98' stock midpipe unistall...

mijo_latino

Active Member
Apr 16, 2004
179
1
29
Canton, Michigan
First off, an other DIY gone wrong like usual. Today a freind and I started on putting in my new catted magnaflow x. First the stocker had to come off.

The rear nuts came off easy,mid-to-catback (air tools).

First major problem came when removing the top driver's nut, the thing was rusted shut, the impact gun failed, so breaker bar and pipe lead to snaping the nut off(does this mean welding x-pipe on or changing out the headers?$$$$). The other nut on the drivers side came off very quick(maybe too quick?).

All the O2 sensors came off surprisingly well.

Now where im stuck at is the passenger side top and bottom bolts. The top is reachable with extentions and a swivel, but the socket doesn't want to sit over the nut, may just need a deep well or a bigger size socket(11/16 were the driver side's)

With the passenger bottom side there is no room to work with. I managed to get an regular 11/16 half inch socket and a breaker bar and nudge the nut like 1/8 of a turn bu can't rotate the socket and put it on again. I have a 3/8 swivel ratchet i need to find and try but it seems like it would break under the pressure(heating was being done on the lower bolt but no room to turn).

I have cheap air tools, a propane torch, 1/2 impact and regular swivel, no deep well 11/16 though.

Ayone that has a good advice or words of encouragement to tackle these problems, help!
 
First off, everything is metric on our cars, so I dont know what an 11/16 equates to in metric, but from what I can remember, the passenger side is a 15mm or 16mm socket, and yes you do need a deep well. As for getting to the other one you cant reach, just try different combinations of tools, I think when I first changed out my midpipe I used a 12 in extension, a swivel socket, and then a 1 inch extension on the swivel socket in order to get to it. Either way, spray the bolt down with some wd 40 or something that will loosen it up before you start in on it. I remember that bolt took me over 30 minutes to get, very frustrating, but its part of the joy of working on your own car...good luck man
 
PB blaster > WD 40

what we had to do when switching the h-pipe on my old '98 gt was have one guy heat up the bolt with a torch then right away the other person put the socket on it and turned. took a while, but got it out.
 
Yay, i got the bolts off. Aparrently the 1/2 drive was a bit too bulky and didn't allow to reach it. The 3/8 drive swivel worked great for the upper and lower bolts(w/ heat and soaking). top was mid deep well + 3/8 swivel+extension to ratchet. The lower was regular socket+swivel+mid extention to rathet.

The bolt i snapped was luckly a stud and a quick run to autoparts store made a huge relief.

I bought that impact swivel, but i didn't end up using it. These cheap air tools let me down, looks like i ned to invest in some with more torque.

Oh, and it went on without any problems. The sound is perfect to my ears. This combo is great for anyone who wants a bit out loudness when you go all out but just a quiet mean sound in the low cruising speeds.

Thanks to those who replied, an other DIY under my belt.