Mad__Max

Hi everyone,

I have an '03 Max with just over 50,000 miles. I have been wanting to gut my pre-cats for quite some time, as I think they might be the source of an annoying rattle I have had since I got the car over a year ago. Plus I have read the horror stories of the catalyst breaking up and getting sucked back into the engine. Maybe there is some validity to that and maybe there is not. I do not know near enough to make that determination. But...better safe than sorry.

Anyways, I started the process of removing the cats over the weekend. I got everything unbolted from underneath, but there are two bolts in the front pre-cat that have to be accessed from above, and I just can't seem to remove the heat shield that is blocking my access to those two bolts. Even after a dose of Kroil, when I took my socket to them, they rounded...so I tried some vice grips, no luck there either. I am by no means a seasoned mechanic, so the tools at my disposal are somewhat limited. At this point, I gave up and bolted everything back together from underneath.

Has anybody else who has gone through the gutting process run into this issue? I was tossing around the idea of using a large diameter drill bit to drill some "access" holes in the heat shield that would allow me to remove the bolts underneath, without actually having to remove the heat shield. Is that completely absurd, or could I be onto something? I thought about using a torch to heat up the bolts, but since they are rounded, and it is pretty cramped, I thought twice about it.

This forum has been an invaluable resource and gave me the motivation to try to tackle this job myself. I have searched pretty thoroughly through all of the pre-cat threads I could find because I didn't want to start a thread if this issue had already been covered. Needless to say, I was unable to find anything pertaining to my specific situation. I look forward to any input some of you more experienced members may be able to provide. Thank you in advance!