Tool needed for ssi install. Borrow or buy?

[vintagecarlover]

Installing Ssi exhaust on an sc and looking for odd wrench to do the swap. Would borrow or buy if u have an extra one? Thx for everything. Mark

[Lapkritis]

Mark - when I installed SSI's on my car I couldn't find the specific wrench. I looked for awhile but it just never turned up in a retail environment. I had a random wrench that reached from the toolbox and found a craftsmen socket that passed through the heater box holes. If you have a welder, a cheap wrench, and some rod from home depot you can also fashion your own if need be.

[Trackrash]

Do you mean that bugger under #5 that for some unknown reason SSI failed to provide an access hole?
I used a long handled 12mm combo wrench to do mine. If you don't have anything that works, I would buy a cheapo wrench and modify it to work.
Unless it isn't your car or you are going to sell it soon, you may as well invest in the tools you need. At some point in the future that exhaust may need to come off.

[vintagecarlover]

Maybe I'll fab something but it's easier if I could atleast start with a pic of what the wrench looks like. We have s great flea market for tool scraps. If anyone has done the swap show me ur tools used. Different angles appreciated.

[PorscheGAL]

Vintagecarlover,

Is this the one you need?




If so, then you can have it as long as you want to pay for shipping. My concern is the shipping cost may not make it worth it.

By taking it, just be willing to share it with another Pelican if they need one.

[ninelevenick]

It's been a while, but I remember installing my SSI headers without using a special tool. I think I used a ratchet with a small swivel socket and an extension

[RyanG]

My SSI headers came with that wrench. Perhaps contact SSI (Dansk?) or whoever sold them to you? I am nowhere near my car or the parts that are ready to go on it (like the SSIs) since I'm spending the year overseas while the car is getting some work done on it, so I can't really help you out.

Took this picture the last time I was back in Chicago where my car is. And the wrench on the table between the headers came with them.

[rpc356]

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

If so, then you can have it as long as you want to pay for shipping. My concern is the shipping cost may not make it worth it.

By taking it, just be willing to share it with another Pelican if they need one.

Stephanie, if Vintagecarlover doesn't take you up on the offer, I would like to. I'm going to need to drop the left SSI on my car at some point and have been on the lookout for one of these wrenches. And would be happy to share it with other 911 owners in the greater DC metro area. Let me know.

Thanks

[JJ 911SC]

Useless to remove the nuts as they will be well stuck.

Did not bother to use it when I reinstalled them last time.

A 12/13mm box wrench work well and easier to use.

[vintagecarlover]

Bump. Still looking for a wrench incase anyone has one?

[Quicksilver]

One thing that will make your life much easier in the future is switching to copper plated exhaust nuts. They are much more easily removed in the future. The common 8mm x 1.25 copper plated nuts are 12mm instead of 13mm which means you use a smaller socket or wrench on them which helps clearance and also means the stock SSI wrench doesn't work.

The offset box end wrench shown above by JJ 911SC is the starting point but for clearance, cut it in half with a cutoff wheel to get something like this:


I would assume that most good fastener supplies would have the nuts but I know that Hillco has them: Copper Plated Exhaust Manifold Nuts - 8Mx1.25x12AF (5pc) - Hillco Fastener Warehouse

[Trackrash]

Porsche0nut's version.

[Dpmulvan]

Just use a 13mm 6 point swivel socket and use anti seize on the bolts. If your trying to get the old ones off with the motor in the car good luck!! Took me three days to remove mine with the motor out of the car. The wrench you want to borrow I doubt will remove the nuts.

[JTL]

I also ordered a set of reduced diameter nuts from aircooled.net. This enabled the use of a smaller 10mm wrench which made installation of my b&b headers easier.

[mobius911]

SSI made the tool in both a 13mm and a 12mm size. The 13mm size is original, but many shops and owners switch over to 12mm because it gives more clearance around the nut. I like Quicksilver's solution- 12mm nut in a copper plated construction.

So OP, make sure to "check your nuts"! You don't want to get, for example, PorscheGal's 12mm wrench and find out you need the 13.

[Joe Bob]

A torch, a vise and bend.....not hard.....

[db_cooper]

I always used a 13mm "Ford Style" distributor wrench. The one in my toolbox lost the label long ago. Looks like this one on ebay:



It works great on that hard to reach A/C compressor bolt on the 3.2..and a real plus..it works on distributor holding nuts too.

Amazon or Google shows some 13mm distributor wrenches that click on to a 3/8th ratchet extension that may work too. About $20 new or used.

Now if your old HE nuts happen to be 12mm...you need a Toyota distributor wrench.

Use Aero-Kroil to wet the HE nuts down prior to removal. Soak them overnight.

[NICE 69 S]

For years I have been using Honda exhaust manifold bolts on my HP VW engines. They NEVER rust, due to some kind of plating they put on them. They have a 12MM hex head with a 15.5mm flange on one side.
Every time I would go to a foreign car junk yard, I would remove 20 or 30 of them and put them in my pocket, so they only cost the price of admission to the yard.
Bob B

[911pcars]

If the pictured distributor, socket and/or modified box/end wrenches have worked, cruise Ebay for the equivalent version or fabricate your own.

Using M8 nuts with a 12mm hex does ease tool access.

Before and after installation, suggest applying anti-seize to delay/minimize corrosion of the fasteners.

Sherwood

[911pcars]

Here's a source for the nuts referenced in my previous post:

25 M8 1 25 Exhaust Lock Nut Copper Plated Steel 12MMHEX | eBay