Exhaust Manifold Heat Shield (hot air shroud)

[Stewpotz]

trying to remove the heat shield (or as it is known in haynes hot air shroud) from the exhaust manifold so i can sand it down and paint it as it is quite rusty/blemished, but i cant get the nut which attaches the support bracket to the shield (and then the manifold i think off) as the nut is a pentagonal shaped head so ratchet bits dont fit on it....unless a hammer is used but the straight head is only about 2mm deep, after that the head is bevelled outwards so the ratchet bit wont go on anymore and it just either falls off or wont stay on in the first place.

i have the haynes manual page incase you dont know which bit i mean, haynes k11 93-02 page 4A-13 bottom right No: 16 - Exhaust manifold - removal & refitting.

please can someone help, i have tried using a wire brush incase the bevelled bit was rust, but all i have now is a shiny bolt which is still bevelled.

stew

 

[r-reg-sr]

mole grippers can help?

 

[Stewpotz]

tried them and couldnt get a good grip.

will give them another try tomorrow and see if i can get it off

 

[niall k10]

Heat it right up then use the mole grips :grinning:

 

[r-reg-sr]

i snapped 2 near /under the gear stick doing the drivers side handbrake cable
erm dont give in!

 

[gtsnissanb]

The only option maybe to snap them off then drill it out and tap it

 

[Stewpotz]

ganna try using a hacksaw and cut a groove in it so i can get a flat head screwdriver in it

if that doesnt work then i may still use the hacksaw and try to cut the bevelled bit off and try again with mole grippers/pliers...only prob with grips at the moment is that i cant get a good grip as there is only about 1-2mm of flat bolt which i can grip.

 

[joshbl]

Mine were little rusty stubs, no distinguishable shape to them. chisel, hammer, hacksaw, bob's your uncle

 

[Noddie]

remove the thing, its useless.

 

[Stewpotz]

yeah gonna try hacksawing a groove and just trying to turn it with a screwdriver, if that dont work, hacksaw the bevelled bits off...or at least down some more and then use a tight fitting socket and brute force

 

[Stewpotz]

remove the thing, its useless.

but removing it is the problem, cant get the nut off to get the support bracket and heat shield off in the first place....that and my manifold is totally rusty and looks awful

 

[Stewpotz]

no good, tried mole grips and they wouldn't hold, they would grip to start and as soon as i turned, they would just fall off
hacksaw is a no go, as the support bracket is in the way, and i cant get the saw to cut across the face of it.

heating is also a no go as i would probably melt something i shouldnt

gonna have to leave it, or try to spray it with it still on the car...and not spray everything else ;-)

 

[r-reg-sr]

have you tried the mole grips from the side-horizontal instead of vertical

 

[Stewpotz]

have you tried the mole grips from the side-horizontal instead of vertical

yep...gave up and sprayed it how it is, just covered everything in newspaper and went ahead...looks ok at the moment, will be able to tell in an hour probably

 

[pollyp]

angle grind/dremel the bolt head off then throw the shield in the bin

 

[Stewpotz]

angle grind/dremel the bolt head off then throw the shield in the bin

just sprayed it now...looks alright
and didnt want to remove it as the manifold is covered in rust and when i was wire brushing it, it was getting smaller and smaller becaus of all the rust coming off it

is it ok to spray the manifold in that case???

 

[gtsnissanb]

probably just burn off anyway:glare:

 

[TonyN]

This thread is 10 years old, but I ran into exactly the same problem today on my 1996 GX.
Heat shield had never been removed, two upper bolts came off OK, but for the lower bolt holding on the bracket a 10mm socket was too big, 9mm socket was too small to fit over the head of the bolt.
Fished out a 3/8" socket (= 9.5mm) from an old 1/4" drive set and it was a slightly loose fit but worked OK to get the bolt undone (using plus-gas and gentle back-and-forth).