Hey everyone, this is my first time installing an exhaust on a car with more than 40k miles. Needless to say the bolts are literally welded with rust to the flanges. They've been sitting in PB for a good day now and in order to free them I've got to borrow the neighbors angle grinder and chop the bolt end off, it doesn't look as if there is a nut on the other side.

a) does the bolt thread into the cat flange or is there a nut somewhere welded under an inch of rust?

b) if there is no nut, has anyone ground the bolt off and drilled out the hole to add a new bolt and nut?

The last time i did an exhaust was on the old Jeep comanche and it was a bear but doable to loosen the exhaust bolts.

Any recommendations?

I had the same problem when I installed my header back. I believe we drilled out the hole, but I'm not 100% positive. Good luck.

I did mine a few weeks ago. I used sockets special for stripped bolts, but 2 of the bolt heads had so much rust on them you couldnt fit the socket all the way on. So I ground down the bolt heads and drilled them out, worked fine.