DTMiller

I cannot get the last nut off. It is rounded off and I can't get a bolt off onto it to come loose. I think I am going to have to take it somewhere. Admitting defeat suuuuuuucks.

Question. I have one muffler off and all of the other bolts removed. If I drive the car 1 to 2 miles with all the hardware removed and missing 1 muffler am I gonna screw anything up?

Sneaky Pete

Well.......that blows. I would put the hardware back on the can that is still on the car, put some ear plugs in and get it to a shop or.......take the bumper off and the heat shields. You should be able to get to the 2 bolts that hold the can to the bracket that the final nut is attached too. The bolts are vertical with the head of the bolt on top. If you can't wrench them off then cut them off. Give it a shot. The bumper and heat shields will take you a 1/2 hour to remove.

DTMiller

I can get the vertical bolts loose. I did that and then realized I couldn't get them out the top.

To confirm, if I remove bumper and heart shield I can extract the bolts connecting the muffler to the brackets through the top? I'd so, I'm doing that.

Sneaky Pete

I'm pretty sure that would do the trick but I'm not 100% but you will have alot more access. At this point you have nothing to lose.

DTMiller

Yeah, I assume that even if they don't come out I can cut them off and then replace them which I am intending to do anyway. At this point I think I am at the equivalent of about $30,000 of my billable time into this project. I do not want to give up. Never surrender!!!!

DTMiller

Got the muffler cover and heat shield off.

No, you cannot wiggle the bolt out the top, but I *think* that I can push the bolt up high enough to be able to cut it. I think.

Got the bolt on the front hanger loose. Then I got a wrench on the nut on the bottom of rear hanger bolt and it snapped off as soon as I turned it. Perfect, now I just pop it out the top, says the optimist in me.

Eeeeeeeeeeexceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeept the bolt is rusted to the hanger and won't pop out.

Hit it with PB Blaster and hopefully I can make this work. Picture of post-PB Blaster shot attached:

Sneaky Pete

Geebus.......this is painful to watch......give her hell!

Seeeu911

I feel your pain, I had to get serious on a rusted motor mount nut. Get mean on that biatch.

DTMiller

My wife has fully transitioned from wtf is your problem, pay someone to do this you idiot to seeing the challenge and is now fully along for the ride. She complained about the smell of the pb blaster the first time. Now she is suggesting it to see if that works.

I'm gonna get this done.

I ........ think.

NineEreven

It's a F!@#$ exhaust, you can definately do it! If they wont budge, cut them off and get new ones!

fpena944

Wow I feel so bad for those of you that live in corrosive environments.

Mine were tight but a little PB Blaster and some muscle and they were out!

Now I can remove my mufflers in minutes if I need to.

DTMiller

Yeah. I could do this in about 40 minutes total if the nuts would come off without a complete 3 act drama.

DTMiller

I emailed Darin this morning and basically asked him, if I have to break something, what should I break? His answer was to break the bracket (the piece with the three studs on it) and not to damage the mounting arms from the can or the part that attaches to the engine.

So, inspired by Seeeu911's sentiments, I went medieval on this mother ******.

I managed to mangle the bracket sufficiently that I was able to pop the long vertical (front) bolt out of the bracket and wiggle it around so I have access to the rear vertical bolt. I was able to get a bolt off onto the top bolt head (remember, for those of you not following along with this saga as closely as your parents would like, the nut and part of the bolt on the bottom of this one snapped off) and twist it loose.

So, easy game right? Pop that bad boy out the top and off we go.

Of course not. Nope.

It turns, both directions, but it doesn't come out of the hole. Just twists there in its own little space (not shocking really, as there aren't any threads on the bolt until the very bottom). If I wiggle the can it moves up and down, it just won't come up and out.

Progress, but no advancement.

I will not do this: No matter how many times I do this:

b8_rdc

I briefly read the dilemma, can you get a bolt extractor and remove the final 13mm back behind the bracket? I thought each muffler had 3 bolts on backside and then the 17mm on the clamped tubing.

I think Ace stocks them too.

DTMiller

I tried that; the problem with a bolt extractor is you need to put force on them so that they seat and there isn't room to apply that force. Now that I have mangled the bracket there might be room. I'll try anything (obviously).