Damon Challenger and the Ford Exhaust Manifold

[prsmith]

Hi again,

On May 2 I took our rig to a dealer for repairs of what was immediately diagnosed as broken exhaust manifold studs

Our 2002 Challenger 335 is on a 2001 Ford 20,500 GVWR chassis. It has 69,000 kilometers on it.

We told the Ford dealer he could have the rig for a month and it was returned to us on June 1 - perhaps I should say that we bought back that day for $C3100. 30.6 hours labour at $70 an hour with most of that time going to drilling out 15 of 20 manifold studs - the final two in the left rear corner of the left head took three hours each to remove.

Manifold were slightly warped so were skimmed to straighten up the faces, all 20 studs were replaced with what Ford says are new improved studs, new nuts were used and great quantities of high temp never seize was applied, new gaskets installed, new exhaust pipe to manifold interface studs/nuts installed, safety inspection done, and while front wheels were removed steering gear was lubricated. Parts and skimming came to about $400 - rest was labour and tax.

Manifold studs are not a maintenance item - their early death suggests a poor design - it appears as if the studs almost crystallized

What can I do to prevent it from happening again? That is the today's question ..

Some folks opine that high temperatures might be the culprit. If so why aren't folks like Chandler who has almost the same rig as hours experiencing this problem.

If hight temperatures are the problem, has anyone with a 2002 Damon coach and Ford (April 2001) chassis done anything to cool the manifolds.

By the way, I have added nothing to the area around the engine and have removed none of tech air baffling that is there

Help! Looking forward to your suggestions/comments.

[prsmith]

Hi again,

On May 2 I took our rig to a dealer for repairs of what was immediately diagnosed as broken exhaust manifold studs

Our 2002 Challenger 335 is on a 2001 Ford 20,500 GVWR chassis. It has 69,000 kilometers on it.

We told the Ford dealer he could have the rig for a month and it was returned to us on June 1 - perhaps I should say that we bought back that day for $C3100. 30.6 hours labour at $70 an hour with most of that time going to drilling out 15 of 20 manifold studs - the final two in the left rear corner of the left head took three hours each to remove.

Manifold were slightly warped so were skimmed to straighten up the faces, all 20 studs were replaced with what Ford says are new improved studs, new nuts were used and great quantities of high temp never seize was applied, new gaskets installed, new exhaust pipe to manifold interface studs/nuts installed, safety inspection done, and while front wheels were removed steering gear was lubricated. Parts and skimming came to about $400 - rest was labour and tax.

Manifold studs are not a maintenance item - their early death suggests a poor design - it appears as if the studs almost crystallized

What can I do to prevent it from happening again? That is the today's question ..

Some folks opine that high temperatures might be the culprit. If so why aren't folks like Chandler who has almost the same rig as hours experiencing this problem.

If hight temperatures are the problem, has anyone with a 2002 Damon coach and Ford (April 2001) chassis done anything to cool the manifolds.

By the way, I have added nothing to the area around the engine and have removed none of tech air baffling that is there

Help! Looking forward to your suggestions/comments.

[Hurricaner]

Is it ever exposed to salted roads?

Sam