Exhaust manifold replacement, what should I watch for?

I just replaced my old, cracked manifold and made sure to follow torque specs and procedures to a T. The engine seems noisy on start up, but then quiets down. However, snap throttle shows it almost die before resuming idle. I didn't use any sealant, and it was only done yesterday. I don't smell exhaust in the cab anymore, and I did leave the heat shield off as I was told that was a factor in cracking the stock manifolds. Should I let it heat cycle and then retighten, or did I miss something?

 

Hi Lou,

Welcome to TW.
It's good you didn't use any sealant. That would only mess things up. However you would need to use new gaskets between the exhaust manifold and the head, and between the exhaust manifold and the down pipe.

Noisy start ups mean that there is an exhaust leak somewhere, and when things get hot and expand it quiets down. With all the trouble of messing around with a cast iron stock exhaust manifold, I put a header on my '96 2.4 instead.



It's actually easier because the long header tubes completely eliminate the down tube, and having to mess with one extra connection.

Greg