Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunderguts
I never had luck with any of my exhaust bolts. I usually end up cutting a few off, no matter which car I'm working on. I would guess it's probably related to a chemical reaction with exhaust gasses rather than straight rust. I replaced them with the highest grade stainless I could find, but I wonder if they would't work better with a titanium alloy.
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I'm going to hit the hardware store and see if I can do the same, totally worth a few extra bucks to not worry about this as much!
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1and1
Thumbs up simply for the phrase "full huff n' puff mode"
Oh, and sorry to hear ya got yer ass kicked 
Clearly there wasn't enough alcohol involved! |
That's exactly the problem, there was NO alcohol involved lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by rowsdower
The exhaust studs on my N51 were like that when I tried to do headers. After spending hours getting 7 of them out (there are 16), I put them back in and brought it to a shop. Replacement studs for the N51 were $19 off FCPEuro so it makes sense to replace these parts. My shop put the old rusty studs/nuts back on and kept the bag of new studs I gave them. Not going back there again!
I think heat speeds up the rusting process. So it's not that this is necessarily shitty hardware, it's just in such a hot environment that it rusts very quickly compared to other cooler parts on the car. I think they should just not be using steel at all for exhaust components that close to the engine. Not sure if titanium is the right material or something else. I understand why BMW uses steel though. 99% of cars will have the stock downpipe on until the car is junked, so spending $20 more per car to accommodate the few who will mod doesn't make sense.
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I feel for you man that sounds like a terrible project lol. The heat definitely doesn't help anything when it comes to corrosion, hopefully some new hardware will stick around longer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bagekko
Whenever I do exhaust work I always order new bolts and nuts because they are always a pain.
On my Z3 they used inconel bolts which were $25 each. I jacked the car, sprayed them and was planning to repeat a few times letting them soak over night. Car was about 10yrs old but had never seen winter. After 30 min I couldnt resist and just put a wrench to one, it came out so easy as did all the others, I was shocked. These were the bolts on the pipes connecting to the manifold also, as the exhaust was one giant piece tips to manifold.
Now on my E34 540 exhaust I will be installing next month, its cat back. I am putting a socket on my 1400lb Milwaukee 1/2 impact and just going to power snap them or by some miracle they might come off nicely.
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Had to look that alloy up, very interesting. Not worth it for this kind of thing IMO but good to know the option is there! I used my impact on the bastard and it was still fighting me. I think it's "only" rated for 800ft-lbs though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mandinca
I cut mine off....after about a five minute fight with them. I used these as replacements - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I haven't had a look to see how they are doing but they've been on there about 4 months I guess. If I remember I'll look later and report back on the corrosion situation. |
Those look good and I'd probably have ordered the full set online with gaskets and such but since I'm on a tight time table I'm heading to the dealership in a bit to get the vband and gaskets. New hardware will come from the hardware store, will have to keep an eye on it and swap it out if it starts to look like crap again.