After talking to someone at work who convinced me to try this myself, and with the warm weather today, I put my 79 on jack stands and managed to get the exhaust (from after the cat to the back) off. WD-40 works wonders on rusty bolts! I only had trouble with one bolt, but still came off without breaking.
Then I finally opened the giant package that my wife has been on my case about that has been sitting in the garage since indy99 sent it to me. I confirmed that the rear y-pipe he sent is an EXACT replacement. So I'm good there. The front y-pipe is definitely not going to work (as we suspected). So I still need to find a home for that pipe. Any takers? Plus, since my front y-pipe ain't broke, I'm just going to leave it as is.
Issue 1: The cat indy99 sent me is exactly the same in length (front to back) and looks like will match up at the correct bolt points. However, it is MUCH smaller in girth than the one I have now. Is this correct for a 79 cat replacement?
kdaddy is sending me his 2 year old MAM mufflers. So I'm waiting for those to come to put everything back.
Issue 2: which I think I already know the answer to... being that I manged to get these replacement parts for peanuts, and now I'm doing the labor myself, should I just splurge and buy new clamps even though I got the old rusty ones off without breaking?
Thanks to all those that have helped me though this so far, and especially to indy and kdaddy for the parts!!!
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-Adam Wartell
NCM Lifetime Member #1222
Founder: C3 Vette Registry
C4 Vette Registry, C6 Vette Registry
My first Vette, now owned by JB79: