Exhaust leak question

[flight doc89]

TVR (local 'race' shop) looked at my car monday, said that the exhaust leak was from the bolts on the exhaust manifold working loose. According to them, this happens "all the time" on supras. they tightened the bolts back down, and told me that it may last 20,000 miles, or it may last 20, but that it is gonna happen again at some point. they said it's fine to keep retightening them, but if the threads strip, then they can bore the holes out and retap them for some bigger bolts. he said they've already done this to three of the local supras.
I asked secretary "if it happens all the time, why didnt you do it during the rebuild?" (it's only been 3000 or so miles since rebuild) secretary went off to ask josh, came back and told me that the threads weren't stripped out on mine.

TVR did this monday morning. tonight, working under the hood, whaddaya know? exhaust leak coming at me like a train.

does this exhaust manifold bolt story sound legit to you guys, or they trying to screw me over?

 

[loki2043]

yes it does happen all the time. its BEST To helicoil them while the head is off. its a bitch/almost impossable to do it while the head is on, and usually when you tighten those bolts they just tear out the threads anyway. your LUCKY they auctually tighted again.

 

[Slow66]

Yep...happens all the time.

Gotta drill, tap, and helicoil. Its the only right way to do it...not cheap either....

 

[flight doc89]

i'm just pissed that they didn't fucking ask me about doing it during the rebuild

thanks guys. now if only i could figure out wtf is up with my water temp (when i rev up, temp goes through the floor)

 

[1988SupraDreams]

Thermostat. =)

 

[flight doc89]

i replaced the therm earlier tonight, and it got worse. i'm talking to a buddy of mine atm, and he says it's because i used an o'reillys therm, and that if i get an oem from toyota that it'll fix it. i'll try anything at this point

 

[7MsuprO]

contact Aaron from Driftmotion. He has a kit that allows you to helicoil the head while its in the car with all necessary parts included.

 

[1988SupraDreams]

i replaced the therm earlier tonight, and it got worse. i'm talking to a buddy of mine atm, and he says it's because i used an o'reillys therm, and that if i get an oem from toyota that it'll fix it. i'll try anything at this point

I just put a Stant Superstat 195deg into mine today, my old one caused my car to overheat when getting off of the highway. That fixed my problem, no more overheat. Make sure you put the right temperature therm into it too, 195 is the correct temperature

 

[flight doc89]

contact Aaron from Driftmotion. He has a kit that allows you to helicoil the head while its in the car with all necessary parts included.

u rock.
http://store.driftmotion.com/productdetails.php?sid=145d3541cc65d5&product_id_int=356
i'm gonna go to toyota dealership to get an oem thermostat

 

[cjsupra90]

There is a differance between the studs comming loose and the nuts comming loose. Helicoiling the studs, will do nothing for preventing the nuts from comming loose. Yes its a good idea to heilcoil the studs, but you should also replace the nuts with new ones. A crimped style lock nut does over time loose its mechanical locking ability when removed and reinstalled a few time and repeatedly exposed to heat cycling.