Leave on your exhaust manifold when tapping for an egt gauge?

[kmoore]

I have a question about tapping into your exhaust manifold for an egt gauge. Can you really leave your exhaust manifold on when you are drilling the hole? I found this write-up on vfaq.com and i don't know if i should listen to this guy?
http://www.vfaq.com/index-main.html
(Sorry, i thought that the link would bring you right to it- the post is under gauges at the top and then it is the second one down)Can you really install this gauge by drilling a hole in the exhaust manifold and not take it off the manifold?! Have you guys drilled a hole and not taken off your exhaust manifold? Thanks

 

[silver bullit]

You relly should take it off and if it is a turbo, metal shavings to a spinning turbo blade is not good.

 

[olmytsi]

I did it with the car on. You have to do it really slowly with the car running so that the exhaust gases going by push the shavings out and very little goes in and through the turbo.

 

[jeremy19984g63]

i have seen others after drilling use a magent to extract shavings, but when i did mine i tried the magnet and then desided to take of the manifold. all i can say is there was still a lot of metal in there and turbos are not cheap. i dont want that stuff going though mine, but it may not do any thing to it. i'm just that way. do it right the first time!

 

[CanadianTSi]

I did it with the manifold on and the car running, everything was fine.

 

[evolveddsm]

When I did it it was with the car running. the pressure blew out most if not all the metal shavings. But as stated above you need to drill slowly.

 

[RamenPride]

I did it with the manifold on and the car running, everything was fine.

same here. just make sure you use progressively larger bits, don't try to drill just one big hole from the start.

 

[ReebisTSI]

same here. just make sure you use progressively larger bits, don't try to drill just one big hole from the start.

^Agreed. At idle, the turbine isnt spinning and as long as your step the drill bits you should be fine.

 

[beat90tsi]

I believe the turbine is still spinning, since air is going past it. I've been wrong before, but I'm pretty sure about that one.

 

[ReebisTSI]

I believe the turbine is still spinning, since air is going past it. I've been wrong before, but I'm pretty sure about that one.

Hmmmm. I do remember reading a How-To somewhere that told me the blades do not turn at idle, hence the shavings just get washed out the tailpipe, but alas, I cant find it now. I will keep looking and get back on that one. Any Wisemen care to chime in?

 

[CanadianTSi]

The blades are spinning at idle and regardless of weather or not there are spinning the tiny metal shavings are still just going to blow past them, hurting nothing.

 

[fwdeclipse]

I did mine with the manifold on and everything is fine.I put alot of grease on the end of the drill bit and when you start drilling all of the shaving stick to the bit and nothing falls in.Good luck.

 

[2bclutch]

I'm going to be doing this pretty soon. Can anyone give me an idea on Drill Bit sizes to step up to? As in Small up to 11/32" for the TRE Probe? I also saw a write up on here with someone commenting saying that the metal shavings would be so small that it really wouldn't effect the blades of the turbo.

 

[kmoore]

So, you guys are saying before i start drilling at all i should turn on the car and drill while the car is on? Should i be concerned with the exhaust leak that will be coming from the manifold when i drill the hole? Will it mess anything up permanetly? (I haven't bought the gauge yet- so bare with me) but, does the autometer electronic egt gauge w/ probe come with a bung of some sort, that i need to weld on the manifold or does the probe just screw right in? What should i use on the probe so that there are no leaks? Thanks

 

[kmoore]

Sorry, i got one more question. Do they make some sort of magnetic drill bit so all of the shavings will stick to the bit when you pull it out of the exhaust manifold? Over all was this gauge hard to install? Thanks- i guess that was two questions

 

[MyBeatGSX]

Ditto all of his questions and add one more. How many of you guys have had problems with the manifold cracking or leaking because of the probe?

 

[olmytsi]

My probe started eventually coming out under wot cause the threads were stripped. But i think it's because we drilled it at an angle instead of on top of the runner. I ended up getting rid of my EGT gauge and getting a new evo 3 mani....EGT is getting 'replaced' with a wideband.

 

[kmoore]

So, is there any other tips to doing this so that there won't be any cracking or probes coming out?

 

[boostedinaz]

Drill it while the car is on so the exhaust will push out most of the shaving. On top of that get a good sharp drill bit and SLOWLY drill into the manifold. I would also dip the drill pit in grease so that whatever metal shavings might have fallen in will be trapped in the grease.

There should be no reason for the probe to fall out unless it isn't tight or the hole drilled was slightly to large or an odd shape. As far as cracking it depends on the manifold. 1G are know to crank so if they do around the probe I wouldn't be surprised. On other manifolds it shouldn't crack.

 

[elfroggo]

Probably just paranoid but yeah... wouldn't there be hot gas spewing out after you drill through? Sure, it's at idle, but the exhaust should still probably be like 600-800deg?

 

[kmoore]

Alright thanks. that makes me a little more confident. Overall was this gauge to hard to install?

 

[boostedinaz]

Probably just paranoid but yeah... wouldn't there be hot gas spewing out after you drill through? Sure, it's at idle, but the exhaust should still probably be like 600-800deg?

At idle it is not very hot, but you could wear gloves.

 

[daren_p]

Probably just paranoid but yeah... wouldn't there be hot gas spewing out after you drill through? Sure, it's at idle, but the exhaust should still probably be like 600-800deg?

At idle the temps aren't super hot, under 500 C but yes once you drill through it will get abit warm on the hands. I just did it in small steps so everything including my hands wouldn't get to hot.

 

[kmoore]

Hey can anybody tell me if i need to "tap" or "thread" the hole after i drill it or can i just screw in the probe?

 

[boostedinaz]

Hey can anybody tell me if i need to "tap" or "thread" the hole after i drill it or can i just screw in the probe?

Yes you have to tap the manifold.