Late night decat attempt

I was doing my first oil change on the supra tonight and thought if all went well and I got it finished quickly I would have a bash at fitting a double decat pipe I picked up a while ago.

The oil change went to plan, so while I was under the car I had a look at the condition of the three bolts connecting the first cat to see what I was up against as I have heard they can be hard to get to etc.

They looked ok so I had a go at loosening them using a long extension for the socket set and for the driver side bolt the angled adapter with extension took the remaining tricky one right off. I was pretty pleased and thought I had done the hard part and was on the way to listening to this little beauty...

Unfortunately for me the bolts holding in the sensor on the second cat were pretty rusted. I cleaned them up as best I could with WD-40 but they were starting to round off so I had to give up. I thought about just cutting the sensor off from the wire but the double decat I've got has a hole for it so it would have left it open. I didnt like the look of the next bolts on the first section of the back cat that's on it either, so reluctantly I had to do everything up again and admit defeat.

Thinking of taking it to the exhaust fitters across from work tomorrow and seeing what they would charge.

Frustrating though as I thought I had it on my first attempt.

Would anyone have done something further that I didnt try to get it?

Did you try applying a heat to the bolts with a blow torch?

I changed my brake pipes to braided ones recently and where the rubber met the solid pipe I alternated spraying then with WD40 and heating them up with a blow torch and even then 2 didn't want to budge for me, but another member popped over and got them off for me using the same method, just a little more patience and expertise.

Good attempt mate when my last supra went bpu it was over an hour with a blow torch to get the bolts off bud. There tough bastardo bolts to get off.

A big ramp and a torch is the best way to go mate depends on the exhaust place kwik fit etc probably wouldn't do it as its not their parts there fitting so they won't get to rape customers as usual.

Cheers guys, looks like torch is what I was missing. I feel like giving it another shot now, whereas last night I thought id just take it to the exhaust fitter. They are a tyre and exhaust place and they are normally ok with the guys in my work as we use them a fair bit. Helped replace a perished exhaust bracket on a mates car last month and they gave him a replacement bracket free of charge.

Think I'll invest in a blowtorch and have another go when I'm off in a fortnight. Trying to reduce the hours it would take a garage to fit my BPU parts to save some money. Hopefully after this I will just need a quote for fitting a boost controller and gauges.

I just cut the overheat sensor bolt heads off, and cut the inter cat bolts and second cat to rest of system bolts. A 1mm thick cutting disc is what I use, but wear goggles, as they tend to pick up and explode! If an exhaust bolt (apart from first cat to turbo elbow nuts to studs) won't come undone immediately I cut them. You can mess about for hours at £50 an hour, or just charge for a couple of cutting discs and new bolts. My customers prefer the latter option

BTW a butane powered blow torch is all but useless for heating exhaust fasteners, you need the concentrated and oxygenated heat of a proper oxy / acetylene welding torch with a big tip to have any real effect.

I just cut the overheat sensor bolt heads off, and cut the inter cat bolts and second cat to rest of system bolts. A 1mm thick cutting disc is what I use, but wear goggles, as they tend to pick up and explode! If an exhaust bolt (apart from first cat to turbo elbow nuts to studs) won't come undone immediately I cut them. You can mess about for hours at £50 an hour, or just charge for a couple of cutting discs and new bolts. My customers prefer the latter option

 

 

BTW a butane powered blow torch is all but useless for heating exhaust fasteners, you need the concentrated and oxygenated heat of a proper oxy / acetylene welding torch with a big tip to have any real effect.

Cheers for the info Chris. I'm sure I have an angle grinder somewhere so I'd just need the 1mm metal cutting disc?

I did want to keep the studs on the cat for future flexibility with MOT but if a gas bottle isn't up to the job I might try it. Don't fancy owning an acetylene cylinder to be honest, I know you will be used to them but they give me the heebie jeebies

Had another go at this the other night and took Chris' advice with regards to cutting the bolts. A mate gave me a loan of his dremel and it did the trick cutting through the rusted bolts I was struggling with the last time.

It was pretty awkward at times trying to get the right angle on them, resulting in the use of a hack saw a few times, but in the end I cut 4 off and it was onto undoing the last 3 bolts conecting the 1st cat to the exhaust manifold. These are the 3 that I had previously worried about but had soaked them with WD-40 the night before and they came off really easy. I assumed they would come off again without protest but one of them stopped turning half way off and I rounded it before I realised. As it was about 12" away and the worst bolt to get access to I couldn't reach it to cut it off.

So after all that I had no choice but to do everything back up using new nuts and bolts and limp it over to the exhaust fitter in the morning. (4 turns of the last bolt would have had everything off! Talk about a soul destroying 5 hours! lol)

They sorted it out for me that morning and it only cost me £40. Was happy with that.

The sound of the turbo is noticeably louder now and the car feels a bit quicker to spool so I'm happy with the end result (prob one of the only members to have still been running both cats!). It was good experiance having a go at cutting the bolts away etc so it wasnt a total waste of time either.

Nice one mate glad you got it sorted. What else do you need to do now for bpu?

Nice one mate glad you got it sorted. What else do you need to do now for bpu?

Cheers, me too.

I still need gauges. I have my eye on a innovative AFR gauge.

There is a member selling one but it's not the right colour. Want the black one to blend in with the interior. I want a depo boost guage but not sure about the silver case.

I've got a 2 gauge greddy pillar pod but think it fits 60mm gauges. The AFR is 52mm so not sure if I could make it fit/ look good.

The car was BPU before and it was just the decat and boost controller that were removed. The fuel cut defender is still in place.

Only thing I'm not sure about is the spark plugs. I know they are a colder grade from the last time it was in for a service as my mechanic commented on them not needing changed. I can't remember what they are though, I want to say platinum but have never wanted to check myself yet from fear of brittle coil packs etc.

Ive heard people say iridium are better but also that they have certain risks associated with them too. To do with detonation or something? Can't really remember.

I get my new intercooler soon so after fitting that I'll contact GI Motersports for a price for fitting my Greddy profec spec II BC

GI will be able to fit the gauges etc bud also might be able to put a sleeve on the 52mm gauge for the pod. I have iridium plugs in mine and I've never had an issue with them mate. Possibly fit a new set anyway for when the boost gets raised. I have spare coil pack clips if they get broken mate ill give you them no bother.

Cool. I've still to get the gauges so it would give me time to get new plugs. How much did your iridium's cost you?

Cheers for the offer with the clips. Good things to keep about

Once I've got everything I need I'll give them a ring.

I got all 6 for about £47 delivered but.

Cool, I'll look into them, cheers