I'm installing a WS Y pipe tonight. I have my stock y pipe hanging down on the ground right now, max sittin on 4 jackstands, ALL nuts off (even the 2 on the cat converter), and I CANNOT split the seal in front of the catalytic converter. I've been going at if for 2 hours. I reak of PB Blaster....I used to like that spray but its betraying me tonight. ANY IDEAS??? I tried to hammer and chisel it apart, but I have to be nice to it in order not to ruin the converter flange so I can get a nice tight seal with my new Warpspeed Y pipe. PLEASE HELP!!

 

OK, me again. I got stuck leaving my maxima sittin on jackstands for the night. I'm gonna take another crack at it tomorrow morning first thing. I wire-brushed the hell outta the entire gasket area and the 2 studs hanging out. I went through an entire can of PB Blaster AND Break Away so far and i just loaded it up with another coat to absorb all night. I'm praying to the penetrating oil gods that when I wake up I can get the stock y pipe off of my catalytic converter. BTW my maxima is a 95 so it has 9 good New England years worth of rust and crap on the undercarriage. Has anyone ran into this problem?

 

SO the 2 bolts are still in the flanges? If so use a ratchet or wrench or breaker bar to get them loose. If that doesn't work, go to autozone and buy one of those little torches and heat that **** up.

 

I got the 2 nuts off of the front of the converter....looks like the 2 studs are actually part of the cat andI cannot slide the stock y pipe off of the 2 studs because the gasket area is all crapped up. Are the studs removal??? Doesnt look like it from here because on the backside of the flange theres no nut head or anything tocatch with a socket. Looks like they are welded to the cat as one piece.

 

Yeah they are, they're just 2 bolts that are rusted in there like crap. The torch should thake care of it. Hitting it with a hammer or mallot, a lot, can help as well.

 

Any progress?

 

Did you take off the old bracket that holds in the old ypipes precats? Its near the first collector. What all have you unbolted so far?

 

I ran into the same problem. Even when you get all the bolts off there is some sealent holding the Y on. Just have one friend pull and shake from the front, and you hit the stock y-pipe with a hammer where the seal is. It will snap off.

 

WHEW! What a relief! I left the car jacked all night on stands and took another frustrating stab at it this morning at 6 am in 30 degree weather. Don't ask, I just take pride in my ride and hate to see her sad. Anyways, I already had the bracket completely off and tried again with a cold chisel and hammer and I broke it free. AHHHHHHH, like lettin a fart rip in someone else's car (well maybe not exactly). After removal of stock Y pipe, I had the new one on with th O2 sensors in and I was roaring down my street in no time. Neighbors love me...6:45 AM taking a few blasts around the block. Big thanks to BIG D on the stud issue.

 

That's just SICC....what kind of a girl are you??? well anyways i hat to torch of my bolts and it took me like 5 min...put in new ones and im set to go...

 

I had to torch off the 2 nust facing the front of the car on the cat but the thing is that I only had access to the torch fdor about 15 minutes (wasnt mine). So then I get home ands try to break it free and the fronts of the 2 studs are rusted and corroded right to the stock y pipe flange, thats when I broke out the hammer and chisel. I did not know initially that the 2 studs were removable. I thought they were part of the cat itself. By the way I'm a nice girl, SWF, voluptious, oral fetish, call me.

 

what are you trying to say???.....i had to grind off one of the bolts..but couldn't get the other one so i just torched them off, if i knew that a torch was around i would have done it right away, but i was strugling with it for like 2 hours and finaly torched it off....