What type of bolts/nuts hold cat heatshield on?
 

Can't tell if these are some sort of speednuts? When I try to remove the heatshield from below, some of the bolts simply spin and some spin the speednuts or whatever they are with them. Any advice? This is on my 87 3.2, all stock.

Hi r-mm.

I removed my cat shield this past winter from my stock 1989 3.2 to make a valve adjustment much easier on that side of the bottom of the motor. I had the same bolt-spinning-in-the-old-lock-nut problem. I would suggest you just grab those u-type lock nuts with a pair of vise-grips and get the bolts out. Then pry the nuts off the various mounts and throw them away. For new u-nuts, I found the perfect thing on clipsandfasteners.com. Just search for M6 x 1.0 mm u-nuts and you will find them. They work perfectly--just slide them over the mounts and bolt on the cat shield after you clean it up. You can buy new M6 x 1.0 mm bolts in the right length at any decent hardware store.

If you do not want to order the u-nuts (they come in a box of 100 or more), I'd be happy to ship you a dozen by mail free of charge from my lifetime supply... If you live in the Washington DC area, let me know and we can just meet and I'll give them to you.

Thanks very much! I suspected these were some sort of sheet metal nuts. I will grab the with the vice grips and remove them. I'd hugely appreciate a handful from your stash! I'll PM you my address.

Did you find you could adjust the d/s exhaust valves with the cat in place but heatshield removed? I'm really not dying to wage war against the cat bolts.

OK, great. I'll wait for your address by pm and will send the nuts to you tomorrow or Saturday.

Yes, adjusting the valves on the d/s lower side was very doable with the shield off and the cat left in place. Just be sure you provide yourself plenty of light when working and it is not a big deal. With the shield on it would have been a very frustrating job...

I've been cleaning up my 1987 Targa exhaust system while the engine is out of the car. Future browswers may find the following photos useful:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1375416001.jpg
New fasteners and one pain in the butt to remove rusted fastener

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1375416067.jpg
Cat shield bracket