I went to a small mom and pop muffler shop Friday to get my exhaust inspected. Everything checked out but I told them I wanted my rusted bolts to be replaced. They stated that they are fine and they knew what the reason was for and would only do it to replace the whole exhaust to do custom exhaust setup.

I went to Meineke (2 minutes) from my house today to get the rusted bolts replaced. They stated they don't mess with anything around there unless I have a big checkbook and I laughed. I'm asking to have bolts replaced, not anything else. Then the guy stated, besides those bolts are welded and would be more difficult than it sounds.

So where can I go in SC just to have those bolts replaced so I can proceed to change the Y Pipe myself?

 

LOL at big checkbook wowww come to new york city they change them in about 15 minutes lol

 

Find a local orger.

 

Best bet right there! Also ... as mentioned, it's a 15 min job with a torch, hell maybe not even that long. If you can't find an Org member to help you, look outside your local area if need be. There's always CraigsList and someone there will do it ... not sure how safely or not, but I'm sure you can find someone, just look a bit harder.

 

Just bc they are rusted you want to replace them? first time taking off bolts that have been on for 10+ years is a pain and if anybody tells you different they're a liar.

 

He wants to replace them so he can (at home) R+R his Y pipe and slap the WS Y on. So if the shop pops the old (likely OEM) bolts out and just puts new ones on, it's easy peasy for him at home then!

 

ive got plenty of experience with rusty bolts that havent budged in 10+ years, gotta torch them and slowly loosen them or else you risk breaking them and creating a bigger headache. if the head of the bolt is smooth/rounded and you cant get a socket on it, youre in for a major pain lol

 

ahhh well I guess thats a plan. I would think a shop would do that job for ya but its not easy and I don't blame them not wanting to take them off without making money off putting something new back on. My stud bolts are about 16 years old now(96 SE) and they are fine. I have new ones just in case a wicked speed bump breaks something but then again I also have 8 coil plugs too lol. Im a pull-a-part hoarder....

 

and yes the exhaust shop I have my work done at took about 45mins getting the y off and I dont even live close to salty roads. Torch and penetrating oil. Theres plenty of people im sure will tell you oh I just used a little elbow grease. Well maybe you did and consider yourself lucky lol. Exhaust bolts can be a nightmare

 

That's it ... I'm calling A&E ... you're going on the show Hoarders! 8 man???? we have 6 cylinders in case ya forgot.

 

Well I like to help people out and at $115 a pop at my local dealer ill take as many as I can. If a friends goes bad ill be more than happy to send one to em. Its like never having enough xtra bolts. Took off my UIM the other day to fix a broken coolant hose(one used in the bypass on the NWP spacer install job) and putting the egr back on I dropped the bolt and couldnt find it for the life of me. Had a old bolt that fit perfectly

 

older bolts can be doable by hand, did a alignment on my truck last week and to put the camber shims in you have to loosen 2 bolts from the frame on each side and i know they havent been off in 10+ years if not never been off, loosened them with liquid wrench and a breaker bar

 

Oh its doable yourself if you have the tools. Im just tired of buying tools for 1 job at this point. Im not opening up a shop so why do I need thousands in tools? I didnt have a torch and I didnt want to be on my back for hours so I paid for it to be done. Best decision ive ever made. Some people hate taking their cars to shops. If you know the shop and stand there and watch? Why are you so against saving some time and effort? Shops do this day in and day out. Yea you can do it yourself but they can do it in half the time. Some jobs are just better done at a shop on a lift

 

Indeed. It's just for a non-emission required state and stories of people passing emissions with a Y Pipe installed, you would think I would've got some slack cut. After moving multiple times within a year, the collection of tools has been reduced, not that I would have a torch in the first place.

 

Shops are full off a holes these days smh

 

well, i had my y-pipe replaced 4 years ago and my mechanic charged me 200.00 cause all the bolts were rusted in placed. took him about 2 hours he said, i dont believe that. he just said that to rake in the dough. these ying-yangs will say anything to make a buck from you....

 

The cost to R&R those bolts should be the same as installing that pipe.
Choose your battles with the shop wisely.
Customers don't come into the shop asking for rusty bolts to be replaced, let them install the pipe and be done with it. They have the tools for the job, obviously you don't and they know it.

 

Agree with NJ.

If u gonna pay someone to remove the old bolts (which is all the hard work, btw) then why not let them install the ypipe too??

Thats what i wd do.

Fawk doing exhaust work. P..I..T..A!!!!

EDIT:

And honestly man, not to be a d**k, but if it was my shop I would remove the old bolts for ya and charge u the entire time to do it. No discounts. Those bolts are gonna suck.

EDIT x2:

Besides, if you are tryin to have a shop remove the old bolts, I assume that the old bolts are rusted to hell.

Do you really think the shop is gonna jus torque them out?? The shop is gonna want to cut off the flanges. Which means they are gonna need the new exhaust parts anyway.

