Ive worked on this for 7 hours and still cant get it!!!!!

[willowtreexx]

So ive got a new downpipe cause my old ones flex joint broke. So i decided to replace mine today. Jacked up the car, took out the air box, took off the tire. took out the wheel well cover and then unbolted the turbo/cat bolts and the O2 sensors which the bottom one is a total bitch. So that promptly took me 3 hours. my whole exhaust is off except for the down pipe and the pipe with the cat. The bolts that connect the two are just too rusted so i tried to take the whole thing out through the top and cant seem to get it, and then i tried though the bottom but the cat is too big for the tunnel. I tried sawing off the arm on the DP and still no avail

I FUKING GIVE UP. can someone please tell me what im doing wrong?!?!

my goal was to get the whole thing out and then seperate the two pipe when i had more leverage and then bolt on the new one and slide it back in through the top and of course bolt everything back up.

PLEASE HELP ME!!!

[Seerlah]

Maybe try some silicone spray or PB blaster for the bolts.

[willowtreexx]

Maybe try some silicone spray or PB blaster for the bolts.

Ive been soaking them like crazy since like 9 this morning. its just terrible and then im thinking how am i going to get my new one on? haha that will take like 5 more hours

[njm23]

well, that really sucks.
http://a4mods.com/index.php?page=web...s/exhaust.html

go ALL the way to the bottom to "section 2" he had the same problem


Goes on easier then it comes off IMO

[willowtreexx]

well, that really sucks.
http://a4mods.com/index.php?page=web...s/exhaust.html

go ALL the way to the bottom to "section 2" he had the same problem


Goes on easier then it comes off IMO

awesome let me go try that right now, thanks for the link. Im not sure i want to cut the bolts at this point but im going to try and remove the CV boot cover and slide it out through the bottom if removing that cover isnt too hard.

[njm23]

yeah, taking off that cover is easy, as long as you have the right hex for it

[willowtreexx]

i have the right hex for it but holy shit i cant seem to get that off either. im calling it a day! im too pissed.

IF ANYONE COMES OVER TOMORROW TO HELP ME OUT, ILL PROVIDE THE BEER AND BRATS YOU TAKE THIS FUCKING DP OFF!!!!!

IVE GOT A 6 CAR GARAGE AND TWO FULL TOOL CHESTS WITH EVERY TOOL IMAGINABLE!!!

[jturnbull]

i just did this last week with the borla i cut the pipe before the flex pipe and wiggled the cat as far down as i could then i took my wrench with a long ass extension and at the end one of those swivle bits and just beasted it out with the guns keep in mind the nuts are welded on so they arent impposible to get out and mine had never been touched and it saw 125xxx miles of rust

[jturnbull]

it frustrated the shit outta me too when i did it we started it in my friends drive way and we couldnt figure out what the hell to do so we just cut it right at the end of the flex pip then we couldnt get it off the dp so we just left it there for the night then i had to drive it back to my house cuase he wasnt home my advice just take a break spray it overnight and it will come off

[willowtreexx]

yeah i know its possible i guess Im just going about it in the wrong way. I was going to cut it like you did but then thought i could get it out with out needing to. I soaked the hex bolts for the CV boot cover before i shut down for the night and hopefully its better in the morning and i can get the last three hex out. They sure dont make this easy though.

I was using a 13mm socket this whole time with the extension and swivel adapter, is 13mm what you all are using? also when i went to put muscle behind it, since it wasnt attached to anything the whole unit would turn as well and so would my creeper and id just slip off the nut.

[jturnbull]

just real long wrench for leveragde and you should be good'

[njm23]

suggestion.. use an impact gun. Thats what I use to get em off (dp bolts). You really couldnt get the heat shield off? should come off easy. Do you have a hex you can use with your ratchet, come off no problem.

[20vpower]

there was no way to get my cat>dp nuts off because they were rusted on. i ended up takin the cat off the turbo with the dp connected. i tried to get the nuts off when it was off the car and still nothing. i ended up having to sawzall the nuts that are welded to the cat

[SurferForever]

where is the north of the brook located?

[willowtreexx]

with the hex, no i used the hex and it came with a screwdriver attachment. Ill for sure try the wrench tomorrow morning and let you know how goes. i was so mad i didnt even think of using it.

[willowtreexx]

where is the north of the brook located?

its a suburb of chicago. Its actually called Northbrook, Illinois... Im about 45 min north of Chicago and 45 min south of the border of Wisconsin.

[t1demont1]

Just twist and turn, the cat/dp will come out of the top with a lot of twisting, pulling, and force. Thats how I got mine out.

[jturnbull]

i ment a socket with a big handdle and a long extension so you can get a real good amount of leverage it took me about 2 hours to get the first one off then it seemed pretty simple for the other 2 putting it all back together can be quite a pain in the ass too tho lol

[jturnbull]

you really dont need to take off the CV boot cover either it doesnt really make any more room for you i did the whole removal and install with it on

[GetBoosted84]

Damn I didn't have much trouble pulling the exhaust apart at all. I hit it with an acetylene torch then took everything off with my air ratchet and my impact wrench.

