A Slight Diversion

And no, it's not quilting. While driving the '83 Esprit late last week, I noticed the unmistakeable sound of an exhaust leak as I passed near walls and other vehicles on the driver's side of the car. I knew I had lost at least one exhaust manifold stud over the years since I fixed the original leak the car came with. So I figured I lost a couple of more and that was causing the leak. In fact, once the car heated up, the leak disappeared.

I put the car up on stands and pulled the left rear wheel. I have a supplemental heat shield between the wheel housing and the engine compartment that blocks the view of the manifold. I took that off and started looking around. What I found was that 8(!) of the 12 studs had parted ways with the car. That explains the leak. I also noticed I have an oil leak from the base of the exhaust cam housing, I haven't changed the timing belt since the car was painted 5 years ago, and I haven't done the carbs or checked valve clearances in that time, so there is definitely some deferred maintenance to tend to this winter. All of those tasks are easier with the engine on a stand. Given that and the amount of time it would take to get new studs from JAE, I decided to secure the manifold with what I had on hand and plan on pulling the engine this winter to handle the rest of the work.

I managed to scrounge up enough studs from FrankEnSPRIT and some exhaust bits I had collected up over the years. Five hours and six pairs of latex gloves later, I had managed to get 6 of the 8 empty holes filled. One I just can't get to with the engine in the car and the length of the studs I have on hand (kinda makes you wonder how it fell out in the first place), the other I think is blocked in part by the gasket. This runner was furthest away from the studs that were still installed in the car and the gasket had moved a bit. I got it centered enough to get two studs in, but the third just doesn't wanna budge. At any rate, the noise is gone, so it is good enough for now.

Next up on FrankEnSPRIT is hoses. Jeff is pulling together a set of silicone hoses for the front and rear plumbing. I'll order up two sets to cover the '83 Esprit when I take the engine out when the snow flies.