Removing Cat.

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[Talonman]

I'm going to do the work myself.  I've got access to space in the warehouse where I work (no garage or even parking space at home to do it), so i can just put the car on blocks and undo the bolts holding the cat on, then put in the straight piece and rebolt it.

Yes in a car with 4 km's on it maybe, for an old car you will need to cut it out I bet, go see Cam and save yourself alot of headache and then you will have to tow it to carline because you will get half way done and can't finish.

[Reijo]

Agree with Matt.....some stuff is just not worth doing yourself.  Muffler shops are cheap relatively speaking.  I remember some old hot rod friends of mine who would fab the most minute parts but would NEVER bother fighting with exhaust pipes......  Unwisely I did not listen one time, installed my own and it rattled for the remainder of the time I had it....never again.  On the other hand, everyone should do this at least once so that they know why they'll never do it again!   LOL

Go to Carline, in Inglewood, whom I've used in the past with very good results - very knowlegeable, car guys....(or one of the others recommended here).

[rx7racerca]

I'm going to do the work myself.  I've got access to space in the warehouse where I work (no garage or even parking space at home to do it), so i can just put the car on blocks and undo the bolts holding the cat on, then put in the straight piece and rebolt it.

Umm, if the cat's getting unbolted, isn't your straight pipe going to need flanges welded on to bolt up to the remaining exhaust system? Good luck with unbolting it, btw, even on my '96 Passat that only had 72,000kms on it at the time, I had to cut most of the the bolts on the cat front and rear because they were too corroded to turn off (I was pulling the engine to convert the car from a ruined auto to a manual transmission, and needed the cat out of the way to change the shifter). I also had to go find appropriate stainless steel bolts and nuts at Rona. Cutting with a saw, vs. a torch or cut-off wheel sucks a lot under the car, also. Seriously. My Passat wasn't driveable, so I did all the work in my garage, but I never screw with exhaust anymore myself - like Reijo said, once you've strained yourself for hours working under a car to do a bad job, you know it's not worth it to save just a few bucks.

Call Carline, I've had small jobs like that done for not much - it's been a while now, but $60-$80, comes to mind, but maybe it would be less or more, it doesn't hurt to find out. Because unless you have the right tools and parts, you're going to spend some money doing it yourself, and a lot more grief.

[Lazagna]

the sucker is currently only on there with a ubolt on each end, so it's just a matter of taking off the two bolts on each end, pulling the thing off (probably rusted in there, so will probably have to bang it with a nice big hammer), then put in the straight piece and re-bolt it.

I'll attempt this one first, and then let everyone know how I feel about having to to it another time... lol.. I'm a sucker for punishment in cases like this.

[OMAC]

I'll attempt this one first, and then let everyone know how I feel about having to to it another time... lol.. I'm a sucker for punishment in cases like this.

DIY    Exhaust work is easy.  When I have needed to get pipe flared, I just cut the pipe to length and take it into the muffler shop and get it flared.  I've done this on 3 exhaust systems and have yet to be charged for a simple flair.

[Talonman]

the sucker is currently only on there with a ubolt on each end, so it's just a matter of taking off the two bolts on each end, pulling the thing off (probably rusted in there, so will probably have to bang it with a nice big hammer), then put in the straight piece and re-bolt it.

I'll attempt this one first, and then let everyone know how I feel about having to to it another time... lol.. I'm a sucker for punishment in cases like this.

You must be asleep cause you are dreaming

[Lazagna]

You must be asleep cause you are dreaming

We'll see, update everyone on Monday, as I'm not doing this until Saturday.     

[Talonman]

The pipes with the Ubolt clampes will not slide apart as the Ubolt has crimped them together now, it may be more productive to slam you man parts in the door for an hour.

Looking forward to the update.

[Lazagna]

The pipes with the Ubolt clampes will not slide apart as the Ubolt has crimped them together now, it may be more productive to slam you man parts in the door for an hour.

Looking forward to the update.

I've heard that today from one of the guys in the warehouse... Oh well, if it really won't come apart then all I've wasted is time, and I can still take to to someone else to do.

[Lazagna]

Well, the job is done.  Was it harder than I anticipated, just a little bit.

The bolts holding on the cat, rusted, the clamps, even more rusted.  So one quick turn of the rachet, and bang, snapped right off and easy as pie I was on my way. (yeah had to replace those...)

Then came time to get the sucker off, obviously not an easy job, considering the rust holding it together, guess we should consider those clamps as temporary, as the rust held the cat in place just fine.  No amount of wiggling or jiggling was going to move it, so off to find a cutoff wheel and grinder.  Bang, that sucker came off quite nicely.

Next job, was the pipe.  I originally purchased a pipe that would replace the cat INSIDE the remaining pipes... well, that wasn't going to happen as it was not long enough for me to cut the entire part off where it was connected.. so off to the scrap parts in our shop (we have mufflers for our engines of our compressor packages here...) and they were 1/4 inch larger, meaning they ALMOST fit right over the stock pipes... but not quite.  As it turns out, we had a pipe spreader, flanger or whatever you call the thing.  So, I used that, made it just a tad bigger, and bolted the sucker back on.

DONE.

Was it hard... yeah, in total I think it took me about 4 hours (I don't have ALL the tools I want, and I'm an accountant, not a mechanic.....)...

Was it harder than I thought it was going to be, darn right.

Was it too hard, No the job is done.

Would I do it again.. yes, only if i had the tools available in this shop (air compressor, cut off wheels and grinders, and spreader)

Would I prefer to get it done at a shop... not on your life, like I said, I'm an accountant, even if they could have done it in 30 minutes, while I wait and only charge me 30 bucks, I'm cheap and my time was worth the fun.

On a side note, my neck hurts like heck.... working under the car (up on blocks, not on a lift) I was constantly holding my head up (don't know why, just did) instead of laying it on the concrete, and now my neck muscles hurt... oh well.

thanks everyone.