Removing the Catalytic converter

I am trying to remove the cat from my 92 sport. But i'm having some trouble, i have let the bolts sit in a break free solution for about an hour, and they still won't budge. Does anybody know the size of the bolts that hold the cat on? i removed the bolts from the end connected to the muffler, now i'm stuck on the last 2 bolts at the front. I'm trying to use a 9/16 but its not working, it keeps slipping and i'm worried about rounding it off...

thanks!

vise grips ?! also maybe get a tap and a hammer and hit the nut to see if it will break free from the rust

I live in Sourthern Az (no rust) and we have never been able to take off the cat that way..

When I replaced the cat the local shop just cut the cat off and then squished a 3" pipe and put it in the collector looking thing and welded it in..

I've even had to replace the cat once since then.. that time he cut it closer to the cat where it was a regular round pipe so it was easy to put in..

~Mark

boggs1227 said:

vise grips ?! also maybe get a tap and a hammer and hit the nut to see if it will break free from the rust

Click to expand...

tried an impact gun and had no luck, completely mangled the nut. Might just have to cut it off now...

Yea its a 14mm or 9/16 and I had to cut mine off on my 91 but my moms 97 came right off.

Should be 14 mill thats what mine was

You need 6 point sockets to really grab these under-the-car nuts and bolts. 12 point tools will just spin off and strip them.

well i figured since i had such a hard time with the one that was EASY to access, i would just cut it off at the exhaust pipes and work from there. I'm going to clean out the inside, so i have two questions i suppose. Should i just clean the carbon buildup and such out, or should i completely bore it out? i have heard that this causes problems with backpressure on some engines and was wondering about this one.
I live in idaho
emissions are not a problem... :

Cutting it is the easy way out for sure.

I bet you will not have any Backpressure issues.
There will be less backpressure, I can't see why that would hurt you.

Clean the carbon deposits out of what? the exhaust pipe? There shouldnt be that much inside of there or maybe I'm missing the question sorry.
I did like maniak and cut the pipe at the flange and welded a bent 3in pipe in there.
Yea I believe the less backpressure the better(to a certain extent) but there's alot of people that think otherwise so I'm staying off that subject.

91exploreron37 said:

Clean the carbon deposits out of what? the exhaust pipe? There shouldnt be that much inside of there or maybe I'm missing the question sorry.
I did like maniak and cut the pipe at the flange and welded a bent 3in pipe in there.
Yea I believe the less backpressure the better(to a certain extent) but there's alot of people that think otherwise so I'm staying off that subject.

Click to expand...

i was speaking of the cat itself, i know that it can get clogged, and i suspect mine is. really i wanna bore it out and have it like a straight pipe, just still have it look like theres a cat.

When a cat get clogged its not actually clogged with soot. Normally when they are clogged it means they got hot and the honey comb looking material is now a solid glob.

That normally happens when the vehicle runs rich for a long time and the cat get too hot and melts the materials inside.

It can also happen if the cat gets hit (like when wheeling).. It can break and then the little pieces move and block the flow. The pieces can even end up in the muffler and clog it.

~Mark

hows this for a idea....with the truck warmed up cat too ( from say 10 miles worth running time ) park the truck have someone either rev the engine up while someone hits the cat with rubber mallet to see if any clogs can be undone or cleared out while reving the engine up to say 3k .dont know but this may clog the muffler up to(hard to say) !?

maybe a good idea any thoughts on this ?

you are going to have to cut the nuts off , if these are the originals the bolt half half zz are pressed in an you can forget about moving them till the cat is off . then you can use a big vise to press umm out or grind them flat with the flange an then take a punch an hammer out what is left an its funn too bamm bammm ohhh !$$% my thumb

With rusty exhaust hardware, there is no "correct size" the bolt is usually whatever size it has rusted down to be now. Play with metric and standard sockets, and find one that you can pound onto it. If you have to dremel the flats of the nut a bit, do it. And always use 6pt, impact sockets. I also have a set of well used (inherited from grandpa) impact sockets that are actually a bit bigger cause they are worn, and they sometimes fit when nothing else will.

But since you have already stripped them, you are probably gonna have to cut them or split them (if there's clearance) with a nut cracker. Good luck, try not to eat too much rust

Either remove the cat and pound the honeycomb out or replace the cat with a new one. A while back I hollowed both cats out while they were still on the truck. Just took a really long pipe and a hammer. There's also some mesh in there that has got to be removed also.

i'll be doing this this summer. we don't have emissions checks, and i'm pretty sure the explorer puts out enough bad stuff

As I said in another post,if you are going to pound the honeycomb out of the cat,be careful that dust is a mean and poisonous thing,don't breath the dust.

Please read

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134980

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