Rear box of my tdi 90's exhaust fell apart at the w/e. Bought a new section today and prepared to remove the old...
Working from the back of the l/r I could see the rusted bolts through the compressing rings holding the middle and rear sections together and thought sod them; I'll just replace them. Thirty seconds with the angle grinder saw them sorted and the old bit of exhaust on the ground. Then I discovered they are studs, not bolts.
Now I've got a free floating circle of metal on the middle section of the exhaust with the remains of two stud bolts very firmly jammed / welded / whatever into it. For the time being I've wired the new rear section and old mid-section together but that's not going to last more than a few days. Why couldn't they just use bolts; I'm sure they were just bolts on my old l/r...
Any suggestions for a remedial sort out? I suppose I should really remove the mid-section, put it on a firm surface and drill out the studs... How easy are they going to be to drill - any better method? I was wondering about trapping the heads of two new bolts with a jubilee clip on the mid section which would then let me tighten to the disc on the new rear section, but I doubt this would be strong enough.
Does anyone have any advice. Worst case scenario would be to replace the mid-pipe which will no doubt cost a further £70... :o(
TIA,
M.