axhoaxho

Greetings,

I have an 87 951 with 120K miles on it. The car is all stock and has up-to-dated maintenance.

The exhaust manifold has leaks, so I am thinking to have a local reputable shop (Heyer Performance, Mountain View, CA) to change the exhaust manifold.

My question is... while removing all the parts to get to the exhaust manifold, any other things should also be done (e.g. vacuum lines, gaskets, hoses, coolant flush, etc. etc.)?

Since it is going to go deep into my pocket for $, I think I might as well bit the bullet and do it all at once…

Thanks very much for all the suggestions. With best regards,

shane rizzo

you should change and replace the studs. this is a good time to do this. also get new gaskests as well.

special tool

I would put a real wastegate on the car. You can get a Tial kit which will be bolt on. The factory wastegate is ridiculous.

Dave951M

The headers likely have a crack or two in them. You can save big $$ by pulling the header off and taking them to a reputable welding shop, make sure they can weld stainless. Ditto on the exhaust studs but be careful as they can break off and that's another fight, but not one that will require removing the head.

Flight_951

If you are planning on having the shop put a Porsche replacement manifold on the car for $1800 plus labor, don't bother. SFR sells a really nice header for $895 and your shop's labor charge. I actually just bought one last night (not kidding).

Tom M'Guinn

Axhoaxho,

Unlike a lot of projects on this car, the header can come out without needing to take apart lots of other stuff. There is not a lot of "while you are in there" stuff to replace. Exhaust studs and gaskets are all that come to mind. Tony is a good guy. He had my head machined for me, and went to extra mile to get it to me while he was on vacation. A word of caution about after-market headers. In California, fancy shiny headers may raise the eyebrows of the smog police. Tony should be able to fix up your headers or find suitable replacements. If by any chance you still have the old style header without the accordian section, that is a must upgrade item.

axhoaxho

Thanks guys for all the inputs.

Hi, Tom, thanks for good words about Tony @ Heyer Performance. Everyone spoke highly about Tony. He just went extra miles to get my 951 smog legal at a very reasonable rate.

So far we couldn't pinpoint all the exhaust leaks because some are hidden under the flange. I guess with all the confidence on Tony, I would just ask him to go ahead take the exhaust off, and examine if it can be welded or needs to be replaced.

I might have more questions to ask help from you folks later, when we worked on the car. Thanks in advance.

With best regards,

PorscheDoc

You know, it might not be a bad time to pull the oil cooler and do the seals on that, since the manifold will be out of the way.

Epic2112

I second Karl's suggestion

nize

just curious, how can you tell if there's an exhaust leak? by not getting enough boost? and how can you pinpoint it? don't you have to remove the headers to locate the leaks?

axhoaxho

Can tell by spraying soapy water on the exhaust manifold during cold start...

axhoaxho

Thanks guys for all the inputs. Here's a quick update on my exhaust manifold leak -- Tony at Heyer Performance helped took the manifold out and did find a couple cracks on the headers (he said that it took them some good 4 letter words to remove the header ).

Tony has a set of very good shape headers from another 951, and he offered me a good price for this set of header. Also, while the intake was taken out forthe work, I asked Tony to replace all the vacuum lines under the intake, and also changed the ISV. I also asked him to help refill the A/C with some R-12 (good thing that California is somewhat close to Mexico, so many shops here always have a can or two R-12 sitting around )

Since I have heard so much good words from rennlist about Tony and his work, I just let him take care of everything. The work is going to cost me some good $, but oh well....

Mine is a bone stock 87 951 in Diamond Blue, and I plan to keep it pretty much that way... The work should be done tomorrow or Wed, I will keep my fingers crossed.

Thanks again for all the help, folks