Ya it sounded ok and I gave it a test drive and then drove it home (still MOT'd until november) but it's got some rust and a lot of the hoses were cracked or rotten.

I would not take it apart then, especially if it's your first time doing this sort of thing.

The engine will come out easily there's a mass of space round the CVH.

TT

If you are talking about a manifold stud just keep on turning and the stud will come out then you can get the nut off when its off the car

Fair enough TT, still kind of stuck with the bolt though as I'll need to screw the nut back in. The bolt head is kind of inside the engine if that makes sense and isn't accessible?

From experience, the easiest way to remove a cvh engine is with a 4 tonne forklift truck!

That will just be a stud that screws into the cylinder head, If the nut has stuck to the thread ( They often are ) Just unscrew it all the way out ;)

It wil not harm the engine in any way :)

Once you have removed the stud & nut, you can either try to remove the nut from the stud or simply buy a new stud.
M8 manifold studs are not very expensive to replace & are easy to obtain.

From personal experience, you are lucky thet the whole stud is turning .... It is not unusual for them to snap off when the nuts have become rusted to them :eek:

Ah right, so these studs are just bolts without a head? In the picture I've attached I've circled one of these that you can see, the one with the stuck nut is kind of behind the dipstick.

Yes they are just studs & pefectly safe just to remove the whole thing

Here's an idea of the kind of replacement available.

Ford Manifold studs

Shop around for them as prices vary wildly but can be bought quite cheaply ;)

I quite frequently remove the studs from a cylinder head when working on one, makes life a lot easier when it comes to laying it of its side or removing the valves :)

Worked on stripping a bit more today and got a bit farther. Slow going and my back is killing me now, but nothing a few beers wont sort out :) Managed to get the alternator off and started trying to get the power steering off that sits above the alternator but got stuck again :( One of the bolts holding on wont come off without removing the exhaust manifold so I started taking that off. I got all the studs holding the manifold to the block but I'm really struggling to undo the studs that hold the manifold onto the exhaust pipe. The whole manifold is quite rusty and the studs are in really tight and badly rusted too. I've tried wd40 again but still wasn't enough to loosen them. Any ideas on a good way to undo these or get around it?

If you are intending to use the same exhaust manifold on your build, don't get too angry with the fixings holding the down pipie to manifold , they are almost certainly going to snap, leaving you to drill the broken studs from the manifold :eek:

Here's a couple of ideas.

Pull the manifold assembly to one side, tie it back out of the way & sort it once you have removed the engine.

Secondly, chop the manifold off by cutting through the downpipe, leaving a few inches of the downpipe for you to play with when fabricating your Roadsters exhaust.
Very unlikely that you will need the Sierras downpipe in its current form .

Now, I can't remember if the exhaust is mounted to the manifold using nuts & studs or bolts.
Eiter way, heat will help .... Heat very hot and then quench with cold water ( This will destroy the rust bond ).

If nuts & studs are used, grind one side of the nut away, taking great care not to hit the threads with the grinder .... Heat of grinding should break the bond, if not, once almost down to the thread, spread the nut a little using a chizel.
This job will be much easier with the manifold removed from the car & the rusty threads can be cleaned up with a die :)