Steve wrote:
>
> The front of the cat has a flexable connections with bolts and springs. No
> problem here. The back end of the cat has three threaded studs/bolts
> coming out of the flange. I'm hoping to reuse the cat but I cannot get
> these three bolts out of the cat.. I had to cut the rusted nuts off to
> disassemble and I need to be able to bolt this end of the cat onto the new
> pipe I'm replacing.
>
> Looks like I'm going to have to grind the flange flush on both sides and
> drill the holes out to accept three new bolts????
>
> I've never seen perminant bolts like this?? I've seen a fixed nut on one
> flange but not the bolt.????
>
> When I look up new Catalytic converters it looks like there are holes
> there not threaded studs???
>
> Could these bolts be badlt rusted in place? I wacked it pretty hard and
> have just about cut one of the "heads" off (they look like a "t" head not
> a nut shape) and the shaft of the bolt wont budge... Like its part of the
> flange..
>
> Is this unusual????
>
> Thanks
>
> Steve

The best way to have dealt with those nuts would have been to heat them up
with a torch until they were red hot and then remove them with an impact
socket (which is less sensitive to heat than chrome sockets). If you don't
have access to an oxy-acetylene torch then sometimes a MAPP gas torch will
work. I believe that the studs are likely welded to the cat. At least
they're shown as part of the cat in the service manual for my '88 Civic.

Eric