downpipe troubles, advice?

**Jakegday** · 04-26-2009

hello, as the title says........
im working with a 3800 non supercharged

over the course of the last week i have gotten 1 bolt by the resonator loose, broke the other one off, and have gotten 1 bolt on the manifold loose, i am still stuck with the other manifold bolt, the one on the drivers side. i have tried everything that i can think of with what i have. i sprayed the bolts with PB blaster every day for several days before my first attempt. ive tried endlessly beating the living hell out of it with my 24 inch crescent wrench. i dont have access to an impact wrench or torch. from underneath ive been using a socket, flex thing for socket, extensions, and a 24 inch breaker bar, from up above ive been using a combination wrench, with a much larger combination wrench on the end of it for leverage. and still, i can not for the life of me get that bolt loose. besides taking it to an exhaust shop the only other thing i can think of is taking off the manifold, and pulling it up for much easier access. i have a couple questions regarding that though, im assuming obviously i wont be able to just pull it out from the top cuz the cat will be to big, but do you think i'd be able to pull it up far enough so i could get to it easier? or does this just sound like a bad idea? how hard is removing the rear manifold? i mean, if i cant even get the downpipe off do you think i'd even be able to get the rear manifold off?? im open to any suggestions.....

**Bio248** · 04-26-2009

time to find some air tools or get the car on a lift so you can use a big breaker bar on it.

**FoSHO99** · 04-26-2009

Soak the hell out of it with penetrating oil if you haven't already. Your going to have to find a way to get a breaker bar on a wrench. If you haven't already, take the front dogbone bolts out and rock the engine forward and find someone to hold it there or use a strap/block.

**Jakegday** · 04-27-2009

thanks for the input guys. apparently wal mart sells propane torches for $15 so i bought one of those and will give it another shot tomorrow

**pontiacgp759** · 04-27-2009

i had the exact same problem about a month ago man hahaha. its a pain i know. what you gotta do is lift the whole front of the car off the ground with jack stands. find a hollow pipe to use as a breaker bar, the more leverage the better. i snapped off both of my bolts to the resonator and had to drill those out. the bolts to my manifold were on TIGHT but they broke loose, just make sure you have the correct size socket on them. what downpipe do you have? does it have the flex section? if so, let me know if you get a hissing noise when you get it installed. I cant find any leaks nor could my exhaust shop. I just know mine is noisy.

**Jakegday** · 04-27-2009

i got the 2.5 inch offroad from zzperformance, they were out of 3 inch ones at the time, yes it has the flex section, i will let you know..... hopefully

**pontiacgp759** · 04-28-2009

thats what I have. I figure the 2.5 is plenty big. gotta keep at least a little back pressure.

**Jakegday** · 04-28-2009

well F this, the torch made no difference either. and now, i cant get the second bolt loose anymore either. off to the exhaust shop to get a quote...

**blueguy** · 04-28-2009

My exhaust guy installed my 3" DP for only $50 that was with new gaskets and everything...welding...bolts...labor

**gtp59** · 04-29-2009

When i did my downpipe it was a b*tch. I just soaked it for and hour or two and kept on working on it. If you can get a breaking bar on it that makes a difference. I would say just keep working on it and it will come loose. It took me about 3 hours to get it off. Good Luck

**Jakegday** · 04-29-2009

well ill be returning my downpipe and gaskets for store credit

i took it to the exhaust shop. for $75 total they just put in a whole new piece of open pipe from the manifold all the way back to the catback. no cat, no u-bend, no resonator. havent had a chance to test out the power yet but i LIKE how it sounds...

**blueguy** · 04-29-2009

Originally Posted by Jakegday

i took it to the exhaust shop. for $75 total they just put in a whole new piece of open pipe from the manifold all the way back to the catback. no cat, no u-bend, no resonator. havent had a chance to test out the power yet but i LIKE how it sounds...

They got rid of your flex too?