RobertColianni

I'm about to go insane in the middle of the street. Funny joke by Nissan causes absolutely no access to the rear heat plate on the rear exhaust header. Unless you're in the damn firewall, of course, and considering I'm no elf nor magician, I can't do this. If two of the three bolts on my heat plate are stripped, what can I do? There is no access for anything, apparently.

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

Are you talking about the rear heat shield that sits on the exhaust manifold? Or another one? Nissan has like...5 or 6 heat shields bolted up back there.

RobertColianni

Already specified. Any ideas for solutions?

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

Sorry. Reading > me.

FWIW, you may just have to get in there with an air hammer or a dremel and try and break the heads off of the bolts.

That's how I did it when I had a screw strip out on my front shield. Don't worry about trying to keep the rear shield pristine, it's gonna get mangled when you pull it out anyway. I destroyed mine in the process of taking it out.

RobertColianni

I used a regular Craftsman ratchet on the others and had no problems. I had no space here, so I used an air gun. That failed me. I've cut off the other heat shields that had problems with rusting bolts, but they had access. I'm not sure how to intentionally break the head of a bolt with no access for a grinding tool or pipe/hammer.

BlackMacks

iTrader: (3)

Robert, this might not be helpful, but have you considered removing the intake manifold to get a socket down where you need it?

Even that might not do much good, I remember when I was swapping my exhaust manifolds, the little bolt heads (10mm) were so rusted out I had to cut one off and just hope the others held. One in fact had cracked/rusted through, I was able to remove the shield over it without ever touching the bolt. But so far no annoying rattles, I assume that's what you're fighting?

There are bolt extractors you could try hammering down over the top of what's left of the head of the bolt, but like you said, you have to get to 'em first.

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

You don't have a little dremel with a metal cutting bit you can hit it with?

I had no problem getting back there with mine. It's just a matter of getting at the right angle.

Edit: How about trying to get behind it with a crowbar from the side (as in between the heat shield and exhaust manifold) and giving that a few solid whacks with a hammer?

RobertColianni

BlackMacks, My intake manifold is already off. The problem with the access space is due to the angle in which the bolts go in on the heat plate.

SLCPunk, I work out of my friends garage. Unfortunately he's at work and so is his father, so I only have access to what I an already locate. The Dremmel tool could be anywhere, but I've yet to find it in my years here.

RobertColianni

SLC, I tried the pipe/hammer thing. Nothing.

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

Well, short of trying to just straight up tear it off, I'm out of ideas.

Have you tried getting at it from under the car? Or are you working with the car down on all four wheels?

RobertColianni

unfortunately the heat plates on the headers need to be take off from above, so I'm just totally stuck trying to get at that knowing that I can't do anything from below. Aside from these headers, everything is off. It's such a *****.

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

Well, I mean, I know they need to be taken out from up top.

But have you tried getting at the bolt from underneath the car. It might give you a better angle...

I don't remember what everything looks like. I've had my headers on since...January? I think.

RobertColianni

No access. Are you at work? Do you have an unlimited text plan? I could send some pictures if they might refresh your memory.

Gizm0

iTrader: (1)

The best way to removed these seized up bolts is to heat them up with a torch, then spray WD40 on it. The WD40 will go in the threads. Let it cool down a bit then it will be very easy to unbolt them.

LongIslandMax

iTrader: (3)

This will only work if the head of the bolt isn't already rounded. When I installed my headers, my dremel proved to be worth its weight in gold. I literally cut the heat shield into two seperate pieces from beneath the car. Save yourself any further trouble and buy a cheap dremel with a cutting wheel, and go to work. goodluck

RobertColianni

I don't think a Dremel will fit, let alone prove worth the investment unless they have something thin instead of the thickness of the barrel of a bat. Our grinder doesn't fit.

CraigSE

What about removing a couple motor mounts so you can move the engine up/down in the engine bay?

RobertColianni

Considered it, but I'm alone, unfortunately. I'm about to call about extracting.

Nelsito65

Since you mentioned that you were able to remove the other ones with a regular Craftsman rachet, would you be able to fit one of those Craftsman stripped bolt remover sockets?

RobertColianni

I am actually cleaning up so that I can go buy one, now.

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

I remember everything being real close. I just don't remember how close.

I do remember when I first unbolted the rear heat shield and went to pull it out, I realized that it was placed just so in the engine bay so that two or three different parts of the engine were blocking me from taking it out.

I struggled to get it out in one piece, opted for tin snips, and when those didn't work, went to town with a big, old tree branch snips. Twisted it all to hell and finally yanked it out. Threw it on the ground and stomped it flat.

I don't remember if I unbolted the precat first or the heat shield first. All I know is I lucked out (I guess) and all three of the bolts came out with a 1/4" ratchet.

Do you have access to a small chain wrench you could try lodging in there and getting a grip on it with?

Edit: Nevermind. Nelsito's got the better idea. (I think that's two times this week he's bested me. )

Nelsito65

... It's all good. The beauty of the Org is that we're all in the same boat helping each other out. I had my share of struggling with something I could see no solution and turning out to be a simple one provided by a fellow org member.

RobertColianni

It seems like Dremel 4000 is only about $80.00 and about $110.00 with all of the attachments I'd need. I'm thinking about going with one of them to solve it all unless the Craftsman socket and a Sawzall blade seem worthy.