Exhaust manifold nuts

John Murch · Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 5:44 pm Post subject: Exhaust manifold nuts

The nuts holding on the exhaust manifold on my car (3ltr) have always had a tendancy to work loose. You can't get a socket on them, and a normal spanner has to go on endwise, so difficult to properly tighten. I have seen a very slim spanner used, inserted behind the water rail.
Question, can one buy such slim spanners or does one take an ordinary spanner and grind it down? If the latter is it likely to break!
John

Robert Craven · Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 7:50 pm Post subject:

I haven't got access to the car right now, so I don't know whether this will work, but there is a make of spanner called Williams (or sometimes TW) Superslim, which are thinner than the average spanner. You can often find them on eBay.
It may be several days at least before I can check if they would fit.

Geoff Simpson · Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 9:07 pm Post subject:

John, Search EBay vintage tools and put in flat spanner, you will need to know your size but can find equivalent from a google search

Geoff Simpson · Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 9:26 pm Post subject:

262747794378 not saying your size in this eBay listing number but these are what I mean

John Murch · Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 11:05 pm Post subject:

Many thanks for such swift advice, just what I needed to know.
John

Iain Warner · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 9:55 am Post subject:

John, I picked up and old BSF combination spanner of the correct size (3/8?)at an autojumble and filed away at the ring end until it was narrow enough to fit. I also reduced the length of some of the double length brass nuts which were fouling the manifold on some of the lower studs. Even so it is a bit of a fiddle to ensure the fastenings are kept tight.

John Murch · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 10:02 am Post subject:

Thanks Iain, that was the route I was going to take, but am hopeful of an eBay success with a flat spanner as suggested by Geoff.

Stephen Blakey · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 2:19 pm Post subject:

John,

Good luck with that. You may need a few attempts before you arrive at a successful solution not least because of the wide variation in the quality of steel used to make spanners.

If you do end up going the home-made route, I can recommend the aforementioned Wiliams Superslim as a good starting point. They are made of very strong stuff (out of necessity as there isn't much of it).

Stephen

Christopher Carnley · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 3:56 pm Post subject:

Could you get a crowfoot spanner into the restricted area?

Al Coutts · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 4:53 pm Post subject:

For something not Bentley related, I have a series of spanners and sockets (all Halfords own brand) that I have ground, cut and bent to fit.

I also use an imperial set of these for the exhaust manifold nuts:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Snap-on-6pc-3-8-Drive-6pt-MM-Deep-UJ-Universal-Joint-Socket-Set-206SFSUM-NEW-/302053560448?hash=item4653cb9080:g:XbMAAOSw0UdXwD3u

Al

John Murch · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 5:23 pm Post subject:

The problem with the WO exhaust manifold is that the nuts are so close to the casting that it is impossible to get any sort of socket/ring or box spanner on.
Chris's suggestion looks hopeful though!
John

Christopher Carnley · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 5:36 pm Post subject:

John,

Are you able to insert a box spanner with an extension on it? Melco still make some quite reasonable ones.

John Murch · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 5:46 pm Post subject:

My manifold is perhaps an early one and has nowhere near the clearance that the one in Chris's photo has.
(My photo is about 15 years old and the engine looks a bit different now! More patina,)[/img]

Dan Suskin · Joined: 22 Feb 2011 Posts: 298 Location: Georgia, USA

John,

If you turn a socket down a bit on the lathe to thin the wall out, can you get it in there? I would think you can. It does weaken the socket of curse, but I've done it and they've never broken or bent.

William Highley · Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 3:44 pm Post subject:

Dear John,

I had the same problem with my 4½. Being an early car it had a 3 litre manifold. I have included a photo of the spanner I modified. It was fairly thin to start with. I ground the end down and bent the spanner to fit. It slotted down behind the water rail and it made the job much easier. You will need to experiment to find what thickness and how much bend to put in the spanner. My end measures about 3.8mm in thickness. I see the spanner is a "Mascot" brand and the size was 1/4W or 5/16 BSF. I don't know whether that particular make is still available but it is quite a thin spanner to start with. I don't remember the spanner taking very long to alter.

Regards,

William Highley

William Highley · Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 3:54 pm Post subject:

Hopefully I will have succeeded this time.

William.

John Murch · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 2:40 pm Post subject:

I bought the ebay spanners (thanks Geoff) and with quite a lot of heat, got a suitable bend, it works well!

The same as William's, perhaps the spares scheme should stock them!