up pipe leak

so i got a pretty bad uppipe leak. my entire down pipe and tranny are black and ive noticed a huge drop in power and mpg. i have access to a lift and a bunch of professional tools.
1. whats the best route to r&r the uppies
2. anybody got a smokin deal on some bellowed ones?

i might have to let it ride for a while cause i cant coin 500 dollars for the ones im finding online.

http://www.dieselorings.com/index.php?page=details&prod=142&cat=9&group=6

We did mine with the tranny in place however it took a dump a month later and for what its worth (my $.02) if you are equipped to do so remove it.

Do it tranny in place if you have the lift... It'll make it easy because you are standing up not half way laying down/ pulling your self up.

There is someone on here the just post some uppies for sale for 400. If you can't get those I would just get the Carquest Chevy 350 donuts to fix your leak.

I have done this once and tried the chevy donuts. It was a pita. The owner of the truck I was helping do this decided to go with the stock ones.

The biggest thing I have found with this job is be prepared for broken bolts. Especially the exhaust bolts.

Int'l bellowed up-pipes are the way to go. I got mine ceramic-coated from Riffraff - love them. I'm ordering a set for the Excursion this AM.

I've helped do a couple with trans and without, but never had a lift. If your bolts come out OK, its not that big a deal to do it on the ground. We did end up moving a 4" downpipe out of the way on one NJ truck to get better access to a bolt tha was rusted into the manifold...

Start spraying those bolts NOW with Kroil or PB Blaster. The last guy I helped did not believe me... oke: SERIOUSLY - spray them every day, sometimes cold and sometimes hot. The longer ya do this, the easier this job will be. If you don't hate the smell of HOT Blaster, you ain't done it enough!! oke:

bigcountrysg said:

The biggest thing I have found with this job is be prepared for broken bolts. Especially the exhaust bolts.

Click to expand...

I forgot about this :doh: Be prepared for it

bigcountrysg said:

The biggest thing I have found with this job is be prepared for broken bolts. Especially the exhaust bolts.

Click to expand...

What I've seen is the bolts tend to rust to the exhaust manifold. Usually, the nut comes off and bolt is frozen in the manifold since the part that passes thru there is threaded and the rust expands between the threads and LOCKS the bolt in. I think copious amounts of penetrant, for days or weeks before doing the job has to help. The last one I had trouble with we heated with oxy/acetylene a few times before it spun out. My friend CPUNeck also recently used liquid CO2 to get a stubborn bolt out of a manifold. Anyway, plan to replace all the bolts and for God's sake - use lots of hi-temp anti-seize when ya put it back together!

(put some anti-seize on the clamp for the babies butt too!)