Recently my muffler deteriorated and fell off (tearing up my rear valance pretty bad ).
I've since ordered a new Racing Beat Muffler....looking at the nuts & bolts still on my connecting pipe I can see that they are way to rusted to reuse (Most likely I'll cut them off....any suggestions?). What size nuts & bolts should I buy to replace the old ones? This may sound stupid, but I'm a newb.....are there special exhaust nuts & bolts?
Lastly, I'm going to finally install my header....same question as above....what size nuts do I need to replace the old ones taken off.....should I just go ahead and replace them as a precaution?

 

the connecting pipe bolts are nothing special. measure their length real quick, and go buy nuts and bolts the same length.

i'm not sure about the size, its a 14mm nut so it should be a 10mm bolt

the header nuts are pretty good, i'm not sure what size those are either, i just buy new ones from mazda, 8134-40-355.

 

^^^^^
Thanks, one last question....Do you use lock or star washers or just good ole fashion torque?

 

Lock washers personally, or the metal lock nuts (NOT nylocks, the full metal stover lock nuts). They have the kind with the pinched outlet, and the kind with the slots through the ends that are pinched closer (typical exhaust lock nut), both work. I prefer the lock washers however, that way you dont have the extra drag of the locking mechanism when assembling/disassembling things. Once you break the nut loose, it will free spin off the exhaust rather than constantly fighting you to take it back apart by trying to hold onto the threads.

~T.J.

 

on an NA car, i use the regular nut + lockwasher. its pretty low stress, the nut comes off fine 99% of the time, and can be reused.

the locknuts work, they are very hard on the studs, and its actually rare the stud + locknut doesnt turn into a bolt or gets stripped.

but they work, on a turbo where there is more stress its great, the turbo doesn't fall off! the regular nuts NEED something mechanical to hold em on.

 

Get some Anti-Seize with the copper in it. It will help greatly with keeping the nut from seizing on the bolts. ;-)

 

Listen to the Dr.!

Pineappleracing.com sells COPPER nuts made esp for rotary exhaust - do not corrode or suffer from heat gauling. I bought 20 for the entire exhaust (incl header)- will come off 10 yrs from now as easy as they go on. Might want to have some OEM exhaust hangers standing by when you do all this!!

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska