7/7/08
I've been working on the exhaust sytem for about a week now. The flange rusted off the exaust pipe, then I busted the studs off the exhaust manifold. I 'sat' on it for a couple of days thinking wether I was going to fix it or junk it. I figured it's still worth fixin' and keepin'.
Getting the exhaust manifold off is a pain. Mainly because it's a nasty greasy thing to work on. Then, it's so tight, all metric, and probably really need special tools. But, I got the intake and exhaust manifold off. I had to take off the power steering pump and bracket, and out with the air cleaner. There is a 'tray' on top of the intake manifold that once removed, makes it slightly easier to get to the lower manifold bolts. To remove the tray, you must remove the injector manifold, which requires you remove the throttle body and all the plumbing to the injector manfold. To put it mildly, it sucks. I took the two manifold out as one piece, held together by the EGR tube between the exhaust and intake. This broke today. More on that later. The exaust manifold studs for the exhaust pipe might have been changed before. One stud definetly had a hex head that was 13mm. It wouldn't turn or push out even when heared with an acetylene torch and slammed with a sledge hammer. So, I sawed-off the bolts and drilled them out, which was rather easy, thanks to the 'Drill Doctor'! Once drilled almost to the diameter of the bolts, I slammed the heads with the hammer, and they started moving! I then knocked them out. The studs are splined, so I don't know why the one bolt had a hex head. I'm thinking about stainless replacements. Anyway, I'm going to replace what is practically impossible to change with the manifolds on. That is a temperature sensor that is mounted just above the motor mount. Funny the water jacket extends this far down the block. Also, there is a sensor in the intake manifold that looks like another temperature sensor. I guess I should change the intake/exhaust manifold gasket and the injector seals, which reminds me to clean those suckers. So, if it's nice tommorow, after work, I'll get some stuff and start putting it back together.

8/29/09 A while ago, maybe two months, I was coming home from the autoparts place, looking for a hose for the Taurus, and the left-rear spring broke, like the right side. Now again, I thought about junkin' it. I was at a diner chattin' with a guy I knew. He suggested I use his disk grinder. That thing cut the bolts in half like butter. I had to later buy one. I already had the springs. I just needed to get the shackles, bushings and bolts to finish the back. A guy at work helped me press the bushings in, and then the assembly went OK. While I was crazily swinging that grinder around, I hacked-off the stabilizer bar, another part I bought a long time ago and couldn't change. Ultimately that went together with a new bolt. I was test driving it and it rode great. I noticed he exhaust was getting loud, though, louder by the day in fact. One day while going to Autozone to look for smething to fix it, the catalytic converter broke from the flange. I turned around to take it back home. It wasn't dragging the ground all the time, but then it started suddenly, I ran-over the muffler, broke it off the tail pipe, twisted the pipe like a pretzel, and I had to pull over and pick the parts up with a vise grip, when I put them on the roof and drove home. I'm practically broke at this time, let alone the Jeep. I ordered the cat, muffler and tail pipe from RockAuto.com and waited. The parts came in, I got heat-paint and sprayed the parts. I hung the parts up and started it. It sounded good. I got clamps and a hanger and finished it up today.