I jus cant imagine a shop giving you a discount to do this work UNLESS u get the hook-up.

 

I can't wait to do my y pipe and cat back. Depending on what i see down there though I might end up taking to a shop too. It just seems like if its beyond me to get the bolts out, why not just have them do the next step which is drop the piece out and put the new piece in with the new bolts.

 

I wouldn't mind the standard labor rate, granted I sit there and watch them the whole time so I know they just don't have my car raised and are jacking off in the corner. I have no problem paying to have it done, it's just I know shops WONT do the install simply because it's removing some emissions, which is why I asked just for the rusted bolts to be replaced.


Shops by law aren't allowed to remove Emissions..just saying which is why I was asking for one near in my area that will..

 

Need to find a mech u can trust man.

My mech, he does all my work, no questions asked. He may give me a funny look like, "u know thats illegal right", but he never says no to my modding lol


I thought SC was pretty lenient when it comes to emissons?? I think maxima king 2000 is from SC and he got Y-pipe IIRC

 

You need to find a more performance oriented shop in the first place so then you can pick their brains about possible mods to your own exhaust and price them too. The more you go back, the cheaper it will get. My exhaust shop knows my name and my car and every time I go in they try to talk me into letting them do a 35 swap lol. Pay for some knowledge too lol I never sit around when im in a good shop, I watch and ask questions and try to make a friend

 

what about those same shops making "custom exhausts" as mentioned above? wouldn't those be illegal as well? How do they get away with that?

edit: does something like a Warpspeed Y eliminate anything? I thought it still had a spot for the third 02 sensor?

 

Have you even tried to remove tge bolts yourself yet? I have done 2 ypipes and the rusted bolts came right out each time by hand. All you have to do is use a product like pb blaster, let it soak for 10 minutes

 

The bolts I did try to remove were rusted to the point where it wasn't a 10MM any more. I did spray them all with PB Blaster prior and multiple times too. I lack the tools to remove them at this point so that's why I wanted to get them replaced at a shop like the how-to mentioned

 

When I replaced the OEM y-pipe it came off the headers safely after flooding the studs with PB blaster but the other end was a different story. The bolts connecting the y-pipe and CAT flanges were rusted for good. After dropping the exhaust I first used a grinder to cut off the bolts flush with the flanges. I then threw the grinder between the flanges to separate the y-pipe from the CAT. Now the hard part was drilling those busted bolts out of the flanges. Using an air powered drill it took over an hour to clean out those bolts. I then threw the OEM CAT back on the MAX and have the OEM y-pipe stored.

All you need to get this done is a ratchet wrench, sockets, grinder, drill, and a set of drill bits. If you're looking for hands-on mechanical help then post in the regional forums.

 

Good Luck...

 

Use nd replace them with SS bolt from Ace hardware....easy fix folks!

 

where? because i am interested in a shop like this. asked a few shops in queens. they won't do it. i guess it's costly running a shop.

 

you may want to consider to using class 10.9 instead of ss and use anitseize on metal contacts and cover nuts/bolts when you are done on the exhuast. class 10.9 is heat treated metal but not ss. ss is slightly softer than class 8.9. class 8.9 is automotive grade. most nuts are DIN in the USA instead of JIS. DIN has a wider width so it's good. m10x1.25 fine thread all around. you need to replace them for the headers (ypipe). for aftermarket exhaust after the header you can use m10x1.5x40 or m10x1.5x35. m10x1.5x40 is a bit long for a deep socket so it's better to use a 6 point wrench.

your stock nuts are fused at this point. the S pipe and cat are welded so there is no nuts to loosen. you need to cut the bolt on those. i would be surprised if you can loosen the nuts on the ypipe/cat. maybe down south is different. be prepare with some extra stud for the headers because the nut maybe fused to the stud so the entire 2-piece in 1 will come off. don't use impact power tool to prevent breaking the stud. cutting with a reciprocating saw with biometal blade will work. maybe about 1 hour per nut. grinder cutting wheel will work as well but be careful with that 4.5" wheel in that cutting angle. rotary's tiny wheel will be costly and takes much, much longer to cut. please let us know the outcome to help others in the future.

 

What everybody doesn't understand is that everyones bolts are in different shape. Just because you did it with elbow grease and hand tools does not mean others will have the same luck. I live in Atlanta and we don't have salted roads but for a few days a year and my bolts were stuck like a **** and I had to get a shop to do it, plus they had Magnaflow mufflers and Cherry Bomb tips in stock which was nice. You can blast it all you want but sometimes you need blaster and a torch and 2 pair of hands to torch it and then quickly torque it off. You CAN use an impact wrench if you know how to use it right

Kels, go on magnaflows site and find an authorized retailer and if they install aftermarket stuff then they will do whatever it is you want, even if you want to straight pipe it lol