Cat

[89SandBagger]

Attempting to gut the converter out here, car is on ramps but having difficulty getting the bolts off..tried penetrating oil a couple times with no luck. I dont have much room to work with under the car, just enough to slide my body under, so not much leverage. The bolts are the ones on the flange not the clamp. Also, do I remove all of the bolts or just the 3 outter ones, cant see them to well. Any secrets for really stubborn nuts? Not rusted btw..

 

[mark b]

HEAT! ... lot's of it. You might be able to soak 'em for quite a while, but the only really decent way is with a torch. Not the hardware store oen - that won't get hot enough.

Instead of killing yourself, maybe go to a local muffler place and ask them to heat 'em and remove them?

Exhaust systems can be a b*tch with home tools.

When you replace the bolts, get stainless. It definitely helps.

 

[trading t/a]

What I usually do is soak the intermediate pipe with penetrating fluid for a few hours than drop the intermediate pipe. Take a pipe or breaker bar and hammer it in the cat. The porcelain will brake apart once you get it broken pretty good start the car and it will blow out on the ground. Keep repeating until it's clean.

 

[89SandBagger]

And blow it thru the exhaust pipes? thanks in advance.

 

[1badTTA]

or use a shop vac to suck it up and recycle it, its worth about $25 for all the honeycomb in one of our cats. See what a salvage yard will give you for it.

 

[89SandBagger]

Great, thanks for the info guys.

 

[trading t/a]

Not through the exhaust pipes directly out the cat. Break up all the porcelain inside the cat and before you put the intermediate pipe back onto the cat, just start it up and blow the stuff out of the back of the cat and onto the ground.

Pete

 

[89SandBagger]

Well, I finished it, and it was not very fun..I was only able to drop the side of the cat with the flange on it, because the other end with the clamp was so tight it crimped the metal where i could twist it, but not pull it out. Needless to say i had to break all the porcelain in it laying down, but used a shop vac to get the smaller particals. I like it

 

[Razor]

Heres a small exhuast system tip..NAPA sells a hi-temp copper anti-seize..I dunk all my exhuast bolts in this stuff before reinstalling them..it makes taking things apart a breeze in the future..

BTW I broke one of the bolts taking of my cat..15k miles..the seize on there nicely...

 

[1badTTA]

or just go to the hardware store and buy brass nuts, they never corrode.