Exhaust mounted with coil nuts

In stripping the axhaust off my 75 bug, I had no choice but to split most nuts because of rust.

They were all coil nuts for some reason. (nuts with a helicoil inside

-- usually used when high stress applications).

Does this application require hardware like or is this just overkill? Maybe that's what the guy happened to have? When I put it back, can I use regular nuts?

Remco

Reply to
Remco
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Probably the OEM nuts. They're nice because they *do* split readily. But, you can use plain ol' nuts.

Speedy Jim

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Reply to
Speedy Jim

Yeah, I was very happy to see that splitting them was not a problem :) My nut cracker tool didn't have enough room but a sharp chisel worked well.

Thanks! Remco

Reply to
Remco

The OEM nuts (the ones you took off) are self-locking nuts, so it would be best to continue using them (new ones, of course).

Reply to
Peter

These were the nuts on the exhaust studs on the heads, right?

Those were the OEM nuts, but I don't think VW sells them anymore. The Helicoil is stainless, so these will usually come off rather easily if you heat them a bit, just because the stainless won't really bond to the carbon steel like a plain steel nut will.

When I find these nuts still on an old engine, they are so rusted away that the hex is not longer evident, so the nuts aren't really reusable, at least in this climate.

I put brass nuts back on there. They won't rust either.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Reply to
Jim Adney

I snapped one bolt doing it after I soaked it with penetrant, squeezed it with lockpliers, tapped on it with hammer and carefully coaxed them with heat and carefully turned them with a box wrench. It looked like it wanted to come off but I still snapped the bolt. Another comment mentioned these nuts are self-locking so that makes sense, I guess. So, rather than being sorry later, I split all the nuts -- everything came off like a charm.

I like the brass nut idea... Thanks!

Reply to
remco

The brass nuts are hard to find. Some places sell "copper" nuts for the same application, but if you put a magnet to them they are just steel nuts with a thin copper plating. They are little better than plain steel nuts.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Reply to
Jim Adney

Is there a reason not to use stainless steel nuts?

Reply to
Michael Cecil

VW Part: 311 101 463. They used them right up to the end of production in

2003.
Reply to
Peter

Use the original as they are easy to get off and lock on. I have a bag of them.

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">Den's1977 Puma

Reply to
Dennis Wik

Stainless would be great too 0- when the time comes, I'll get what's most available. I am just thinking when the time comes to take the muffler back off. What was on there were totally fused to the studs.

Reply to
remco

I tried that for a few years, but it seemed that there was a galvanic reaction between the stainless nuts and the alum head (and the magnesium case.) It looked like the stainless nuts came out fine, but any nearby light metal suffered from rapid corrosion and got eaten away. This wasn't a scientific study, but I didn't like the way things were going so I changed my tactics.

I've seen no such problem with the brass nuts in about 20 years of use.

The brass nuts ARE softer, and sometimes I will strip one. This is annoying, but I always remind myself that it is better than stripping or breaking a stud. Stripping always occurs when the threads on the stud are in bad shape, and I have always been able to add a flat washer or 2 to space the nut out to a portion of the stud that still has enough good threads to hold.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Reply to
Jim Adney

I thought I tried to buy them from VW years ago and all I got were just plain plated steel nuts. VW was happy to sell me SOMETHING; it just wasn't what I was hoping for. Have you actually bought some?

I completely agree that the cars all came with them right up to the end; I just thought I was unable to buy the same part even when they ordered it from the VW distributor.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Reply to
Jim Adney

If you order them using the part number, then they should come through. Some Dealers are tricky though and will pass off anything they might have in stock. It can even happen from the main warehouses without the dealer knowing, but the part number is still available so I would try again.

Reply to
Peter

So I gather that you haven't actually managed to buy any.

On further thought, I believe that what I got from VW was that different kind of locking nut which has a dimple stamped in every other hex face. This is just a distorted thread nut. It's possible that this is what VWoA decided to stock under this number, or it's possible that this is what VW superceeded this part to in the years since the German beetle went out of production.

This would not be the first example of a VW part which you could not buy the OE style of.

If someone has really managed to buy any of the OE style helicoiled nuts, I'd love to hear about it.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Reply to
Jim Adney

For anyone looking for a source for the brass nuts, I buy mine from

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Reply to
Scott H

That's odd. Are you sure you weren't using brass washers or something? I'd expect the copper in those to cause a much greater galvanic reaction than stainless steel.

Oh well, I don't have a boat and don't live where they salt the roads during winter and my experience with dissimilar metals and galvanic reactions is limited. I haven't noticed any problems with my car from using stainless parts when possible though.

Reply to
Michael Cecil

The ones I got are copper-beveled and come off without busting the studs. I got the last bag from JCW

href="

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">Den's1977 Puma

Reply to
Dennis Wik

I was using stainless washers with the stainless nuts.

My experience was in a region with real winters and lots of road salt. This was not a rigorous test, and I didn't have a control. It might have been that the corrosion would have been as bad without the stainless, but I was concerned, and the brass nuts have not caused a similar problem that I could tell.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Reply to
Jim Adney

for those running a header exhaust JC at aircooled.net sells the 8mm nuts with an 11mm head, and they are brass...i use them...very happy with them...

Reply to
Joey Tribiani

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