So I got my Magnaflow catback on Tuesday....I've been looking forward to it for quite some time, and I tackled the install Tuesday night. I started at 5:00 PM, and so it began. Muffler came off easy, and I cut the rest of the tube off to get it out of the way of the flange on the cat. After quite some time trying to get the bolts off (rusted on), we pulled out the grinder and hacked away till the flange fell off. The remaing parts of the bolts still hung, covered in rust and not budging...we hammered, chiseled, grinded with no success. Finally, we grinded that stubs flush, and began to drill. All I had were black oxide bits, so I started small and went up to 5/16, 1/64 at a time. Broke 3 bits in half and the tip off one, but 3 hours later I had two holes opened up enough to get new bolts in. I was so frustrated at this point, that I decided to try just using two holes. I got it all on (another hour later) and started it up....sounded awesome after some ajustment for fit, so I hit the road. Came back, and it was leaking like crazy from where the 3rd bolt was not replaced. 12:00 Midnight, time for bed.

So today (Wed.) I got some sealer to close up the hole, and no luck. I finally pulled it off again and grinded and drilled out the 3rd hole (got some Colbalt bits that actually worked) and resealed the whole system. Took it out for another drive, and now theres a small leak that sounds like a whistle when idling. I'm pretty sure its because I didn't let it set long enough, so now I'm going to go put on another layer of sealer between the flanges, and hopefully it'll be the last I have to deal with this....

I NEVER anticipated this sort of trouble, and its made for quite the stressful 2 days. If you're ever thinking of doing this yourself...be prepared!

Any other horror stories?

 

I dont have any horror stories yet...but once i get my comptech catback i will

 

I had the same problem with puting my Megan exhaust on a few days ago. Didn't have to drill though, my friend brought this crazy spray over that sat on for about 10 minutes and pretty much ate all the rust away. I'll find out what exactly it was for every one to see.

 

pretty much everyone here like PB Blaster, you just gotta research first to get stuff done correct, congrats on finishing it though

 

Yeah I actually had PB Blaster...I used it 3-4 times over about 20 minutes and it didn't even put a dent in the rust.

 

Kid wanted me to put on his DCsports header onto his Eclipse. Basically handed me a set of basic wrenches and sockets and I had at it.

Nightmare? Oh my god.

Started out bad, couldn't even get the heatsheild off. Not to mention the damn thing was hot for over 2 hours!!! Every bolt we took off would fuse inside the socket, so we'd spend 30 minutes getting them out etc. When we got the heatsheild unbolted, I literally had to rip it out using my hands... it was still hot by the way. After I tore the now twisted hunk of metal we got started on the actual manifold. I got that off pretty quick, no issues there. Went under the car, pulled off the O2 sensor, then went to where the header connected to the cat... omfg. Those bolts weren't moving. The kids dad gave me a butane torch (useless) to heat the bolts up with. So there I am, under the car using this torch because the kid's dad insists on it. Finally I give up, and just rip the **** out of the bolts until they snap in half (no grinder...). So now we have to go to home depot, and I get stuck in the back of another cruddy rattlebox eclipse. Get the bolts, go back to his house, so I get to put the rest of it together in the dark. Then of course the bottom piece won't match up worth **** to the top piece, so I had to bang the crap out of it in some awkward messed up position and finally got it in. Fastened it together as best I could with what I had... blaaaaah!

Finally got it done, kid insisted that I take a ride with him. Yup, Eclipse was still slow as *****, and he did none of the work.[:@]

 

and now you know why mechanics charge people an arm and a leg for labor. lol

 

xtune !! lol

 

HELLZ YEAH!11

lol

 

my cat back wen on pretty ok, except for the top bolt under the shifter....that was fun. the only real problem was cutting the shift linkage tab thing so it wouldt catch the exaust hanger.....and there was a little problem taking off the bolts from where the cat pipe meets the rest of it. and that was partially due to the fact that one bolt was one size smaller than the other. all in all took me and a friend about 3 hrs to get the old one off, and the new one on.... including the time it takes to jack up the car and all that good stuff. (gotta use 2x4's to drive on to even get the jack under the front.)