Help! - Y piece removal

[Plan B]

I'm swapping out the cat unit for a decat Y piece. I've taken off the the manifold to cat clamps but have been truly struggling to separate the exhaust from the cat unit. I've tried jiggling the Y piece with exhaust in place with no joy and have now dropped the exhaust but the joint still won't budge. There just isn't enough room to wiggle the Y piece about and also the joint in question has had some form of sealant applied to it.
I've read somewhere that this is a 15 minute job - please someone tell me there is a recommended technique on this........

[andy43]

Maybe reconnect the manifold ends and run the engine to temperature - heat might help?
Keep us updated - I have a Decat y piece ready to go on mine

[ronspeedsix]

Recently removed the exhaust with no problem at all, should be straight forward.

As the Y-piece is hard to wiggle maybe connect Y piece to manifolds and try to wiggle exhaust off.
Sometimes the exhaust clamp is tightened up too much causing the exhaust to deform a bit and both pipes deformed in each other.
Or try to get a flat screwdriver to carefully widen exhaust pipe a bit.

Ronald

[Pupp]

Plusgas penetrating fluid and plenty of body English - rock and twist

[Hedgehopper]

ronspeedsix said:

As the Y-piece is hard to wiggle maybe connect Y piece to manifolds and try to wiggle exhaust off.Ronald

Yes, this is what I have done in the past...pull the exhaust off by grabbing and twisting/pulling the tail pipes. Don't let it dangle down too far or you will strain the flexi-joint.

Excuse me asking the obvious but you have removed the bolt holding the front of the exhaust to the cylinder block haven't you?

[clive f]

give it a gentle tap around the flange to break the seal, manifolds may need prising apart a little too.

[Plan B]

Regarding the bolt securing exhaust to engine: There wasn't one there in the first place. On closer inspection if it was present it would have hoisted the Y piece about 2 cm too high to engage with the manifolds. I can only assume this is down to build tolerances or sagging engine mounts?? (Just thinking about that now perhaps slacking off the manifold bolts to the block they might swivel up enough to take up that difference - might get round to trying that next winter....)

Now I have the Y piece disconnected from the manifolds I was able to put in the exhaust-engine bolt to see if I could break the exhaust joint by wiggling the Y piece against the now secured exhaust - but that didn't work because the bracket on the exhaust that bolts to the engine just flexes enough to take up all the available movement of the Y piece.

I've now removed the said bolt and have a mate coming round to turn the exhaust at the back whilst I turn the other way at the Y piece. De[ending how that goes I might also give the joint some heat treatment from below with a blowlamp.

Oh joy! BTW thanks for the feedback so far guys.

[Plan B]

clive f said:

give it a gentle tap around the flange to break the seal, manifolds may need prising apart a little too.

I've got the manifolds disconnected. It's the joint at the bottom that's giving the trouble. When your Y piece eventually goes in, come MOT time next year it should be much easier to remove as I can see there will be a lot more clearance to wiggle things around.

[Hedgehopper]

When you finally get around to putting the exhaust back into place I suggest you smother the mating end of the pipe in Coppaslip to prevent future problems.

[Plan B]

I've finished the job but didn't do the Cappaslip on the joint (wish i'd thought of that at the time). Getting the exhaust joint to part was a real chore. It took over 2 hours today with a mate helping. Just been for a run in it and it all sounds great.

[clive f]

A Quinny instructional vid here...... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec90BudXEv8