exhaust pipe on 1984 Stanza

External Since: Sep 19, 2007 Posts: 5

In a couple of places, the pipe between the catalytic converter and the
muffler has rusted out along the welded seam. Patching helps, but I
guess I'll need to replace it one day.

Many fasteners on the car can still be undone after 23 years. What
about the nuts holding the pipe to the catalytic converter?

External Since: Jun 01, 2007 Posts: 36

On Sep 19, 1:59 am, E Z Peaces <c... RemoveThis @invalid.invalid> wrote:
> In a couple of places, the pipe between the catalytic converter and the
> muffler has rusted out along the welded seam. Patching helps, but I
> guess I'll need to replace it one day.
>
> Many fasteners on the car can still be undone after 23 years. What
> about the nuts holding the pipe to the catalytic converter?

The heat generated by the cat will virtually guarantee that none of
the nuts and bolts on the cat can be removed. You'll have to hacksaw
them off. It's best to remove the whole system by undoing the nuts at
the exhaust manifold. There is likely a triangular flange there held
together with three nuts which typically don't rust out. Once the cat
and the pipes on either end of it are removed as a unit, you can saw/
cut/drill at the nuts/bolts. The flanges at either end of the cat on
my 87 Sentra had no studs, only holes. So once the old bolts and nuts
were cut away, new bolts and nuts could be easily inserted. When you
install new nuts and bolts, use liberal amounts of anti-seize
compound. It's a good idea to turn the nuts every once in while when
you happen to be under the car and reapply anti-seize compound as
needed. The heat of the cat will freeze things fairly quickly. Good
luck. Al