[XJ4oh]

Well, my 2nd total POS pipe cutter you can get from JC Whitney, Advance Auto, Autozone, ECT.. broke. Basically, I got all the pipe off, and had to wrestle with the converter for near 2 hours before that SOB came off. We wont even go to how I got it to that point.. Anyway, my pipe ends right where the converter used to be, I have a coupler and everything to fit, but theres a chunk of pipe that was on the end of the converter that broke off. I cant get enough of an angle to bang on it with anything.. So I can fit the converter, but theres not enough room for it to sit without falling. So now im stuck with no choice but to take it to get it welded up. The pipe ends right where the converter used to sit. Biggest question is, will it be ok to drive it to an exhaust shop to get it fixed? I know my CEL will come on, blah blah.. but I can reset that. I have a few that are close to my house, one is a chain, and one is sort of a private shop and I dont know how they do. The place I really want to take it to is about 6-7 miles away, but they have great customer service and do quality work. So worst comes to worst ill have to settle for the avg. exhaust shop. But I just need to know if it can hurt anything driving it like that (and I dont plan on revving it up at all just to see how it sounds). Meh.. those pipe cutters suck, and if I had a welder it'd be all gravy. Im kinda pissed.

Next issue is, I cant get the o2 sensor off the old converter, its heat welded on there. I tried using some DuraLube greaser/lube and nadda.. So any reccomendations on that one? I need to get it out so I wont have my CEL on. No place is open tomarrow, so I gotta wait till monday. Oh well, fun learning experience..

And the last thing.. I think the diameter of the converter was measured different than the flow, cause the same size coupler will work for one, but not the other..

But, hopefully it wont cost that much to do, since I still got the rest of the pipe for them to use, so alss they have to do is put the converter on, line it with the muffler and then connect it to the stock pipe. Hopefully no more than 40/50 bucks..

[CanadianJeep86]

Originally Posted by XJ4oh

Well, my 2nd total POS pipe cutter you can get from JC Whitney, Advance Auto, Autozone, ECT.. broke. Basically, I got all the pipe off, and had to wrestle with the converter for near 2 hours before that SOB came off. We wont even go to how I got it to that point.. Anyway, my pipe ends right where the converter used to be, I have a coupler and everything to fit, but theres a chunk of pipe that was on the end of the converter that broke off. I cant get enough of an angle to bang on it with anything.. So I can fit the converter, but theres not enough room for it to sit without falling. So now im stuck with no choice but to take it to get it welded up. The pipe ends right where the converter used to sit. Biggest question is, will it be ok to drive it to an exhaust shop to get it fixed? I know my CEL will come on, blah blah.. but I can reset that. I have a few that are close to my house, one is a chain, and one is sort of a private shop and I dont know how they do. The place I really want to take it to is about 6-7 miles away, but they have great customer service and do quality work. So worst comes to worst ill have to settle for the avg. exhaust shop. But I just need to know if it can hurt anything driving it like that (and I dont plan on revving it up at all just to see how it sounds). Meh.. those pipe cutters suck, and if I had a welder it'd be all gravy. Im kinda pissed.

Next issue is, I cant get the o2 sensor off the old converter, its heat welded on there. I tried using some DuraLube greaser/lube and nadda.. So any reccomendations on that one? I need to get it out so I wont have my CEL on. No place is open tomarrow, so I gotta wait till monday. Oh well, fun learning experience..

And the last thing.. I think the diameter of the converter was measured different than the flow, cause the same size coupler will work for one, but not the other..

But, hopefully it wont cost that much to do, since I still got the rest of the pipe for them to use, so alss they have to do is put the converter on, line it with the muffler and then connect it to the stock pipe. Hopefully no more than 40/50 bucks..

I don't know about the o2 sensor or cat, but I know you'd be perfectly fine to drive it a little while as it is. I ran my '89 with just the down pipe on it for nearly a month, everyday a 130k round trip to work and back and the only thing I noticed other then the noise was more balls

[XJ4oh]

Originally Posted by CanadianJeep86

I don't know about the o2 sensor or cat, but I know you'd be perfectly fine to drive it a little while as it is. I ran my '89 with just the down pipe on it for nearly a month, everyday a 130k round trip to work and back and the only thing I noticed other then the noise was more balls

Cool deal. I figure its just gonna be loud as hell, and I will not push it.. so It should be OK, hopefully. I just need to get it finished, im getting tired of teh beater truck.

I assume I can just go to Advance Auto and have them clear the o2 code that will pop up?

[XJ4oh]

Anyone else wanna chime in?? Or pitch me an idea how to get the o2 sensor off..?

[mpd8488]

you can get O2 sensor wrenchs that make it a lot easier to get it on and off. Autozone will loan it to you along with the OBD scanner to clear your codes after driving without an exhaust.

[XJ4oh]

Allright heres an update fellas.. I decided I REALLY didnt wanna drive open header, so I jammed a smaller piece of pipe into what was left, clamped it down, and put the Flowmaster on. So now it is sitting where the converter should, but its clamped and I took it for a test drive and that SOB is LOUD! I wish I had a dump to deflect it a little bit, but o well. SO at least I can drive it tomarrow. So heres the funny part. When I started it up, I expected to see the check engine light come on, nadda... The sensor is unplugged at the harness, and I have the harness tucked up.. but no light. Schweet. So I dont have to worry about getting the sensor out before tomarrow, since theres a plug in the converter for it..

Yeah.. and to ya guys running no mufflers, this is coming from my past first hand experience.. it sucks the living life out of your 4.0. I cant wait to get this all hooked up. With just the muffler on it is 5x stronger in the low end, and I tached it up to about 4k and it pulled hard the whole way, and without anywhere near as much throttle as before. Kinda makes me wish I would have just gone this route in the first place.

Allright, heres my next question... After I took it round the block, I got out.. and noticed a kind of heated smell (not burning, just warm material) I checked the floor for accesive heat and didnt feel any, so does the muffler just have a burn in period?