I spent a good month fretting over installing my Dorman Exhaust Manifold. I learned in 2008 after a repair job from Honda that I had a cracked manifold. They quoted about 900+ dollars to fix. I refused and went on my way. Well fast forward to summer 2009 and I noticed the "hissing" sound under the hood was becoming very annoying. Took off the heat shield to look and sure enough, a good 2 inch crack down the manifold. Determined to save money, I read that Dorman produces great replacement parts.
So I ordered one. Upon receiving the part, I noticed it had everything I needed and some extras that I wasn't certain I would use. So it sat, and sat, and sat....
Determined that after a good month, it was time to install it, especially after the first couple cool days. I could smell exhaust in the cabin.
This morning I went out, purchased some PB Blaster spray (similar to Liquid Wrench) and sprayed down the rusty nuts and bolts.
Everything came off with minimal effort. The most difficult part of the removal was the oxygen sensor plastic plug connectors. I spent 30 minutes trying to get those apart.
On reinstall, have some good ratchet extensions, wrenches, and a torque wrench (maybe even one of those fancy sockets that are slotted for oxygen sensor removal).
Took me a couple hours to reinstall. Start at the bottom and leave everything "loose" and work your way up to the manifold. Once everything is aligned and in place, start to tighten to manufacturer torque specs. Everything fit great.
Thumbs up to this product. I'm no mechanic, but I know enough about cars to know my limitations. This is definitely a part I was able to handle relatively well!