Acert Exhaust Manifold gasket.

I dont know the reason but I am guessing you need them. They are about 20 bucks a piece. You also should change the exhaust studs. If you do make sure they give you the studs for the acert. The studes are the same excepet the short stud for the acert is about 3/8 inch longer. You also need to make sure to get the lock nuts. Some of the ones I got did not "lock" very well you could turn them on by hand they did not stay tight either.
I can give you some advice that may save you a ton of work if I can explain it right on here.
1st you do NOT need to drain the colant. I'll explain later
remove the turbos and piping a 1/2" 1/4" drive flex socket makes that a easier to get at the oil lines. Make a mental not which oil line is facing what direction as they swivel.
Remove the turbo to block bracket.
Remove the 4 bolts that retain the precooler and pull it lose and lay it against the frame and bungee it there.
Remove the pre cooler to block bracket
Remove the exhaust manifold nuts 2 will require a wrench the short center 1 and the 1 behind the t-stat housing.
Remove the spacers and vise grip the studs out of the front half of the manifold. The spacer behind the t-stat housing you will have to remove with the spacer in place.
Pull the manifold and the rest of the studs.
Remove exhaust sleaves and clean the gkt. material off the block. Carb cleaner on a rag helps to remove any carbon build up that you might have.
Install rear half of the studs. They are supposed to be torqed to 28ft/lbs dont do that! Double nut the stud and put it in wrist tight with a short wrench about 10-15ft/lbs(if you ever break a stud you will understand why). Make sure the tappered part of the stud goes in the head.
Install the manifold. Make sure the holes are centered around the stud on the center section and put the spacers and nuts on just snugged up.
do the same for the rear section.
Same thing on the front except for the one you cant get to. That 1 you need to make sure that you put the spacer on the stud before starting it. Once its finger tight slide the spacer out as far as you can get it and use a pair of needle nose vise grips up against the manifold to tighten it. Center the holes around the stud and tighten all the nuts working form the inside out in a circular patern. I think its about 30 ft/lbs it might be 28 or 35 dont remember exactly I used my calibrated elbow and a 9/16 craftsman wrench.
Reinstall the brackets You may need to modify them with a grinder to get them to clear the manifold. I had to with my PDI manifold.
Reinstall the rest of your parts. The oil lines on the turbo can be a bit challenging to get the bolts to start. Hint the gkts will hold the bolts in place DO NOT over torq the bolts!
Hope that makes sense and helps.

 

I just did a manifold swap on Jan. 1 on my 6NZ, all the studs, nuts, and exhaust gaskets were $314 at Peterbilt in Sioux City....and I thought that was pricey! I'll quit complaining about the price now. Good luck with the swap. We did my 6NZ in 1.5 hours.

 

If your going to drain the coolant then I would pull the t-stat housing and change the t-stats and its easier to get the manifold off with the housing out of the way. I would also change both precooler hoses while your in there. Make sure that the lower precooler does not rub when you put it back together(its tough to see, make the extra effort!).
600 is to much for the gkts and hardware. Did you get them from the Cat house? If you did take them back and go to a truck dealer saves you about 20%
Its an all day job if you go that route. Yes the cat dealer told me 8 hours too I told them how I do it, they said with a smile yeah we know!

 

The bolt acts as a spring, as the manifold heats up it expands. The bolt needs to be long so that it can stretch over a longer area and return to its original length without fatigue. Or so I've been told.

Even if your not going to change the stats I would pull the housing it will be alot easier to line the manifold up. Its only 3 bolts and a couple of plugs. It can be removed without taking off the alternator. You will have to wrench a bolt or 2 but still saves time.

 

what year or serial number is the engine? all accert's bxs/mxs/nxs had the sleeve gaskets.