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Wow! The newbie actually did something right!


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Howdy guys! Forgive me for being excited over something so small but I did my first actual work on my 1990 Legacy L today :D

 

A few days ago, I went up to my girlfriend's grandparent's house to see her on my 30min lunch break. While up there, we went goofin' off on some easy ATV trails in my subie and I just *barely* scraped something underneath the car. I didn't think anything about it until I was on my way back to work when the exhaust note changed from relatively quiet to "OMFG Colin McRae WRC!!!"

 

I finished work and went to bed, got up the next morning and found the exhaust leak. Donut gasket behind the catalytic converter which looked like it'd been there longer than the car finally gave up. I guess I flexed the pipe at that point a wee bit when I scraped it and the decrepit gasket gave it up.

 

Just got done fighting and fighting and fighting with old, rusted out, brittle bolts and putting the new gasket in. Somehow, I actually did it correctly and my accidental rally car is now back to my quiet cruiser.

 

Tips for those who might find themselves in the same boat (IOW, don't know what in the world you're doing):

1.) PB Blaster helps...a LOT. So does waiting 15 or 20 mins, tapping the offending bolt with a hammer, more PB Blaster, and maybe a small bit of heat.

2.) Take your time! You really don't wanna get in a hurry and round off a bolt or nut only to find that now you either have to cut the bolt out or drill it out. Trust me, it's a headache. Sometimes, however, it is unavoidable.

3.) Taking the heat shield off is recommended but also can be troublesome. A few of the ears through which bolts are run broke in two pieces. Again, take your time and use whatever rust-remover/lubricant you prefer.

4.) If you can find someone with a lift - DO IT!!! I had nothing but a pair of rickety ramps and a few 6x6's to block it up with and crikey that wasn't fun.

 

Take care everyone!

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ouch.. exhaust work w/o getting the car up... that sucks....

i did alot of exhaust work without ramps... but i at least had the car proped up on a bunch of 8x8's :rolleyes:

good job

keep it up.

 

i remember doing some exhaust work on the 86 gl wagon i had and i had no ramps (just jack stands) i just lifted up one side of the car so that the pass side was up..

 

all this on a dirt driveway and during the summer...:banghead:

 

voodoochylde-congrats on doing the job yourself.:banana:

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