Loosening up exhaust tips! Help please

[joshcaro]

Im trying to take off my exhaust tips to polish them up nicely. They are put on by a clamp that I can take off. Once the clamps are off, I can not take it off the pipe.

Ive put a flat head in between the 2 and tried to bang it off...no luck.

Now I want to try PB Blaster or something like that to loosen it possibly. The thing is Im scared to..haha. Being that its the exhaust and gets extremely hot, im scared there will be some blaster residue left over or something that would spark something possibly catch on fire. Am I being way too cautious or is this highly possible?

What exactly would you recommend on taking them off?

[kimwallace]

Usually rust forms between the tips and the pipes they are attached to making them almost impossible to get off. Plus, the clamps have probably indented the pieces causing them to latch together. Sometimes they are even spot welded on. I clean and polish mine like I am buffing a shoe.

[joshcaro]

So it sounds as if it may not be possible to get off without cutting them off huh? Well i have been wanting some new exhaust tips so maybe this is the time to do so!

[rockford33]

Another thing you might try is to grab a butane or propane torch and heat the joint between the exhaust pipe and the tip. I believe the theory is that the heat helps the metal to expand some, and as it cools they will separate enough for you to slide the tip off. While I have never tried this personally, I have heard that this is a trick done when trying to loosen bolts in the engine bay that commonly get stuck, like on the exhaust manifold, etc. Just be careful where you point the torch. You don`t want to accidentally point it at the gas tank!! :flameon :flamed

[tubafeak]

If you think it`s rust, try some liquid wrench, it works quite well, although you`ll have to remove it when you`re done.

[Aurora40]

Like was said, heat will help. I don`t know what PB Blaster is, but most liquid wrench type things will evaporate away and not be a fire hazard. Of course, don`t spray it down with WD-40/Liquid Wrench/etc and then apply heat!!

Also, your goal should be to rotate the pipe, not to pull it back. Rotate it to break it loose, then rotate it as you pull back to get it off.

How long has it been together?

[joshcaro]

Its been together maybe a year.

I might give it a shot tommorow with PB Blaster as I definitely am not going to work with heat right under my exhaust and gas tank.

Im scared enough just using something like PB Blaster so close to my exhaust. How would I go about washing off all the existing Pb Blaster/Liquid Wrench after im done. APC or something to that line?

[tubafeak]

I would probably use SG or something like it, although an APC of some sort should work as long as it is a mild degreaser.