H pipe manifold stud & nuts?

[1wildGT]

I've got a 98 Cobra and getting ready to swap the stock mid-pipe and flowmaster catback for a Magnaflow catted X and magnapack catback. I bought new studs just in case I break one, but nobody seems to carry nuts to fit these. Tried Ford dealer, Autozone, O-reilly, Hardware store. WTF?

Has anyone every bought new hardware during a mid-pipe swap? If so where is a good source?


Guess I'll be using the old nuts (If I can get them off)

I started PB blasting today, so by Friday when my parts come in it should come off easier.

 

[BurningRubber]

The studs shouldnt break off, if they do im not sure where the best place is to get them. I guess thats not much of a help, lol.

But, you reuse the stock nuts (as long as they dont strip, be careful) and it all swaps right out.

I see your in TX, being a southern car there shouldnt be much, if any rust buildup and they should come off pretty easy. I know mine did.

 

[thomas91169]

have fun.

3 of the bolts are relatively easy, they just require the correct extensions. its a 15mm bolt, for the two drivers side ones and the upper passenger side, i used two swivel-head extensions with a 15mm deep socket and they came right off.

the hard one is the lower passenger side between the starter and k-member. for me, the 15mm would not slide onto the bolt, and a 16mm was too big. i tried to get at it for hours using conventional means, but then broke down and got some bolt extractors from sears and it came off within seconds. i later fixed that bolt with the dremmel so 15mm sockets will fit on it easily (dam rust) though it wont be like that for long.

attached is the getup i used for the lower passenger bolt.

#9 Extractor, 22mm socket (1/2"), two swivel head extensions (1/2"), and a 1/2" universal head breaker bar. for the three other bolts, the 22mm was swapped for a 15mm deep socket which gave me more than enough leverage for those.

 

[thomas91169]

have fun.

3 of the bolts are relatively easy, they just require the correct extensions. its a 15mm bolt, for the two drivers side ones and the upper passenger side, i used two swivel-head extensions with a 15mm deep socket and they came right off.

the hard one is the lower passenger side between the starter and k-member. for me, the 15mm would not slide onto the bolt, and a 16mm was too big. i tried to get at it for hours using conventional means, but then broke down and got some bolt extractors from sears and it came off within seconds. i later fixed that bolt with the dremmel so 15mm sockets will fit on it easily (dam rust) though it wont be like that for long.

attached is the getup i used for the lower passenger bolt.

#9 Extractor, 22mm socket (1/2"), two swivel head extensions (1/2"), and a 1/2" universal head breaker bar. for the three other bolts, the 22mm was swapped for a 15mm deep socket which gave me more than enough leverage for those.



EDIT:

nevermind, apparently, i can only upload 78kb of data. even with the pic at 500x350 and quality at 1 in CS2 i was still at 80kb.

 

[Saleen4971]

with my prochamber the collar on the studs was too far form teh manifold and i kept getting a leak. had to replace the studs with bolts

 

[Barrier]

thomas91169:

I use imageshack... up to 1.5 mb of data

www.imageshack.us

 

[HoustonGT]

you shouldn't need new hardware at all. No sense in switching out the studs and as long as you take your time, the nuts should be reusable as well. Ive done it a few times and have yet to have a problem. Let us know how it goes

 

[DTNODYA]

you shouldn't need new hardware at all. No sense in switching out the studs and as long as you take your time, the nuts should be reusable as well. Ive done it a few times and have yet to have a problem. Let us know how it goes

+1


On a slightly different note (not to hijack) but does anyone know if stainless studs are available anywhere??

 

[1wildGT]

The studs shouldnt break off, if they do im not sure where the best place is to get them. I guess thats not much of a help, lol.

But, you reuse the stock nuts (as long as they dont strip, be careful) and it all swaps right out.

I see your in TX, being a southern car there shouldnt be much, if any rust buildup and they should come off pretty easy. I know mine did.

Unfortunately the car spent it's first 5 years and 35,000 miles in Chicago with the previous owner so some of the hardware is rusty.

 

[DTNODYA]

Unfortunately the car spent it's first 5 years and 35,000 miles in Chicago with the previous owner so some of the hardware is rusty.

A few days ago, I replaced my engine mounts ... In the process, I removed the right side of my H-pipe and the nuts/flanges/studs were rusted big time! I had bought some Seafoam "deep creep" just to try (as opposed to PB blaster, WD40, etc) and I sprayed all the nuts really good then just let it sit overnight. When I got back under the car, there was NO rust anywhere that I had sprayed that stuff. So try it, I swear I've never seen "rust penetrant" work like that.

Only thing is, whenever all my work was complete ... I had to let it run for a hot minute to let all that crap burn off. I thought something was on fire .. lol

 

[propellerhead]

I bought the stud kit from NAPA. It had bolts and nuts.

 

[1wildGT]

I bought the stud kit from NAPA. It had bolts and nuts.

Thanks man, I'll try NAPA.

 

[1wildGT]

Got all the old exhaust out finally. The POS bracket that holds the h-pipe to the tranny crossmember was the worst part of all. Took a lot of patience, about 1 hour of time and vice grips to remove the nuts from the stud on the bracket. I need to find a new one in the morning or have an exhaust shop remove the studs so I can put normal hardware on it. The manifold to h-pipe nuts turned out to be a breeze. Now I just gotta get all the new stuff in.

 

[1wildGT]

Got the bracket fixed at a muffler shop for $5. New X-pipe and magnapack catback are in and sound badazz. A lot more top end pull and smooth revving throughout the RPM range with this combo compared the stock H and dumped flowmasters. The Magnapacks are loud but aren't as loud as I expected, but they sound awesome. I'm officially done with flowmaster, they sounded good on by 94 GT with 5.0 but sorry I wasted the money putting them on the cobra. The flowmasters were on my car a 1 1/2 years in Texas and already looked like hell.

Very happy with the new stuff though and would recommend Magnaflow (have those on my 03) and Magnapacks to any SVT owner.