I finally got down to it today.
I got the car up and soaked the rusted bolts with release - all. After a few broken bolts, one I had to drill out, and the very last one which snapped off after much force there was a twisted piece of what was left of the heat shield. Damn I hate that thing!
Since this only took about an hour and I was eager, I decided to skip the "wait overnight while the release-all works" and go at the first rusted bolt I could see holding the cat. converter to the muffler. I couldn't tell whether it was a 13mm or 12mm bolt as the 13 fit, yet the 12 was tighter after a good solid hammering job. (could anyone tell me which?)
After appling much force in a counter-clockwise direction with my trusty wrench (I'm hoping these bolts aren't reverse threaded or some whacked-out nonsense like that) nothing happened. Then I decided to try the hammer. Nothing. Then I tried my socket wrench.
The bolt started to turn. Only slightly. Then again. Then:
&
Ok ... maybe I'm jumping the gun here.
Are these bolts so rusted and seized that I'm not going to be able to get this job done?
I've sprayed more release-all on tonight in hopes that things will be "easier" tomorrow. Is this typical?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Kato