3278

I just removed the exhaust system on my XJ from the header back, but the two bolts that hold the front pipe to the header are shot. One snapped off when I removed the nut, the other is just too rusted to re-use. I've soaked them in PB Blaster, but looking [as a last resort] at new headers, it looks like these studs are pressed into the header. Does anyone know if these bolts can be removed, short of drilling them out?

If they have to be drilled out, I don't see how I can do that with the header on, and if I have to take it off, my repair time and cost are going to skyrocket. Help!

1990cherokee

Pics, would be a lil easier to fully understand this. just by what your saying you might need to drill or at least get a good punch and put a small hole and then try twisting the bolt out of the threaded hole. and if u do need to take it off to drill it and then possible re-die it is not that hard or that costly.

3278

I wish! My only digital camera is on my phone, and it's too tight in there to get a good pic. Too dark, too.

Let me see if I can find a pic, though:



If you look right up at the top, you'll see the two bolts - or studs - which hold the front pipe to the exhaust header. One of mine snapped when I was pulling the front pipe, and the other may be too rusted to re-use. My question, really, is if those studs are pressed in, or if they thread out. If they're threaded in, I think I'm screwed; if they're pressed in, there might be enough room for me to bang on them a little and get them out. But there ain't much room up in there.

That would be my best bet, I think, but there's no way to get a bolt extractor up in there while it's on the engine...I think. Hell, if there were room in there, I'd dremel out the old bolts and just redrill...which I may have to try.

If I have to take it off, I'll spend the money on a new header - a cheap one, since I'm on a budget - but the whole job has to be done by Sunday morning, and I'm getting worried, now.