How to replace 90 XJ-S exhaust manifold gasket, passenger side

The process is straight-forward: undo 16 nuts, pull manifolds away from engine, clean mating surfaces and reassemble. Undo an additional 4 nuts to separate the manifolds from the first cat to make cleaning the mating surfaces easier.

Now we can talk about reality…

  • Steel studs chemically boded into aluminum heads
  • Rusted nuts bonded to the other end of the studs
  • Is there enough room to maneuver the manifolds after 6 studs are snapped off?
  • Do you have a right-angle drill and proper tools to replace the stud holes in the head?

This thread dealt with it better than I can: