disasembling i used some when i fitted the coilovers on the golf as for the bolts you cant get to what about a decent socket set with the angle fittings should help oh and a very good pair of gloves ive lost count how many times the bolt has given in and cost me x amount of skin off my hands. the studs should be replaceable some might even come out insted of the bolts undoing and you just get what looks like a bolt
hope this helps kev 

[GOLF_STU]

you can buy hand held blow lamp from plumbing supplies. they are pretty good at warming bolts up 

[oakgreen_91]

I find it easier to split the downpipe from the manifold (6 m10 nuts) and then remove the manifold once on a bench.

Ben

[Mrpug]

look around at tool places and see if they have a bolt removal or extractor set. Along with heat and penetrating oil and heat should make life abit easier. I used the bolt extractor that grabs the the striped bolt head or if there's a stud they might work for ya. Be careful that you don't hurt the alum. it's not too forgiveing. Be patient and don't rush the job while working the bolts out. Pulling the head & then removing the manifold is probably you best way as suggested, that way you'll have a better picture. good luck mate, cheers 

[Conker]

I bought a set of really slimline ring head spanners (i.e. not with big chunky metal around the heads) and that allowed me to get the last two tricky bolts on my 16v.

Took probably 4 hours to get my manifold off in total though, so in other words, be patient with it.

[Dibz]

I find it easier to split the downpipe from the manifold (6 m10 nuts) and then remove the manifold once on a bench.

Ben

that's exactly what I'm doing, been waiting for the right sized spline tool for the head bolts and still got ONE nut to undo, its the middle one at the rear, total b!tch to get to, hopefully my trusty ratchet spanner and a soaking of wd40 will go the trick and the refitting of the head goes smoothly!

[oakgreen_91]

Go underneath the car with a 17mm socket, a couple of extension bars, a breaker bar and a flexible joint and you should be able to work it off.

[pro-biotic]

i can undo all of them bar the one in the middle at the front using ratched spanners - may be worth an investment?

[Dibz]

they are a god send them ratchet spanners, turns out that the bolts where seized hard and i was being a bit of a wimp with them. got to strip the head down if i'm going to get it skimmed, think it will need doing as it boiled over so no doubt got cooked a bit.