Ok, I spent 3 hrs tonight with a buddy trying to take off my OEM headers and put on my new Megan Headers. Most of the bolts were so hard to get off, we had to pull out the airtools. We got everything off except the 3 bolts connecting the CAT to the A-pipe. The air tools woudnt even get them off. (oh, and I broke a bolt from the front header to the A-pipe) So now, we had to put all the OEM stuff back on (minus the one bolt) and I have to go to a shop to get the 3 bolts cut off with a plasma cutter I guess. Ahhhh im soo pissed... Did anyone ever have to get bolts cut off!?! Especially the 3 from the a-pipe to the CAT???

My Header Bolt question is, my new headers came with 6 bolts to connect the headers to the A-pipe. These are a Bolt, a Washer, & a Nut. So my question is now do I really have to use a wrench to hold the nut on one side while I use the ratchet to tighten down the bolt on the other??? (It just seems like its going to be impossible to do that....)

(Oh, BTW:....if anyone was wondering, the correct specs on the bolts from the heads to the block are 23ft lbs...(I called Acura....for theose of you that were wondering)

 

did you try soaking the bolts with penetrating fluid for a few hours?

 

Did you do this after EVERYTHING had cooled down?

 

I had just gotten done with a 30 min 90mph hwy run from the lake. The car sat for about 30 min and was still warm (not hot hot..u could trouch everything by bare hand) when I attempted the install. I had no problems with any other bolt but the 3 connecting the downpipe to the CAT....soo what should I do? (I'd been spraying every bolt with WD40 for the past 2 weeks before today...i probably sprayed them every other day, so about 7 days worth of spraying. We first tried hand tools, coudnt get it, pulled out the air tools and the damn bolt didnt budge. (My firends dad works for snap-on tools so these are all new tools we were using too...I just dont undertstand y im having so much problems with these 3 bolts. (ive never heard anyone else having problems with these bolts)
I guess I'll just call a muffler shop tomorrow and see what they could do to help cut them off. (my cars a 97' with 122K so thats probably why they dont want to come off..

 

Take your car to a shop, they should be able to break the bolts loose without having to plasma cut it. It's a lot easier when your car's on a lift, because they can get a lot more leverage, and they have the tools to unbolt stuff like this. Most places won't charge you to loosen bolts.

 

well, after spending all day calling and driving around having exhaust shops look at my situation, ive gotten nowhere. I've ordered the 3 bolts from Acura and the local Acura dealer quoted me $45 to cut off the old bolts and replace them with the new ones. Soo I dont know if I could find a cheaper install that $45. (plus is the actual dealer...not a small mom & pop shop) So my plans to get the headers installed by this weekend have probably fallen though...lol....seems like everytime I try to attempt an install myself, something always hold me back. 3 freakin bolts which should of only taken a few minutes to remove are now costing me $30 for the bolts and another $45 to install them...this sucks...

 

Try again with an extension on the ratchet to make the handle longer. This will give you more leverage which means you will have more power.

 

I did...and i think if an impact air gug wont get them off...nothing will...i guess i'll cut them off...

 

go buy a hand torch.. heat the shit out of those bolts they should come right off

 

1000 ft lb impact gun should do the job.

 

you need a breaker bar.. or maybee some muscles..... sissy...j/k.. i have a 2 foot long breker bar and it was still pretty hard to get them off.w/ that

 

Yes indeed. Impact gun w/ 1000 ft/lbs of torque = GOD

 

lol, yeah I had a problem with one of those too. I ended up partially reassembling, and taking it to a shop to break them off. You just need better leverage. I could do pull ups on teh breaker bar attached to the bolt (but I only weigh 135) one of the guys at teh shop (probably like 180 just pulled at the righ angle and It came loose.

hell when I was installing my brake rotors, I used a buddy's impact wrench adn it couldn't break the bolts, but I had to do them all by hand.

 

2 foot 1/2" drive Snap On breaker bar !

 

thats cuz a lot of people have cheap impact guns.. some kid bought a cheapy from my work and couldnt get his wheels off..

 

If you can get it off get a bigger wrench, let me get pics of the wrench I was using the other day to torque some bolts to over 450 ft. lbs. and I weigh 175 soaking wet. The old timers were rofl lmao

 

he didn't own a chivic by chance did he?