installing cat back system can't get nut off!

there is a baked in rusted nut from the catalyic converter pipe to the pipe that goes to the end of my car. the clamp's nut is rusted, and i can't get it off! someone help!

I used a 4" grinder to grind off a side of each nut down to the bolt threads, like using a nut splitter (ouch!). They turned off pretty easy after that with visegrips on nut just tight enough to hold while turning bolt with ratchet/wrench. Cutting torch works good, too, but not everybody has one handy.

rusted and fried exhaust connectors can be a bear to remove. I usually start with penetrating oil, progress to applying heat from a torch, to using a pneumatic cutoff tool. Good luck.

i have a sawzall but there isn't a lot of room to put it because of its size. i'm gonna try to drill the rust away.

what a PITA!

This is why my car stays in the garage all winter, lol.

4" grinder, pneumatic cut-off tool, torches, penetrating oil, BFH's are all your friends when working on old exhaust systems :cool:

i still can't get it....

is there any chance a dremel (sp?) will work?

i still can't get it....

is there any chance a dremel (sp?) will work?

Yeah, but it might take a while. Try drilling a big hole throught the nut/bolt from the side and then snap the weakened bolt off. You are installing new hardware, right?

By the way, if the car is too low to get a sawsall in there to cut the bolts, you probably won't have enough room to get the intermediate pipe over the rear axle w/out some serious cussing.

there is a good amount of space, but the blade is too big on the sawzall. there is enough room per say, but the big blade and size of the tool is too big.

I use a die grinder with a grinding wheel to cut off old bolts on the exhaust. Used it to cut the nut off the '93's exhaust and to cut off the stock exhaust off a friends '98 Z when I installed a Borla catback for him.

If you have a way of bracing the Y-pipe slightly... try using a small chisel and hammer on the nut to try and cut it off or at least weaken it enough to break it off with a vice grip or something.

It's a pain in the ass but you'll feel good when you finally get it off :D

any luck? Told ya old exhaust is a PITA! If you dont have any, pick up some PB Blaster from your auto parts store....works wonders

Use a longer ratchet or attatch the longest wrench you can find to the end of your ratchet. Then...yank as hard as you can. This is how i got mine off.

alright i got it off. i got a metal grinder and bashed the hell out of the clamp. i ended up getting the pipes where they need to go, but where the cat pipe is and the pipe after that don't meet so i may need an extension.

when i was a kid, and couldn't get the cap off a 2liter i'd bite the cap and twist? worked everytime :D

Use the sawzall to cut across the surface of the clamp. Screw the bolt, just cut the clamp at the bottom. It'll open that way too.

Or cut the old system off as close to the Y pipe as possible, remove the catback, and now you have sawzall clearance for the clamp and remaining 3" of catback.

You've got the right tool. Need more access? Buy 12" blades.