Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2005 12:00:39 -0600
Reply-To: Al and Sue Brase <albeeee@MCHSI.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Al and Sue Brase <albeeee@MCHSI.COM>
Subject: Re: Secrets of exhaust nuts
In-Reply-To: <111.43c58569.2f40cdff@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Here in the rust belt, 6- point sockets are the ONLY ones to use. And
I'd take Jim's statement of "that fits well" a step further and point
out that all the exhaust nuts on mine have been eroded down so that an
11mm or 7/16 " usually will fit pretty well.
I ALWAYS have to heat them red hot like Dennis says. Oxy-acetylene is
the only way to go. this is a good opportunity to catch your Vanagon and
garage on fire, so do one of three things.
1. Take the engine out.
2. Roll the vanagon outside.
3. Get a helper, sheet metal flame diverter (furnace tine is thick
enough) and fire extinguisher.
Actually you should always do #3 as well as one of the others.
Penetrating oil is totally worthless untill you've got the nuts moving.
What you've got here is an interference fit. IOW, the stud plus the rust
is bigger than the ID of the nut. There is no way that any chemical is
going to change this, at least not till the parts are moving and the oil
can float out the iron oxide bits.
Heat, LOTS of heat applied to the nut will always make the nut grow more
than the stud. Be careful not to MELT the nut, but any less than bright
yellow is okay here. What you mainly have to worry about is fire and
burning your own fingers. Those nuts are hot for several minutes after
you get them removed.
Take heart, though. After you get this done, give yourself a pat on the
back! This is one of the toughest jobs on a Vanagon. (Maybe we should
start a new thread: what is the toughest job on a Vanagon?) the only
thing I'd rate tougher is putting the piston/ cylinder assemblies into a
Waterboxer.
Al Brase
Jim Morgan wrote:
>What I have done for years on my cars is to run them till they get to
>operating temp and use a 6 point socket to loosen the nuts a couple of turns. It
>can get hot and realy easy to burn your self but this is the quickest and
>easyest way. IMO. If the stud comes out it needed replacing anyway because it is
>corroded to badly for the nut to come off on the threads.
>
>I never had a problem getting a nut/stud out. The main thing is to use a 6
>point socket that fits well and heat!!
>
>Jim Morgan 86GL "breadbox" 215,000.0
>
>
>
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