Aaaarrrgghh!! Problem with "no muffler" need heat exchanger

masraum · 08-09-2003, 07:21 AM

Man, So anyone running with a stock exhaust and no muffler bolted to the back of the cat, take note. make sure you've got some sort of support for the end of the cat or wait for a cracked exhaust. Yesterday on the way home my car seemed louder than usual. I got home, got under the car, and realized that one of the three pipes of the heat exchanger was broken due to the weight of the cat bouncing around.

So, does anyone have a heat exchanger (stock) that's in good shape (not rusty) for a 3.2L laying around that they want to get rid of cheap? Apparently driver's side and passenger's side are the same, so either will do.

Man, I don't want to fight with those rusty 15 year old bolts. I'm thinking the best bet is to cut them off. For anyone who has tackled this job before how bad are the bolts that hold the thing to the heads likely to be? Are they likely to strip easy? Any pointers. I'll be driving another car all week and then doing this next weekend. I suppose I need to start hitting them with PB Blaster daily.

Thanks for any help.

masraum · 08-09-2003, 07:55 AM

I guess I'll try Oklahoma Foreign too.

350HP930 · 08-09-2003, 08:05 AM

Oh man, you might be in for some trouble.

During the tear down of my 930 motor I had the privaledge of having the motor out and upside down, an acetylene torch and a variety of tools to help deal with the fact that my exhaust nuts were about a half a millimeter smaller and irregularily shaped due to 130K+ miles and 16 years of corrosion.

I am happy to say that I managed to remove most of them normally with a socket (undersized and hammered on by the way) and an allen driver.

Unfortunately there were a couple exhaust studs in the head that I will be removing the hard way since they busted flush with the head.

I also had to cut off a few of the collector bolts too.

I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor. You will need it.

masraum · 08-09-2003, 09:04 AM

Crap, that is what I am afraid of. The collector bolts on the muffler end are fine, but the other end of the cat I know will need to be cut off. I'm just hoping for the best on the bolts in the heads. Crap, I'll have to find out the cost if someone else does this, but I can't really afford that.

Steve W · Steve W's Garage

Just use a lot of nut busting penetrant, and tap them nuts each time to get it in there, and they shouldn't be too difficult to break loose. Do it a few times over the course of at least a couple of days. Well that was my experience.

Jack Olsen · 08-09-2003, 01:15 PM

Check your email, Steve.

masraum · 08-09-2003, 01:20 PM

Thanks, will do, I'm at work for another 2 hours.

Adman · 08-09-2003, 01:49 PM

Steve...wish there was some thing I could do to help! I cant think of a thing. Good luck with the rust buster.