If he can’t afford more than a hack saw, a compressor and air chisel are not in the budget. I don’t have a oxy torch so I would use a 4 1/2 " angle grinder or a coarse grindstone on a shaft chucked in a drill, whichever is easier to get at it with. Both are pretty cheap at harbor freight. You only have to grind off the head or nut then drive it out with a hammer and punch. You buy new bolts to put it back together.
What you have is called light rust in my neighborhood.
It sounds like he can’t afford to continue driving this vehicle
Yes, but I was once young, broke and did not know anything about cars and older and wiser guys took pity on me and taught me things. Good thing, we didn’t have any u-tube videos then, the best free help we had was Motors Repair Manual from thr library and I woul look at the shiny parts in the book until I could translate it in my mind to the rusty heap in front of me.
My go to solution for rusty bolts like this is a Dremel tool or the HF equivalent and a pack of the Dremel heavy duty fiberglass reinforced cutoff blades.
The tool is small and light enough to get into most tight spaces, even if you’re working under jack stands, and the heavy duty blades quickly cut a through the bolt or top down slice through the nut and bolt w/o wearing out or shattering.
VERY IMPORTANT TO WEAR SAFETY GLASSES You’ll be working up close and the nasty grit/stuff that comes off goes everywhere.
Here’s the DOWN and DIRTY @Jerry-Graves. Use your hacksaw and cut the rusted out flange connection at about 4 inches ahead of and behind it. take that cut out section to an independent muffler shop and have them cut a piece of pipe and swell the ends to fit your pipe and get 2 U-bolts from them. Clamp the patch pipe on and install a piece of hanger to one of the U-bolts to support the exhaust.That patch will almost certainly have a noticeable leak but you can drive with it installed.
I recommend a reciprocating saw with metal cutting blade. You won’t need more than an inexpensive saw, which should only run you about $30.
You can then either patch it back together yourself or pay a bit to have it welded back together.
Cut it a foot away from the exhaust flange where the metal is clean.A grinder with a metal cutting wheel or a reciprocating saw (if space allow)would be helpful. Use a temporary collar to join the 2 pipes before you drive to the muffler shop.
I’d rather see him use a grinder. Those recip saws can do a lot of damage if you aren’t careful and I’d hate to see him punch through his floor pan. If you’re broke, Harbor Freight is your best friend. You can get a grinder for 15 bucks. It’s not a GOOD grinder, and it probably won’t last very long beyond this repair job, but it should do the job OK.
that $9 grinder I bought in HF for “one job, don’t care if it break after”, serves me well after few years
is it a good one? NO!
is it getting its job done? DEFINITELY!
@Jerry-Graves appears to have the determination and patience to cut that pipe with a hacksaw to save money so I say “more power to you Jerry.”
If I was going to use a hacksaw, this is the type I would use:
The trick is to get as close to the flange as possible so that all you have left is the bolt diameter to punch out. That can be very hard to do with a hand tool laying on your back but I’ve done it in my younger days. Also, it’s hard to tell in the pic but if there is a gasket creating a small gap between flanges, you may be able to slice the bolt rather than the head or nut…
The problem with cutting a pipe with that kind of hacksaw is that the holder will bump up against the pipe before the blade makes its way all the way through. This type would work better.
I believe that @TwinTurbo is recommending that type saw to cut through the 2 flange bolts Whitey.
Ah, that would make perfect sense. It would fit into tight spaces better than mine.
