Date:         Wed, 21 May 2003 01:29:19 -0400
Reply-To:     Kim Brennan <kimbrennan@MAC.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Kim Brennan <kimbrennan@MAC.COM>
Subject:      Give me a long enough fulcrum and I'll move the...
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Or maybe remove would be the operative word. :)

So my Tiico got a hole in its exhaust pipes (those coming off the head
and before the catalytic convertor.) So tonight I began the work of
remove the old in preparation for putting the new stuff on this coming
weekend. First (easy to get to) nut came off with troubles. Then I
realized I'd have to switch to a crescent or box end wrench to get to
the next two. First of those, no problem. Next one...oops. Started
rounding the edges. I didn't want that to happen, so I went to work on
the other 3.

I've a syncro. I've a skid plate that goes under the engine, this
interferes with getting a ratchet socket onto the other nuts. So, off
comes the skid plate (well not all the way, just enough to lower it and
give me room to work.) As I'm working on getting appropriate wrenches
and such, I see my 1/2 breaker bar...Hmm. I've been using 1/2 sockets
on the nuts.

So, I put the sock on the breaker bar and the next 3 nuts come off
without any problems (and the added leverage on the breaker bar means
that it was really easy to get them off.) Then I go back to looking at
that last nut.

Stupid me. The old exhaust pipes are trash. I knew that. As they are on
there "now", they interfere with me getting a socket on that last
nut...so cut them out of the way, you don't have to save them, after
all.

Voila. A few minutes later access to that stubborn nut. Socket and
breaker bar, and it comes off without any problems.

I really had wanted to get this done tonight, as the weather in the DC
areas is supposed to be back to 5 more days of rain...(after the 5
previous days were rainy..) and I don't have access to my sheltered
garage to work on this as it is cluttered with another project vehicle.

So tonight's effort was one of those gratifying times when things went
more smoothly than normal.

My next tale will involve pulling pins and replacing one of the plastic
connectors on the back side of the fuse panel. A tale of getting the
proper tools to do the job easily (getting the tools isn't easy, but
the right tools make the end job a snap.)