But the cat and rear pipe should be the same.

 

'76-'81 cats are the same. '82 is different.

 

 

Lots of good wisdom coming out in these suggestions.  Taking them all into account it really comes down to whether you will just fix the one broken part or replace the exhaust system in full less the cat.  Either way I'm glad I used a pro for the installation.  I'm a fairly good shade tree fixer uper but as you can see from the responses a lift, an impact / air wrench,  and torch have all been mentioned.  By the time you invest in all that you probably could buy the parts and have the pro do it with much less agony.

 

Just my thoughts.

A word of caution:

Working under a vehicle using jack stands leaves little room to wiggle/make a hasty retreat in case of an emergency.

A torch is the easiest tool to use to remove rusted parts, but they also throw a lot of sparks which can cause additional problems (like your clothes on fire).

Any substance that designed to loosen parts are usually flammable, so caution is required.

Also, trying to use any type of power tool, under close quarters can be difficult due to the limited space.

I suggest you get your parts, save a couple of Euros, and let a pro do the job.

P.S.

Part of my job is investigating employee accident in our shops (Penske Truck Leasing) You can't imagine some of the freaky accident that I come across.

Good luck,

Cookie     

John

John

 

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!!!