I'm almost ready to drop my engine and tranny to replace front manifold (broken). The bolts/studs/nuts on the engine are really, really rusted and eroded away. I doubt any kind of penetrant will ease their passing. I have spare heads that are in fair to good condition and they will be put on - I have a cold weather induced weeping head too.

I decided to drop the engine instead of doing it in place just to make access easier> I bought a full gasket set so I can replace all the gaskets I can reach. This is just to get another year or so out of the engine, I was recently given a subie EJ25 so the long range forecast is for that to be installed.

I want to drop the tranny with the engine so that I can replace faulty diff lock light switch. It is a pain to reach with tranny in van.

One thing leads to another in the vanagon owner's life :)

alistair

On 2013-05-09, at 5:41 PM, David Bjorkman wrote:

>  
>  
> On 05/09/13, Tom Carchrae<carchrae@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>  
> 
> >was spent fighting exhaust bolts. I'm pretty sure mine aren't that
> >bad - or I hope not.
> 
> >Tom
>  
> Go out right now and hit everything you are going to remove with PB Blaster, Zyglo, whatever is the best penetrant you have.  Do this as many times as possible between now and when you start the job.  It's amazing how stuck that innocent looking muffler bolt or head nut can be and how much agony can be avoided by some early intervention.
>  
> Dave B.
>  
> .