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OK, more “pay forward” for all of the help I have gotten here! Just my way of saying Thanks!
Replaced the entire exhaust (sans Cat) on the 89 Accord LXI, 5-speed, 2.0L, but did it in sections. Initially thought all I needed was the front flex pipe (Pipe A), but once the Flex Pipe was installed I discovered the rest of the piping & muffler was shot and needed to be replaced. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of the Flex Pipe repair, but successfully used same techniques as I used here. Thus these steps will work for that repair as well.
First step, get the right parts! Found parts diagram from Honda:
Bosal parts diagram
Walker parts diagram
Then one needs to find and purchase the pipe. Don’t forget new gaskets or flanges and NEW bolts & nuts. Look for Class 10 or better bolts, heat treated if you can find them, or buy Honda bolt kit for >$30.
I bought a pipe from some deep discount outfit. I think it was made in Malaysia, welds looked like what I could do with no experience.
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[b]Reason I bought the cheapest pipe, was that I wanted to try “protecting” it to see if I could extend its life. Seems like the pipes rot off this car every 3 years or so. So I found some High Temperature paint for exhaust systems and wanted to try that. So….
Needed to prepare the pipe for some paint. {Oh as a side note, I talked to techs at Eastwood and they said it was OK to paint right over the coating that came on the pipe! Just rough up the surface.} (we’ll see)
So I scraped the label off the pipe
Used some PRE Painting Prep to clean and prep the interior of the pipe. The paint came with a 2-ft long tube and a 360-degree spray head, which was inserted into the pipe to reach the whole pipe from both ends.
Then I lightly sanded the exterior of the pipe to give the coating more of a surface to attach to:
Next was hang the pipe in my “paint booth”
Then I used Eastwood’s Internal Exhuast Coating – suppose to be good up to 1,800+ degrees F!
Applied the “paint”. Note: Did NOT paint the threads (note green painter’s tape) – would protect those with never-seize.
Finished pipe – ready for installation
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Now that we have the parts and painted pipe, we are ready to address the problem.
First, need to get under the car. I put the wheels up on blocks, but used a board to distribute the weight across the entire block. {While I’d like the additional height that turning the block on its side might afford, I think the block is designed for maximum strength in this orientation.} Also, I NEVER crawl under my car unless I have a fail-safe or back up in place – in this case jack stands. Also, I leave the jack, in place, under slight load, as a redundant fail-safe.
And here is why we are here! This ever happen to you? A pipe breaks and you end up dragging the Cat Converter, and have to pull over, find a hanger, and wire the converter up so you aren’t dragging tail?
Now note the pipe on the other side of the Cat was replaced earlier (Pipe A – flex pipe) and also painted with the Eastwood product.
Next, in order to get the bolts off, I heated them. Now I don’t own an acetylene torch, but did use a propane bottle. Sure it was slow and most of the bolts never turned pure cherry red. But it must have been enough to help. Now granted, when I did this repair it was in the 40s outside (that’s degrees F for any foreign readers) and I allowed the torch to heat the nuts for ~3minutes each.
You can see the red-orange specs on the nuts indicating something was getting hot….
Now it is time to apply the impact wrench and take the bolt off.
I used vice grips because I didn’t care about saving the old nuts.
Sometimes the heads on the bolts were NOT behaving, so I had to drive the impact socket onto the bolt.
Eventually the bolts are off and the Cat is ready to be mated up with the new pipe. Note the honey comb on the inside of the Cat. Need to dig the old metal gasket out of its seat on the Cat flange, or use a hew flat flange gasket.
The smaller bolts associated with the hanger
These bolts had less mass and less metal around them to wick heat away, so when these bolts were heated with the propane torch, they did glow red like bolts do with a proper torch.
But every job has to have its “crux” issue, or this wouldn’t be fun! (Read: this is why you often need a technician!)
So on the back bolts of the Resonator Pipe {Pipe B}, where it attaches to the muffler pipe, just a couple of bolts. Easy, right?
So applied some heat and one bolt comes off as planned. Then applied some heat to the last bolt….
Shoot looks like it is getting pretty hot – nice color to the bolt.
But wouldn’t you know? Last bolt is going to be a problem! It just would not budge using the impact wrench. Even reheated it and no luck! So…on to Plan B.
Got out the old Dremel and a thin abrasive disk and went to work on the nut.
The culprit – finally yields!
OK, so now the old pipe is out and it is time to put the new pipe in place. Just a bit of careful wiggling to get it in place and not knock any paint off: and the pipe is in place!
Used a box as a third hand to hold the back end of the pipe up while I inserted bolts in the front
Now I’m particular, so I used all new bolts and nuts. Looked for class 10 or better, heat treated, as they could be found. Then I applied some never-seize to my bolts to hopefully slow any corrosion and make the repair easier next time?
Once the bolts were in place, tightened them up snug with hand wrenches….
…before final tightening with the impact wrench.
On the back part of the pipe, the pipes didn’t naturally line up.
But making use of the vice-grips as a “third hand” solved that issue and allowed the bolts to be inserted and tightened.
And that is the repair!
Resonator Pipe = Pipe B cost me $31 delivered! Probably have another $25 in new bolts, nuts and flange gaskets.
Pipe B started and completed on January 15, 2015
I only use stainless steel nuts and bolts on my ’98 CRV these days and it’s made exhaust repair so much easier.
I had an ’88 Accord LX sedan which I had for 15 years before I sold it with 235,000 miles on the clock. Looking at your tutorial brought back memories.
Totally agree about stainless steel bolts, especially for under car plastic trays….!
Well done OP for a nice write up! 🙂I agree that stainless steel makes sense and often look for opportunities to use them.
In this case I had several doubts – due to my lack of specific metallurgical knowledge:
1. Found SS bolts but the heat ratings and strength ratings seemed to be low.
2. Never sure mixing metals (SS with steel) isn’t going to set up a galvanic corrosion cell and make matters worse?I understand what you’re saying but I’ve been using SS nuts and bolts for four years on my ’98 CRV’s exhaust without issue. The hassle of dealing with rusted over fasteners is something I sorely don’t miss.
I have to pick up some SS bolts at my local hardware store today since I’m swapping out the V’s 9 1/2 year old radiator this weekend. I started using SS hardware on my ’05’ Pilot’s radiator two years ago after having a devil of a time removing rusted fasteners on the factory rad.
On rusted nuts and bolts , I start off with penetrating oil . Used to use WD-40 . Have switched to P B Blaster with good luck .
If that does not work & you have to use heat , try spraying some more oil on the HOT fastener . Seems like the heat / cool cycle helps the oil soak in . Be ware of fires ! 🙁
If you are going to install new fasteners , and you have a cutting torch , just cut the fasteners off . Much faster .
God bless
Wyr
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