fjr_wertheimber

LOL I guess it's the car **** equivalent of taking it in the rear...

OZ951

G'day Pete, they were drilled out and then heli-coiled.- Good luck. it's a PITA job.

pmkazz

Thanks Oz. I figured this would be an interesting job. BTW-your website is awesome....

jesterful

Im currently in the middle of a exhaust manifold replace job. It is an absolute PITA. I have also tried welding new bolts on but when torque was applied, the bolt would snap at the weld... My next move is to use a dremel with a grinding stone on, grind the rusted heads off the bolts and then drop the manifold off. Hopefully I should be left with just enough of the stud to use a pair of mole grips to twist it out... If that doesnt work then i will hand it to the pros...

pmkazz

Hey guys I need some sympathy here.. An easy job which takes about 1.0 hour has turned into a mess. Snapped four manifold bolts, tired to drill them out and use an easy-out thinking I might be able to back them out. Snapped the easy-out in one of them. I am going to have a drink now and wallow in my pain.

speed rII

pmkazz,
I know what you mean.
I broke 10 bolts, 8 on the manifolds.
I have been drilling those out approx 8 hours
And my engine is out of the car.... Still have one to go.
Those easy outs wont help you. Bolts sit really tight in the heads.
Best thing to do if (when) this happens, is just drill those out.
You need to get a carbide drill to get thru the easy out...

If you are getting realy pissed of, take the car to some proshop and let them deal with it... Saves your nerves

OZ951

Thanks Pete, "an interesting job", now that's an understatement.

Sorry to hear about your current predicament. I hate to say it but when I hear about yours and everyone elses trouble with these bolts I am really glad I just took it to a shop for the bolt extraction. If it makes you feel any better I paid £675 to have 16 bolts dealt with (I had them replace the lower muffler bracket bolts as well).

Well, it's time to begin a job of my own on the car today, so I best get cracking. Good luck.

pmkazz

Thanks Speed rII and Oz. Misery loves company. And yes I think it will be a visit to my Porsche shop as I can foresee my patience running thin

samba-lee

Sharing my pain and looking for some tips really.

I am also in the UK with a 90K miles car. Everything was rusted up at the back, but I'm working through it.

Silencers removed once I had either snapped the mounting bolts or dremel'd through the nuts - then pushed the bolt up and hack sawed through the head.

Angle grinder to the sleeve bolts and cat bracket bolts and dremel to the silencer nuts. With silencers off angle grinder through the tip clamp bolts. But some seem to be made from toughened steel and only a grinder will get through - in a really tight space.

I'm now on the cat to manifold flange, I managed to simply cut the heads off the ones you can see in this photo (left side) and they knocked out. But with the right hand side the bolt heads and nuts are gone - rusted away, but the bolt remains in the cat part of the flange with seemingly just enough rust to completely hold the cat to the manifold (although not enough as the flanges are leaking which is why I want to put a new gasket and bolts in).

I've tried pounding the remains of the bolts in the flanges, but they are definitely now moving and I don't want to pound too hard for risk of cracking the manifolds.

Next plan is to remove rear bumper, heatshields, both silencers, the CAT I can get off then I'll have as about as good access as is possible to try and move the remaining CAT too and fro in the hope the bolts start to give...

Lee

ps, dear Porsche AG, these cars cost $100,000 when new. Do us a favour and put stainless fasteners on in the future. Most of us don't track our cars so stainless, whilst not as strong, will do just fine.

Hurdigurdiman

I just removed both mufflers to get at my plugs. The mufflers came out via loosening just the 3 bolts facing the coils which were not corroded. (NO need to remove THE LONG BOLTS). Then snapping off the four bracket bolts at the rear along to the cats and sliding out the muffler from the clamps. I got replacement bolts for those at the local Hardware store and plastered them with 'easy off' crap. I had PB blaster on the clamps bolts for 24 hours and still I had to snap them off. Hey guys----The Long bolts could have been easier to remove when the muffler was off on the floor.
Unfortunately where ever you live in the UK you are not much more than 50 miles from the ocean.