So among other things, this weekend i recieved test pipes. I was super excited and went right to my friends shop to start working on them. 3 hours later all i did was break a bold, and not even undo another. Those two assho!e bolts that you need to remove from the headers through the engine bay by removing the intakes.... Any advice? i broke one but it broke right where the header ends, so no big deal. The other one i couldnt budge, how the hell do i do this!

Thanks!

I did watch the video on youtube of how to instal the berk test pipes, but the guy is the hulk because he just twisted the bolt! its not that easy!!

 

Just use leverage if you're not "the hulk". A piece of pipe over the end of a ratchet or wrench will give you amazing "hulk like" strength.

 

I tried to get mine by hand at first but got no where. It ended up taking an 850ft/lb impact wrench and several extensions and that still barely got it off.

 

Yeah but the problem is where to brace the rachet? The extension just bend to the side and push on the engine block.

 

I used an impact wrench (not sure how strong). But on my passenger side, it broke then bolt (which is fine because to broke up the perfect way that i can easily take the cat off)

 

Would it be easier to remove the bolt if it was hot (like run the car for 20-30 minutes and let the exhaust head up)? Just out of curiosity if i end up stripping this bolt... then what?

 

Spray them generously with the penetrating lube of your choice (I prefer Kroil or PB Blaster) and let them sit at least overnight. A day or two is better. That should make it much easier. Use a 6 point socket to try to avoid rounding off the corners.

It's a tough job but they'll cone off, stick with it. Good luck.

 

When working on exhaust, make sure everything is stone cold. You can do this by starting early in the morning, or dousing the flanges in water. You will break the bolts otherwise (doesnt really matter if your break it since your taking it out anyways, you can install a new stud later).

The passenger side was easy. Extensions, universal and a cheater bar.

driver side you can do can only do only one bolt from up top...I had to use a six foot cheater bar on this one (and broke the bolt).
you need to stick a long wrench/cheater bar between the lower control arm and the fender to get the other one.
The third bolt is from down under like the other side


just dousing the bolts with penetrating lube right before I wrenched them off was good enough for me. and mine were pretty stinking rusty. reduced effort by at least 30%

 

absolutely not. you'll bust em.

it would work if you could somehow just heat the nut (which will expand around the stud). heating the stud also would defeat the purpose.


If you strip em', not a biggy at all. you can hammer your stripped studs off the flange and install new ones. In fact, my berk pipes were missing a bolt, so I hammered out the stud from my stock cat and put it into my test pipe

 

for the first time ever, my 6 foot cheater bar didnt work by itself lol.

I had to resort to adding those lubricant sprays on those bolts. they were really rusty!

 

PB blaster is a miracle worker.

 

Okay could you take a picture if there I should use a wreck to brace the extension? I had no idea where to brace it.

 

yea, i ended up just breaking the bolts with a 1/2 socket and torque bar, I think thats what its called, but for some studs that were left in the header I had to torch them out. So getting it red hot for any contaminants to peel off the the surface and then i was able to get them off

 

Okay so! The consensus is: spray the hell out of it with a liquid wrench. Hit the bolt a few times to let it seep in a bit. Then leave is for 12-24 hours. Then it should be a lot easier. How exactly could I heat that bolt (like with a propane tourch). A few people have said it helps

 

Sorry for the double post, I'm using my iPhone. I only have 7k km so the bolt shouldnt be too rusty.