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damn rusty exhaust bolts!

shart

shart

New member
Ok... so I've heard plenty of ways to get them out without snapping them, but I was wondering personal techniques members have used to get exhaust bolts out without snapping them. I tried earlier... sprayed them numerous times with pb blaster for about an hour and the first one attempted snapped. Drilled it out and I'm kind of scared to try the others I need to remove... so.. opinions? Keep in mind I only have regular hand tools available.
 


If they're the crossover bolts, it's really just luck of the draw. The front two are easier. The rear two will break. I would start spraying pb on them a week before they need to come out twice a day.
 
They are the bolts for the downpipe.... i dont mind having to drill them out, but my drill broke so i have to bother my stepfather and whenever i ask him he takes forever to do anything... Sucks... maybe ill suck it up and pay a shop 70 dollars for an hour of labor they will charge to remove 4 stinking bolts. :th_thumb-down:
 
Lots of Pb blaster and put a socket on the bolt and hammer in the tighten direction and loosen direction then finally loosen direction till you feel like it has loosened. Thats what i did
 


I handled mine by paying a friend of mine with a shop and a lift $30 to do it. :D

He only had trouble with one bolt, and it just started to round a little, so he used one of those Craftsman bolt out kits made specifically for that situation and it came right out.

Took him all of 20 minutes to have the old downpipe out once he had it up on the lift.
 
20 minutes huh? Must be nice! I think i know what my mistake was... i dried a socket on both ends and the bolt end is what snapped off so i was pretty much F'ed right off the bat... then the nut got stripped out and took vice grips to it and that freaking snapped off too! Thats when the drill came out. Klj... I think ill try your approach tomorrow. Praying it goes better then today did.
 
heat has always been my friend when it comes to rusted up stuck bolts, get the nut side nice and red, and it should come out, i do the tighten it first and then back it out,( work it back and forth some) just to clear up the threads and then crank it out.

a plumbers soldering torch works just fine too, just takes longer to get it good and hot. you can pick them up for under 20 at home depot.
 
Hmm... i did hear heating it worked really good but i always thought that would be an expensive thing... i never would have thought i could get something for 20 bucks.. Thanks for that Info Scotty... Those ***** bolts are going down tomorrow! :)
 
if you have been spraying it with pb blaster or what not, just watch you dont catch the car on fire, if wet that stuff can flair up. watch out for your wires and stuff.

now go get them bolts lol!
 


Haha... yea... thanks for that warning. So... Go buy that tool tomorrow... Heat up the nut nice and good.. then put a socket and hammer it in both directions a few times.. and then go for it... sound about right?
 
yup sounds good, chances are the bolt will be shot afterwards anyways, id replace it regardless how it comes out, they lose their threads to rust and get weak.


and try to heat the outside of the nut, not the bolt shaft its self, what you want to happen is for the nut to expand and free up the bolt, so work the heat/flame on outside of the nut.
 
Yea from the looks of the broken one from today i was planning on that regardless. Thanks for the info buddy!
 


I had one of the rear bolts of the crossover break off, I now have one bolt and a c-clamp holding it on lol
 
I've found this to be true most of the time.

Crossover:
Loosen say the front crossover bolts about 1/2 a turn at a time (alternating) and that typically keeps excess pressure off either and allows them to come out. If they start turning..that's the game. See heat for tips.

Heat, it works wonders for getting bolts out. Here's the part where you become a man. Take the car out for a drive, nice and warmed up. That's right, use the engine to heat up the parts for you. Now take out the couple of bolts you think are the worst, or at least get them moving.
 
BillBoost37 said:
I've found this to be true most of the time.

Crossover:
Loosen say the front crossover bolts about 1/2 a turn at a time (alternating) and that typically keeps excess pressure off either and allows them to come out. If they start turning..that's the game. See heat for tips.

Heat, it works wonders for getting bolts out. Here's the part where you become a man. Take the car out for a drive, nice and warmed up. That's right, use the engine to heat up the parts for you. Now take out the couple of bolts you think are the worst, or at least get them moving.
Click to expand...

I swear when i took my Rear mani and PLog off was less than an hour after driving a couple hours and that and pb blaster made me think what is everyone crying about. Till i went to shimmy my rear header in LOL. That rear header getting in the hole took longer than everything else in the whole process
 
As long as its not the manifold bolts, do the ol break and replace method.

If its the manifold bolts, with the motor cool, spray them thuroughly with ATF/Acitone mixed 50/50 about every 30 minutes for 2-3 hours then give them a try. Should work great, but make sure not to get that mix on your paint.
 
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