# Stuck Rear Catalytic Converter Bolts Problem



## holymoo (Mar 13, 2006)

Due to years of bad weather and salty roads (the car is from California), the catback has rusted out on my dad's 1993 Altima.

First we took off the muffler with no problem. Then we tried disconnecting the the pipe from the cat. Unfortunately, we could not figure out how the pipe was bolted to the catalytic converter. So we ended up just cutting off the pipe from the cat. 

This worked very well for just getting the pipe off of the car. However, there are now 2 bolts sticking out of the catalytic converter which we cannot figure out how to take out.

Here are two pictures of the bolts in their current shape:

With the old gasket on:









With the gasket off:










Hopefully, there is someone on this forum that can offer some suggestions for taking those bolts out.


----------



## NALtech (Oct 30, 2009)

They either had nuts or bolts holding it on. Now that you've cut it, just cut it flush with the flange and drill out the stud. You more then likely won't have any threads left so have new nuts and bolts handy. Once drilled out you can now install the new hardware.


----------



## holymoo (Mar 13, 2006)

yeah, that's what we decided to do. It's taking forever to drill out the bolts, but I don't see any other way.


----------



## altimanum1 (Jun 19, 2009)

I had the same problem B4, i used a torch to heat up the broken bolts and with some locking pliers then kome out Quickly.


----------



## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

holymoo said:


> .
> 
> This worked very well for just getting the pipe off of the car. However, there are now 2 bolts sticking out of the catalytic converter which we cannot figure out how to take out.


The best way to remove rusted up bolts is to heat the area, where the bolt screws in, with an acetylene torch; heat it up so that there's a dull cherry red glow. The bolt should now come out easily.


----------



## Clubwise (Jan 3, 2010)

rogoman said:


> The best way to remove rusted up bolts is to heat the area, where the bolt screws in, with an acetylene torch; heat it up so that there's a dull cherry red glow. The bolt should now come out easily.


This is actually the BEST way to get rusted out bolts, for just about any application. Also works well with loctited bolts and nuts, just watch for smoldering rust chips, they DO startle you.


----------



## holymoo (Mar 13, 2006)

> The best way to remove rusted up bolts is to heat the area, where the bolt screws in, with an acetylene torch; heat it up so that there's a dull cherry red glow. The bolt should now come out easily.


hmm. I wish I would have considered that as an option. However, we ended up just spending forever and half drilling out the bolts. It took a while, but it was surprisingly effective.


----------



## NALtech (Oct 30, 2009)

7 out of 10 times on rested bolts/studs on Nissan's heating won't work. I've seen some that were horrible and some be ok. The thing is Nissan puts their junk together with crappy hardware.


----------

