Imperfect'd: The Silver Bullet: Exhaust Manifold Gasket

I haven't been lazy in working on the cars and bikes, just lazy in posting about them.

On the Silver Bullet I installed a new battery terminal on the positive post with a stud and wing-nut combo, and redid the main electrical connectors in 4 GA brass ring ends... (I also had to put a new battery in, but the other one did last me since 2002).

But the main project this time around was the exhaust manifold gaskets. I forgot to document the process with the camera, but I should find those old gaskets and post a photo of them -- they are pretty gnarly looking. And yes, they were responsible for the horrendous engine noise and lackluster performance, the rough idle, and so much more.

In the middle of that job, I took a break and rewired the rear door harnesses. After I had hacked them all to bits, I found that the kits are less than $20 from IPD. Oh well. I saved most of the connectors, so maybe I could rewire them in later... The way they are now I have to implement an alternative cable channel anyway... This little bit of wiring fixed the license plate lights, the rear door power lock, and presumably the rear wiper/sprayer.

I hadn't really done much exhaust work before this manifold gasket job, but it's pretty easy. The only difficult part was leveraging the manifold on and off. While I was trying to detach the header from the header pipe connection, I badly stripped a bolt that's in a place where it is impossible to get leverage, so I ended up manhandling the exhaust manifold off whilst leaving the header pipe in place. I don't recommend this, but my friend was 3-foot section of pipe that I once found by the side of the road. It was my wrench-extender, and lever-bar -- my best friend for this job (I should post a picture). When I found it on the side of the road, stopped, picked it up, and put it in the car, I swear I thought my Wife was going to get out of the car and leave, but she didn't. And now it really came in handy.