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tips for removing the 2 13mm exhaust studs?

1015 Views 12 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  1984Rampage
Was playing underneath the car the other day, and for fun tried to remove the studs on the downpipe at the turbo. It appears the right side (from underneath) passes through the turbo housing and is secured with a nut. The left one looks to be just a threaded hole in the turbo housing. Either way, there was no way these were cracking loose as they were. I've never seen penetrating oil work for these things, even if submerged for a year. got out the large propane and heated what I could from the bottom pretty dang hot (glowed and then weakened the spring), but still no chance of breaking loose without snapping/rounding the bolt.

Any ideas? Is it too far gone rust-wise? Don't want to have to try getting out a snapped stud, and definately don't want to pull the turbo to get at it.

Thnaks,
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well if you get the stud out (or don't) you could / should drill it out such that you can use a tab nut and bolt instead of the stud

last hope may be an oxy-acetylene torch, heating the SV housing where the threads are (not the bolt head from underneath ;) )

good luck !
MAP gas is hotter than propane and is cheap. Yeah...oil, oil...more oil... Save your time and cut the bolt off.

I thought I remember there being two bolts and two nuts.

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I would keep spraying and praying with the pb blaster or penetrant and throw an extension and breaker bar on it. You can snap them in such a way that you may end up having to use a cut off wheel on the non theaded side and drill out and tap out the thread. Just make sure that you can spare the car for abit while you cuss and swear at it and get it done.
Hmmm, didn't really think of it then, but maybe I can get the SV off and remove the downpipe still connected. Anyone try this before? If not, maybe I'lll pay an exhaust shop just to crack them loose for me, then replace with stainless.
If I'm reading this correctly, I assume you're talking about the two bolts with the springs? They're just bolts with nuts. Cut them off and go to ANY parts store and get new ones. They're not threaded in to the turbo. The hardest part is getting some kind of cut off tool up there. I spent about 2 hours on mine when I was doing the last head gasket job. I could have saved a lot of time if I had a sawzall with a good metal cutting blade. Instead I used a 3" cut off wheel. An angle grinder would have been better still. The cutoff tool wouldn't cut perpendicular to the bolt. So I ended up cutting the spring in to many rings. As they fell off, I was able to get at the bolt with a hacksaw. This also would be easierif I wasn't laying on my back. Limited movement. :bang head
sawall is still abit hard. found that out when i was redoing the exhaust on the CSX.

PB blaster or MAPP torch, 13mm socket, air ratchet, extension(s), 1/2 or 13mm wrench
If it's the downpipe your trying to remove, it's simply 2 bolts, 2 springs, 2 nuts. Most exhaust shops burn them out even if they are new-looking for speed. Look at Kermit's pic, and you'll see that there are not any threads in the holes. N/A flange uses the same bolts as the turbo flange, and last time I checked, the hardware was only available in regular steel. You could simply use the springs and buy a set of SS bolts with some flat washers from a hardware store.:thumb:

If you do go back with the stock-style steel, antisieze is your friend...lmao.
Also, use anti-seize on the bolts. That will help in the future. Blowing enough head gaskets also keeps the bolts "fresh" :D
PB blaster or MAPP torch, 13mm socket, air ratchet, extension(s), 1/2 or 13mm wrench
I've seen the top nut eroded to a 12mm. The best you can ask for is to have it snap on you. If you can get a good grip on the bolt and the tabbed nut above is still good, You'd be surprized how easily some of them will come apart. Hopefully, there is the tabbed nut.:thumb:
Tip...when you put them back together, weld a short rod to the side of the nut on top. Who ever had my Daytona before me did that, and it made it SO much easier to remove. That way when the nut spins it will contact the side of the SV and will hold it so you don't need a wrench on the top.

Also, USE anti-seize. May dad has a small can of lead based stuff that he got when he was in shop class in high school and it works amazing (Hardly any is gone after 25+ years and it wasn't even full when his teacher gave it to him, lol). I'm not sure if you can still get the lead stuff anymore though...
Cool, thanks. Couldn't see the nut side on one, and the other was so rusted I just assumed the nut was originally welded on the housing. I'm gonna try to snap them then.
When I took mine off I cut partially through the bolt with a cutoff wheel stuck a pair of visegrips on the nut and got under the car and with a little effort they broke right off.
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