How did you guys crack those two bolts off! These bitches are staying on tight *** hell. I already spray them with wd40 and soaked them for a day nothing seems to be doing the trick.

 

wd 40 suks. get some pb blaster and let that soak for a while. then get a longer breaker bar!

 

I used Slick-50 Penetrating oil, sprayed it real well and let it sit, repeated a few times, then used a breaker bar with a piece of pipe on the end. Came off fairly easy with some muscle. Eat a bowl of wheaties before your next attempt, it may help.

 

Everybody says they have trouble with these. I have a 94 with factory cat and precat. Clean those bolts off real good and you might find what I did. They were tack welded. I cut the weld with a small cut-off wheel and everything came apart normally. It had to have come from the factory like that because when i started the downpie install eveything was stock

 

Besides spraying it liberally with PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench, rap on the nuts moderately, not hard with a hammer (obviously being careful not to hit the threads) a few times around the circumference. This often helps to loosen the thread's effective grip enough to take them off.

 

Aftermarket studs are longer and the center bulge is bigger which makes getting them off harder. I soaked mine every day for a week. Since then i've replace with original OEM studs and nuts for a perfect fit. One trick I just used was on the bottom two studs, I used the shorter exhaust manifold nuts which makes getting a wrench ont here so much easier. Even just replacing the one bottom corner one makes a difference, if you're not comfortable replacing both with shoter nuts.

 

Ummm.. he was talking about the DP to cat interface (two bolts), not the turbo to DP interface. Read that one three times before it made sense...

PB blaster is your friend. So is a propane torch (heat the nut, NOT the stud. The nut expands, comes off easier).

 

^ oh whoops, yeah I threw that in but didn't seperate it. My DP to Cat' nuts were welded on with rust and I soaked those for days to. There's not enough room for a long enough breaker bar with just floor jacks. If a friend of yours has an impact gun, then zap it loose and then slightly tighten it to get home.

 

PB Blaster as mentioned with an impact pnuematic.

 

Ok, took off the dp. Now having problem putting the new one on. Did you guys remove all you studs off the exhaust manifold when you guys put it on? I managed to take out 2 of the 4 when removing the bolt, now there is just 2 studs hanging there.

 

which two studs are left? if one of them is the bottom/rear stud (closest to the ground), then you have to get the DP on there but leave a gap between it and the turbo. you have to get that nut started before getting the other three on. make sense?

 

looking at the exhaust manifold it's the lower left and upper left.

 

i used liquid wrench and a breaker bar worked fine for me

 

Sounds like you have aftermarket studs. Get new OEM ones and make sure the part # starts with a "N" and not a "9" which is generic. You can reuse the nuts if you have to be cheap. The bottom/left one is the one that would help if you replaced it with the exhaust manifold shorter nut.

 

But how do I get the current ones out of there? I unbolt all of them but 2 studs remain behind on the exhaust manifold.

 

Two of my studs came out with the nuts from my turbo manifold. I just put them back in like they were bolts. No need to buy new parts if no studs were broken. Actually, the first few threads were bent on one of the studs that came out, and I was able to re-thread it with the appropriate die (like from a tap and die set for making machine screw holes). PB blaster was my main weapon. Also, be sure to brush your gaskets before you put them in, as your O2 sensor uses the exhaust piping as a ground.

 

well now with the spiffy dp attached to exhaust manifold I find there is now a est. 2 inch gap between the main cat and the dp....

And the lower left stud on the exhaust manifold is so long there isn't enough space between that and the dp to screw on a bolt... Could I use a dremel and sand the stud down and put it on?

 

Mine didn't exactly line-up either, but they weren't that far appart, IIRC. The main cat swings on a rubber bushing. You should be able to pull the main cat and DP together, but it could be rough battle. Which DP did you get?

Can you use washers to give you enough room so that the nut doesn't bottom out? Are you sure the stud is seated all the way in? Do I have the situation backwards?

 

Mangazero, if you sand the stud down, it will make the threads more difficult to start, I've ran into that problem before. You're probably better off either buying the shorter stud mentioned earlier in this thread, or using socket head (allen) stainless bolts- M10x1.5mm , approx 20mm long (important no longer than 25mm).

more info here: https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/downpipe-nut-201768/

-s-

 

Can you use washers to give you enough room so that the nut doesn't bottom out? Are you sure the stud is seated all the way in? Do I have the situation backwards?[/QUOTE]

Umm the stud is extending out too much rather then being short. When I try to attach the nut on it, its getting kinked between the stud and dp.

When I unbolted all the studs when taking out the stock dp only 2 of the studs came out. So I can't really replace them with shorter studs seeing that I can't take them out.

 

If all else fails and before rounding off the nuts heat to cherry red with an oxy/acetylene torch---will come off very easy. Have fire suppression ready and replace studs and nuts when through.

 

In other words, the nut is hitting the fat part of the stud before it can tighten up against the DP, right? You can just use some stainless steel washers to fill in the space.

 

Ok I know you guys said pull the main cat and dp together to complete the little gap.. But this is one hell of a gap...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...o/DSC00214.jpg

 

Get a 2nd person to help you. Push the exhaust towards the front of the car. Since bot the cat and exhaust are on rubber donuts connected to the hangers, you have several inches of play. Whether they push with their foot on the tail pipe or underneath with both hands. You need just enough to start the nut on the threads and then the wrench will do the rest.

 

It should still make it. Do you have a C-clamp that you can use to bring those two ends together?