So last weekend I was replacing the cat. The guy who put the old on one welded the bolt-on cat to the t-pipe. So I tried all day last Sunday to grind off the weld, to no avail.

So today I got all hooked up with some compressed air grinders and went to work. Well, that didn't work either. So I decided to take the t-pipe off. I've already removed the passenger side manifold before, but not the drivers side. So I got the t-pipe off one side, but on the other, the studs sheared off. So I went ahead and cleaned up the t-pipe with a large electric grinder and installed the cat.

Then I started taking off the manifold. Of the four bolts remaining, I got... holy s***, all of them off. But I couldn't get the sheared off bolts out. So I guess my car will sit for another week while I go to work.

 

I'm not picking on ya but why didn't you just use a hack saw???
2-3 mins and the old cat is cut any where you want. a pipe adapter or tow and a few hours later you were done???


Matt

 

Oh I did use a hacksaw. But I still had nowhere to hook up the new cat. It was either do what I did, or cut the pipe off further up around the bend and screw with multiple adapters. I won't take any offence to you picking on me, because you didn't see the mess the guy made. But next time, a few snips and I'm done. I love doing a good job.

 

What sheared bolts can't you get out? Ones left in the head (from the exhaust manifolds), or ones for the y-pipe-to-manifold connection?

 

It's the "y-pipe" to manifold bolts that sheared, leaving about 1/4" protruding (although there are two manifold to head bolts missing their heads, but that won't be a problem). I saturated them with liquid wrench on Saturday, and today my dad was going to attempt to clamp the remaining part of the bolts in a vice and get them out. No word on whether that worked. If that failed he was just going to have one of his machinists fix it up for me. Unfortunately its the driver's side, so the bolt holes are not through holes (like I seem to remember they are on the passenger's side). I tried every kind of wrench you can think of to no avail.

edit: I just talked to my dad. He just used a bench vice, and the bolts came out without much struggle. A bench vise's got some bite to it! One hour by the time everything's said and done, and my car will be running once again.