Car is in shop and needing new cats.. mechanic took off the driver side but the one of passenger upper bolts are semi fused and he said that maybe the headers need to come out? New headers ? Anybody can give me advice? I've used him many times and he has always been up front etc.. and I've read about the bolts but damn..

 

Taking out the headers might be a little extreme. I ended up having to cut my cats in half with the sawzall and then I had room to drill / use the airhammer and it eventually came out.

 

It's almost a guarantee you will snap the demon bolts (bolts to break through the engine bay entry) if you're replacing your test pipes. If the mechanic is referring to the nuts threaded to headers, I was able to get these off without breaking them. Replacing headers on these cars are time consuming. I'm a fan of "while you're in there", but expect to pay at least $500 for labor alone with a header install. I was quoted around 8 hours or so of labor awhile back.

 

Demon bolts were a pain LOL. Cut the bottom nut/stud off, had to use an extractor on top nut, and broke the top demon bolt from engine bay LOLZ.