Exhaust Flange Stud Removal
 

While trying to replace the triangular exhaust gasket on my '03 Boxster S, I broke the two lower studs on the flange. I tried using a punch, as you can see from the pics, but that did nothing. I have read that heat is the way to go, but I was wondering if there was anything else I could try first. Maybe some sort of puller? Anyone have an idea?

http://upload.dirdim.com/upload/Glenn/IMG_0783b.JPG

http://upload.dirdim.com/upload/Glenn/IMG_0784b.JPG

http://upload.dirdim.com/upload/Glenn/IMG_0785b.JPG

Is it a nut & bolt, or an actual stud welded to the flange? In either case, you'll probably have to drill it out.

you maybe able to cut the weld away with a dremel or weaken it enough to drive it out. some folks remove the flange then using spacers and a good C clamp pushthem out

It is a nut and bolt for the top hole, which i am not worried about. (From the factory the nut was welded to the flange at the top, but I have already cut it off and grinded down the weld, flush with the flange)

The bottom two bolts are studs that are pressed into the mid-pipe part of the flange. I am really trying to avoid taking the whole mid-pipe out if i can. But if that's what i have to do, then it isn't too tough. Just time consuming.

Drilling may be hard due to the very limited clearance because of the cat in the headers.

Any other options that may be easier than dropping the whole mid-pipe and pressing them out?

if you have a good torch that will get them out

You can kind of see it in the second picture, but the other side of the stud has very little to grab on to. So if i heat it up with a torch, how do i extract it?

you want to put a lot of heat real fast to the flange and try not to get the stud hot. you want the flange to expand not the stud. once you get the flange almost cherry red use a drift [punch] to drive out the stud. hit the broken part of the stud

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

I forget the name, but they sell "freeze out" in parts stores. Same idea as heating, plus it contains some penetrating oil, possibly in addition to heat?

Do you have a brand name? I am not sure what you are refering to.

I believe Loctite makes freezout. A friend used it to remove some wheel studs and he said it worked as advertised.

Loctite freeze and release. http://www.loctitefreezeandrelease.com/

Awesome, looks like it might help. Now my only problem is finding someone around Baltimore that sells it.

So I tried the heat technique tonight and I still couldn't get the studs to budge. It seems almost impossible to get the flange hot without getting the studs hot in order to drive it out. It almost seems like if I keep going with the heat that when I go to drive it out of the flange, the metal is going to start distorting. Really not trying to pay for new headers and midpipes.

If anyone is looking to get rid of some secondary cat-bypass pipes for a good price, I may take that route :)

Same thing happened to me when I installed my secondary cat bypass pipes. Just find an expendable bolt that's the same size as the hole in the flange, and pound out the stud with a hammer against the bolt. Try not to hit your fingers while you're holding the bolt. Hit it like you mean it. It will come out.

Alternatively, you can take a die grinder and grind off the head of the stud, then pound the stud out from that side.

thats why i said a good torch [a propane torch doesnt count] it maybe time to find a muffler shop that will do it

Haha, what??? GSR? B16? Sorry Steve, I am not following you. I think you're in the wrong forum. This one is for Porsche, not Honda/Acura. :cheers:

Smith's message is purely an attemp to get links
 

listed on this forum so that search engines will rank them important because they are often linked to. SPAM. Some forum s/w has the ability to report such postings to the moderator. Not sure how to do it here.

This just started happening on lots of forums recently, someone must have automated the way it is done as it often uses key words that seem on the surface to have something to do with the original posting...but are pure gibberish.

Yeah i realized that was going on after I started seeing his random posts on other threads. Also, I noticed the links under his post.