turbo bolt: how do I get to it?

[aschen]

bolt is now mangled pretty good. I can actually get a torch on it pretty easily because of the curve in the torch end. I can kinda get a dremel on it as well. What I cant get is any sort of device to put torque on the bolt. There is cust no clearance from any side, especially now the head is mangled.

If I just cut off the stud how hard will it be to replace. Will the turbo have to come off? Forgive my ignorance but are these threaded or pressed into the turbine housing?

frustrated<
Aaron

[ben parrish]

threaded

[JFairman]

It's a stud thats threaded into the turbo. It may be rusted into the cast iron housing and very hard to remove without breaking it off or mangling it.

If you know how to use an acetylene/oxygen cutting torch you can melt and burn off the nut without hurting the stud and if you've never done that I'm hesitant to suggest you try it.

[aschen]

The current state of "my nut". I really want to tackle this thing on sat but I have know idea what to do. Notice I took a hack saw to the air line in the way. The I have managed to dremel away a good portion of the nut as shown. It is pretty mangled. I have no way of getting any torque on the nut. No vice grips or even pliars will fit.

The only option as I see it is to try to dremel some more which will undoubly damage the stud. Any other sudgestions? Would 3studs be enough to keep the exaust from leaking until I upgrade to k27 in the next 6mo to year?

trying to learn, not mechanically inept, but unexperienced.......AES

[JFairman]

Your pics are so close up I can't tell how much room you have to work around the remains of that nut.

It looks like you could take a good sharp small to medium size cold chisel, put it in the ground out part of the rounded off nut to get a catch on it and whack it with a ballpeen hammer to either turn it counter clockwise loosening it or use the chisel to break one side of the nut apart which will loosen it's grip on the stud and then use the chisel to break the rest of the nut off or screw it off.

If you're good you can do that without damagng the stud.. It will leave some marks on it but if you don't hit the threads much with the chisel it should still be intact and usable.

The other option is an acetylene and oxygen torch to burn one side of the nut off without harming the stud.

When I worked as a street car mechanic operations like I just described were common practice on old rusted exhaust system nuts and bolts.

edit: you need all 4 studs and nuts on there.

[Ken911]

Like Fairman said a chisel works surprisingly well

[WinRice]

Put the other 3 nuts back on with some flat washers and tighten them to take the load off the stud you're working on. Everything hanging off that one stud puts it in a heck of a bind, and makes it harder to turn.

[1SIK930]

I had to cut a standard wrench in half to get to it.

[willtel]

Do you have the bumper out of the way? I removed mine to get a better angle at that top nut and it helped but it still wasn't easy. I think I'll order some of those special wrenches.


Emissions Rigmarole by willtel, on Flickr

[aschen]

after thinking about this problem for 6 wks I finally have a resolution. I took a sawzall to the exaust pipe which gave me plenty of room for clearance. I really didnt want to sacrafice the stock muffler but it felt great to finally get that sob off!

Who needs a theropist when you have a sawzall!

[Black_Hat]

You can get by with 3 nuts if you have a free flowing muffler
get 3 bigger stainless nuts and washers
then some "mr gasket" thick exhaust gasket stock and
cut your own gaskets the white stuff has good squish
and will seal well

this is great when the turbo or muffler is being changed a lot

and take off your rear bumper

[oilonly]

I am in the "take off your bumper" camp also. Plus it gives you the chance to clean it up real nice inside and out. Here is the thread that shows you how to do it.

Taking off Exhaust