[djwimbo]

Have you tried removing the heat shield above the axle boot. It's 3x 8mm Allen headed bolts. It clears up a lot of room for pulling that out in one piece.

EDIT: That's what worked for me, and I took mine out the bottom.

[willowtreexx]

i acutally was really ambitious and was able to take the CV boot cover off tonight and ill try and pull it out tomorrow morning, this is just like horrible to get out and once i get it out ill let you know how the bolts turn out. I had no idea how hard this would be. I wish i had one more person to help me on the bottom end while i turned and yanked from above...being a one man team just kinda sucks sometimes. that CV boot cover didnt seem like it added much space? but it might turn out to help... any other suggestions people?

[njm23]

well... i still say get under the car, take your extensions/13mm socket, grab your impact gun. And go to town. They will break loose. OR use an air ratchet, but it may not have enough torque to do it.

[audiness]

dont try to get the rusted bolts off... they won't budge.

you have to take the cat and downpipe out as one peice. it's tricky to slide it out, but i can be done. Thats the only way mine would come out

[nrowensby]

I went through the same thing putting my test pipe on when my cat failed... I couldn't get it out as one piece for the life of me... so I just cut the bolts with a Sawzall...

[willowtreexx]

Well thanks to someone calling me this early on a saturday Im getting an early start on this project. I feel like such a noob not knowing how to get this damn part out. Im going to try the impact gun in about an hour or so, along with a bunch of turning and pulling! Im setting the goal to have the old one out, new one in, and exhaust hung...

[jturnbull]

you can get it with just the sockets and a long handle and big extension trust me mine were rusted to shit and i am no where near the biggest guy around just beast them out

[ShawFM]

its a suburb of chicago. Its actually called Northbrook, Illinois... Im about 45 min north of Chicago and 45 min south of the border of Wisconsin.

Only minutes away from Park Ridge.
What I used to remove mine was impact gun, 24" of extensions, a wobble socket, and PB Blaster. It worked quite well.

[willowtreexx]

I was able to get one out so far. Go the impact gun out and the other two are so rusted on i just shot them with some more lube and will try in a bit. so im dropping this project to go paint my lowers and bumpers right now. At least i was able to mount and wire my boost guage and the back light. So im not too oblivious to these cars...

I just want it to go back on so i can drive the car again...Honda accord is just not the same.

[djwimbo]

FWIW those bolts are a bitch to get to with a cat, w/o a cat, and just in general.
You should be able to figure out the twist method very easily once you have the old parts out. My advice is to install the Testpipe and Downpipe as one piece, and don't even try to mess with the bolts once it's installed.

I tried, it was a bitch. I ended up taking the assembly out, and tightening the bolts at the flange with it out of the car.

[20vpower]

sawzall = win

[Stampy]

I used to live in Northbrook. Hell I still have a house up there. Don't know how that helps, but just thought about it as I read this thread.

[willowtreexx]

haha its a nice place but getting very crowded. Where about did you live?

So back to the dp removal,,,didnt get very far kinda didnt feel like doing too much after i couldnt get the last two bolts off. So im thinking tomorrow ill whip out the SAWZALL!!! mwuahahah. somehow though when i hear sawzall and my car i get the shivers up my back

[Stampy]

I stayed in Royal Ridge man. Just north of Willow and Kraft. I still have the house there, its a raging piece of high dollar shit. I hate that area since it has nothing to do EVER and everything closes at 8.

Sawzall is never fun when you are doing it to your car. My situation was very similar when I was doing my DP. I remember thinking....what the hell would they do at the dealer? Most Exhaust shops I went to didn't even want to touch it for less than $200.

[Nebone]

I managed to pull my stock cat and downpipe together through the tunnel w/o major issues.

[willowtreexx]

I managed to pull my stock cat and downpipe together through the tunnel w/o major issues.

thats impressive. how did you get the cat through the tunnel? mine is hitting all sides of the tunnel. its not even close to comming out the bottom. I keep thinking i can get it out through the top if only i had someone else to help me guide it so it wouldnt get caught. I have a buddy coming over tomorrow to help me out. I still have to put on my right fender, front bumper, rear bumper, and my coilovers in the next week and a half i better speed things up!

off topic but how long does it usually take for the full job of taking off the oem suspension and adding coilovers? forget the fact that i cant get my dp out, haha. i usually dont run into things that challenge me as much as this damn dp.

[njm23]

well, can be done in a couple hours easily if everything goes smoothly

[Stampy]

Suspension is Mucho easy

[willowtreexx]

[QUOTE=Stampy;2681756]I stayed in Royal Ridge man. Just north of Willow and Kraft. I still have the house there, its a raging piece of high dollar shit. I hate that area since it has nothing to do EVER and everything closes at 8.

yeah i live right off shermer and techny. My mom works at that KRAFT so im really close to downtown northbrook by the highschool. northbrook is for sure not my place to find excitement. Usually i just stay at college all year and find a job but i took on my A4 project and taking summer school to graduate early.

why do you still have the house in Northbrook?

[willowtreexx]

oh good! already saying its easy and can be done in a day. i wont be a 4x4 anymore! At least the majority of people say that the dp removal is hard and those bolts give alot of people difficulty, i dont feel do stupid anymore.