Removing cat and muffler

DGW · 07-06-2015, 10:51 AM

Is it possible to pull the cat and muffler off an 86 turbo without removing the back bumper first? If it is possible do you need to be a 20 year old contortionist or is it fairly straight forward?

shlobeck · shlobeck's Garage

Ah yes, probably a 20 year contortionist. The top studs/bolts from the turbo to the cat are very difficult without taking the bumper off. Once the bumper is off it's about 20 minutes. WD-40 the studs and bolts from the turbo to the cat. good luck.

JacobS911 · JacobS911's Garage

I would say no..

I just did this on my 79 turbo by partially removing the rear bumper. I removed the 4 nuts behind the rubber trim and then the 2 nuts attaching the rubber accordion looking piece on the drivers side then pull/swing the bumper out and rest it out on a bucket or the bolts of the bumper tubes this gives you access to the nuts that attach to the top of the turbo. It's fairly quick to detach the rear bumper.. good luck!

TurboKraft · 07-06-2015, 12:02 PM

You can, with the right combination of tools -- sockets & wobbles, or a crow foot wrench and stubby socket handle, etc.
Pick your battle -- may be faster to remove the bumper+valence, provided the small fasteners for the bellows aren't rusted solid.
Either way, a good rust penetrating spray is your best friend on this job.

DGW · 07-07-2015, 04:03 PM

Thanks everybody.

timc · 07-09-2015, 07:46 AM

yeah it is, i removed mine with bumper inplace, but I think I removed the lower valance. I used a couple of the "C" shaped wrenches which made it pretty easy.

tim

mark houghton · 07-09-2015, 10:38 AM

I've always just pulled off the valence, never the entire bumper. Yeah, it would make things easier, but I've always been able to find the right combination of tools and contortionism to get to things.

RarlyL8 · RarlyL8's Garage

No need to remove the bumper if you have tools that will accommodate small spaces. I've done this many many times as you might imagine. Remove the valance and rock shield and you will have enough room. Only need to remove the 4 turbo nuts and muffler clamp. Lots of penetrating oil is a must. Don't snap a turbo stud.

JFairman · 07-09-2015, 11:34 AM

I always remove the bumper with the valance attached to the bottom of it when changing a turbo. Wouldn't even think of doing it any other way.

With it off and the back of the car up on jack stands or backed on to ramps you have complete access to everything while sitting on the ground behind the car if you're doing it at home.

I installed plastic water sealed male and female spade terminals on the license plate light harness behind the right end of the bumper and that makes disconnecting it quick and easy.

jwmarc · jwmarc's Garage

Take the bumper off and marvel at how beautiful the rear looks with the turbo and its plumbing...BTW if you do take off the bumper you will want to splice the wire to the license plate lights with some connectors so you won't have to go nuts trying to re-fish the wires back.

mark houghton · 07-10-2015, 07:10 PM

Ahhh....so now you're at a real impasse. Who do you listen to? Expert #1 who says "always", or expert #2 who says "never"? We're all experts here in our own minds and freely give advice. But ultimately you have to decide. Welcome to the world of Pelican.

RarlyL8 · RarlyL8's Garage

I think what we have shown here is it can be done 2 ways, you choose what you think best.

The bumper boobs hide the access bolts to the bumper shocks. To remove the bumper boobs you must first remove the heat shield and valance, so why bother?

Jim you said you remove the bumper and valance/shield as one unit, that is SWEET but how is this done? All of the 930's I have worked on have the bumper shocks frozen in place so you cannot easily remove them by unbolting the single large nut attaching to the chassis.

JFairman · 07-10-2015, 10:18 PM

I took the ugly USA bumper boobs off and sold them a while back. That makes it way easier to remove and replace the bumper. Looks better to me without those heavy things.

There were some holes in the bumper afterwards and I got some plastic plugs at Home Depot that snapped into the holes perfect fit. I painted the plugs car color first with touch up paint so they blend in well.

You guys that like leaving the bumper on while doing this... how do you get at the two nuts on the studs or the allen head bolts (depending on what's on there) that hold the oil feed line on to the top of the bearing housing with a bumper covering everything up.
It's so quick and easy to back the car up on ramps, remove the nuts that hold the bumper on and then lay down on your back under the back of the car (Nice time to look up at everything else under there) and take the little nylock nuts off the rubber things on the ends of the bumper with a quarter inch drive ratchet and get it all totally out of the way.

krasuskyp · 07-11-2015, 06:18 AM

my bumper shocks come off from the chassis, think I might have had to give them a whack first time

access to the driver side shock hardware does somewhat suck, sure

my biggest gripe is they used 10,000 inches of thread on those infernal 8mm bellows bolts! What an unnecessary total PITA those present trying to unthread / thread Nyloc's!

Agreed tho - for me, it's "pull the bumper"... no Double D's here (nor license plate lights either heh heh) to contend with as well.

RarlyL8 · RarlyL8's Garage

That's what I thought, you can easily remove the boobless bumper. The old Red Rocket had a mastectomy which made removing the bumper as easy as described, however I still did not remove it when doing exhaust work in fear of damaging the valance. I always removed the valance and at that point have access so didn't bother.
Jim I also remove turbos with the bumper left on by unhooking the oil line in the engine compartment. If you have the kidney bean tank it is a bit more tricky. I hate those tanks ...