Hey guys I was removing the stock muffler and ran into some problems. How do you get to the bolts that are on the top of the muffler. The cover around the muffler is hooked on the back and I cannot get to the bolts. Has anyone else ran into this problem and if so what was your solution?

Thanks,
~Z

 

Are you refeering to the bolts at the back of the muffler?rx7doctor

 

No there are 4 bolts that come off the engine and connect to the header. There is a heat shield that covers the 4 bolts you can take the lower piece off fairly easily however the upper one is used as a gasket on the back of the header...Am I making sense?

 

So you mean the heat shield is in the way to get to the two upper nuts that attaches to the header right? The heat shield is easy to get off, there are two (either 12 or 13mm) bolt that you can undo and the heat shield comes off. Then you can get the top two nuts of the manifold off with a 14mm rachet and an extension.

Alvin

 

What you are refeering to is the stock exhaust manifold. You have to remove the heat shielding which is secured with a multitude of nuts and bolts. Use a 10mm
wrench to remove them. The ones on top of the xhaust manifold have to be felt with your fingers to locate them. Get a flashlight to identify them, make sure you spray them down with penetrant oil first. they love to break. You have to remove the lower section of the heat shield first then the top portion. rx7doctor

 

Ah ha so they are mixed in with the manifold. I had 2 10mm bolts on the bottom and then 2 more 10mm bolts on the side. It appears as if the heat shield is behind the header and acts similar to a gasket. Is this correct? If so then even when I removed the 2 bolts through the mani I would still not be able to get it off?

 

Ok...I think that I got it now. I will have to check it out and let you guys know how it goes.

Thanks for the help!

~Z

 

It's not mixed, I think the heat shield bolts to the intake manifold (not positive though).

Alvin

 

Cool When I get home tonight I will have t check it out...

 

Hey guys I know this thread is old but I'm running into the same problem.

I am installing a RB single outlet header on my GSL-SE.

I've managed to get the heat-shield off the bottom, as well as the bolts from the top.

However, the top heat shield is still sandwiched between the exhaust manifold and the 6-port actuator/lower intake manifold. I removed the O2 sensor to help but I still can't get it out.

Any advice on how to proceed?

Thanks everyone,
-Chris

 

What a way to necro-post.

I'd say you will need to remove the 6 port actuators, but I've never actually had to dig that deep on a GSL-SE. The most I've ever done was a swap of the monolythic cats all the way to the stock muffler. The exhaust manifold stayed as it was....

Hmm now that I've thought about it for a few minutes, I seem to recall firing it up one time without the manifold on the engine, just to see the flames popping out of the exhaust ports. My brother remembers it better than I do as it was his car and it was over ten years ago. We apparently didn't need to remove the actuators but I can't for the life of me remember whether his manifold had a heat shield.

 

when i did this, i was able to remove all the heatshielding before the manifold, it is awkward but possible. the 2 bolts on top of the manifold are another story, maybe there is a tool that can reach them but in order to get a socket with extension on to them i had to cut/grind a u-shape out of the top of the stock manifold. that took some butchery but needn't with the right tools.
of course this is only an option if you don't plan on re-using that stock manifold.