The reason I ask this is my whole exhaust is welded. I should of had the shop flange it before the cat but I didn't.

 

not completely. you can leave it attached to the catalytic converter but you're gonna have to unbolt it from the front and rear manifolds or else you won't really be able to get the manifold. i assume the guy that did your exhaust left your flex section intact?

 

qft

 

You can do it, but it sucks ballllllls. netter off pulling the manifold and reinstalling with right.

 

It can be done...yes!

 

When I bought the car about 3 years ago, I actually had to replace the whole exhaust from the manifolds back. The exhaust pretty much just fell off one day. So, I brought it to a local custom exhaust shop and had them replace everything. The old exhaust didn't even have a flex section. The previous owner must of had a leak there and had the flex section removed and hard piped the section. Real hack job. Once the whole exhaust was done, the shop started the car and checked for leaks. That's when they found the front manifold leaking slightly. Well 3 years later and the leak is pretty bad now. It's real loud when cold but actually quiets down once warm.

 

Your WHOLE exhaust is welded? It can't be at the bottom of the front exhaust manifold is it? That's stupid.

Unbolt it at the manifild and then remove the manifold to access the front studs

 

I've seen worse, Jeffy.

Ari's B13 had a hotshot header welded to a 3" exh. (no cats).... had a dump valve on it going to the side and then to a muffler out back. He had me weld the whole thing together in one piece because he didn't want to spend the time or money hunting down 3" flanges.

 

No, the exhaust is not welded to the manifolds, everything else is. I was asking the question to know if I would have enough room to drill out the studs if the y pipe was still in place. As you know on the stock setup, the y pipe can be unbolted from the manifolds and cat and removed which would give me more room if for instance I would have to work from below.

 

Then the answer is "yes" it would give you more room.

 

Let me re-phrase the question because obviously there would be more room to work with the y pipe removed. Has anyone here successfully drilled out the studs with the y pipe still connected?

 

er, i'm assuming you mean after removing the manifold? or you mean leaving the manifold there and just putting the drill bit in through the corresponding stud hole in the manifold?

i attempted to do my studs with the ypipe still in place... ultimately i failed but it wasn't really due to the ypipe still being attached. i just did a bad job drilling and my extractors were too weak.

 

no. not possible. can't remove the studs without removing the manifolds. removing the manifolds requires removal of the Y pipe.

 

Just don't use those spiral ez outs, they suck. If you break one in the hole you drilled your screwed. Get your hands on the splined ez outs they are much better. I broke the spiral ez out when I was doing my exhaust manifold studs and I had to use a dremel with the smallest carbide burr I could find to grind the head around the stud to remove the broken stud, then I had to heli coil it to a 10 mm stud, It was fun. Center punch and drill dead center, otherwise you could run into a problem.

 

Yes, I mean after removing the manifold. Well I was hoping I could remove the manifold with the y pipe in. It's just an extra step going back to the shop to flange it and extra cost I didn't want to spend. Does the radiator need to be removed?, or is there enough room to work?

 

you can do it with the radiator in place, but you'll enjoy the extra room to work.

trust me.. you want ALL the room you can get in there. Y pipe, radiator, starter, alternator, AC compressor, intake collector.. yank it all.

 

Thanks for the input. I will remove everything. I figured I would need to but was hoping I could it done with less work. It is what it is. I should know better, nothing on this car goes smoothly or is easy.

 

by removing the a/c compressor you just mean unbolting it from the bracket and then tying it out of the way with a string, right? wouldn't want him actually removing the compressor from the car and having to have the system recharged unnecessarily.

 

move + tie w/ string