legacycentral bbs

Ok, well, I'm trying to pull off my factory downpipe to put on an aftermarket unit, and I can't for the life of me, get the bolts/nuts off.

First off - what size socket do I need for the damn bolts/nuts?!? It seems like NOTHING will fit, like it's a friggen half metric size or something.

Secondly....any advice? PB Blaster doesn't seem to be doing the trick.

If they are still OEM bolts they should all be 14mm

BP blast it and let it sit. Maybe get the turbo/exhaust hot from a drive and then try to remove them w/ large breaker bar and much furry

agree. they will come off much better if you can drive the car to warm that up. If your engine is toast and wont run, a good breaker bar.

you can never go wrong with mapp gas either. Unless they are saturn lower controll arms where the through bolts wont come out and you melt the bushings trying to warm it up....

Yep, heat is your friend on exhaust bolts. A small propane torch should do the trick, but oxy-acetylene/map is much better, heat em tell they start to glow and they wont argue much. Be mindful of wires and such tho, when in doubt shield things with a piece of sheet metal or at least a few layers of aluminum foil.

Good luck.
Gary

Awesome, thanks for the help guys.

This is actually a project I started last winter but gave up on. I'm pulling my Subie out again and can't wait to give it another go.

All the above and an impact gun.

Mine ended up twisting/breaking alot. One even came off cross-threaded, even though it looked like it went on normal.

oh yeah.. remember to put on anti-seize when you assemble. that way next time you have to take them loose, its cake.

evolutionmovement wrote:All the above and an impact gun.

Good call. My buddy has one. I'll see if I can steal it Sunday.

Richard wrote:Mine ended up twisting/breaking alot. One even came off cross-threaded, even though it looked like it went on normal.

This is what I'm afraid of. I don't want to have to pull my turbo off the car to re-tap them and put the aftermarket pipe on.

High PSI wrote:

evolutionmovement wrote:All the above and an impact gun.

Good call. My buddy has one. I'll see if I can steal it Sunday.

Good luck fitting an impact in there. And you probably need a decent sized compresser/tank. Usually when I use impacts from home I get better results using my hands.

If the 14mm socket doesn't fit easily, it may be because it's not deep enough, try using a 14mm deep socket. And if it is and it still won't fit on there, try giving it a little love tape with a hammer. And you'll get more grip on the nut if you use a 6-sided socket.

I remember the first time I took mine off... It was a b*tch. But I haven't had any problems since. Good Luck!!

I did mine out of the car so some of the nuts may be inaccessible, but I use a cordless 18V impact gun. Best penetrating fluid I've used is Zep 45 if you can find it - it's not a consumer sale item. Another method is the poor-man's impact gun - tapping a wrench or ratchet rapidly with a small hammer while trying to turn it. Some stubborn nuts/bolts like heavy torque while others like vibration.

Well, I've been going at it. And it's been a bitch. Still not done yet, but close....

The two upper bolts broke loose, but only within the turbo/downpipe. I couldn't break the nuts loose from the bolts for the life of me. So I ended up just grinding those off with my die grinder.

The middle nut (looking down from the top of the engine bay on the left towards the fender) came out with the nut without too much drama.

The bottom left-most nut is a whore. It rounded off, and vice grips won't do a thing. I'm going to have to try to carefully grind the nut off the stud, without completely screwing the stud up, so that I can hopefully re-use the stud. Otherwise, I'm either not using that stud, or pulling the turbo out to replace it. I'm guessing it would be the former for now.

The bottom right-most nut I haven't really got into yet, but it looks like it's a monster PITA to get to. Can't wait.

On a side note...anyone know a good place to get replacement studs, bolts, and nuts? It looks like I'm going to be replacing them all.

I was able to find some metric studs at ACE hardware of all places. They should have nuts/bolts also. Otherwise NAPA or most automotive stores should have a decent stock of hardware (though usualy lacking any usefull metric sizes).
Are you going at the bottom nuts from underneath the car? I found it was much easier to get around the downpipe that way. Good luck!

Threshld1 wrote:I was able to find some metric studs at ACE hardware of all places. They should have nuts/bolts also. Otherwise NAPA or most automotive stores should have a decent stock of hardware (though usualy lacking any usefull metric sizes).
Are you going at the bottom nuts from underneath the car? I found it was much easier to get around the downpipe that way. Good luck!

Thanks, I'll give ACE a try. I haven't had any luck finding any real selection of metric nuts/studs/bolts at any other real hardware stores.

I tried to get to the bottom nuts from both above AND below. Originally I tried from above, and after I rounded the nut off, I went below with a set of vice grips. Below sucked becuase my arm was jammed up in between the axle and the cat on the downpipe. I had to try to reach my vice grips up through the little space I had, and then blindly clamp down on the nut. After an hour or so of messing around with it I got nowhere.

Mcmaster-carr.com may have something. They also ship next day as standard. If you're changing the studs the pitch won't matter so they may carry something (I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have the right pitch).

Try http://www.fastenal.com/web/home.ex They have a number of stores around the country.

kleinkid wrote:Try http://www.fastenal.com/web/home.ex They have a number of stores around the country.

Damn, there's two within 5 miles of my house. I'll check this place out too. Thanks!

This may be a stupid comment but make sure you use grade 8 studs and nuts

Hammer, sharp cold chisel.
Split the side of the nut and it will fall off.
Use copper coat anti sieze compound on the new ones.

Luck

I should have though of the chisel earlier...

I ended up using my die grinder and grinding off as little of the stud while hitting as much of the nut as possible. It actually ended up working out pretty well. The two studs I had to take the die grinder to still have most of the thread on them, and the new downpipe flange is about twice as thick as the stock downpipe flange...so I'll be a bit further out on the stud, where I didn't touch the thread at all.

I ordered new stainless steel hardware from this place:

www.mmsacc-stainless.com

I found the info in an old thread by vrg3 who was pulling his downpipe. The guy I spoke with there (John) was very helpfull even on such a small order (he had me call him on the phone to work everything out), and their prices are VERY reasonable. He even told me where I would save money by using a more coarse thread if I could.

I had similar problems, ended up using vice grips, a breaker bar, and a hammer to get the last nut off.

aspect wrote:I had similar problems, ended up using vice grips, a breaker bar, and a hammer to get the last nut off.

You had better luck than me. I could not, for the life of me, get the vice grips to hold the nut. I consider myself a pretty damn strong guy, and with the vice grips as tight as I could get them, the grips would still slip on the nut when I had a cheater bar on the end of the vice grips for leverage.