Sounds like he was lazy and just wanted to still keep your money.

On my g35 I accidentally sheared one of the studs off cat studs, the driver side that is pressed into the header. I tried to drill it out and gave up. Traded the car in shortly after that.

Point is, if they cut the bolt off, it wont be easy to remove that stud. But that is just my experience.

 

If you're going to try yourself use a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF. Apply daily over a 2 week span to see if that helps.

 

He is master tech who does side jobs on the weekends

 

The exhaust shop that I deal with would use a cutting torch to blow the stud out and use a nut and bolt to install the new part. I don't do exhaust work anymore. Too old to be laying on my back getting a mouth full of rust.

 

has anyone tried using air to break this demon bolt loose...

 

I've read quite a few that have either used an air impact or had a shop use one, works well for the most part although snapping the bolt is more common when using impact guns. Always best to use plenty of that rust breaking mixture whichever method you choose.

 

Heeding the advice of you guys (didn't have the tools), I got em done at the shop for $120. Took them only about 2 hours. No headaches. No paint damage And no problems getting back my oem cats unlike that other guy on here haha.

 

Nice to hear, should notice some gains there and a bit more volume too!

 

Glad you were able to get them installed. Just received word my FI-RHFC's just shipped. Can not wait to say bye-bye Berks!