Downpipe advice needed

[schastleevo]

I have a blown turbo in my '05 Legacy GT. I was going to replace the turbo with the 16G I ordered from BNR racing. I was finally able to get all the parts together to start to work on the car Thursday. I was able to get the intercooler, & the heat shield off before I shot the nuts & bolts with PB Blaster. I returned to the car Friday taking off almost alll the nuts & bolts to remove the turbo. I couldn't get to the one under the down pipe, so I put the front end up on some jack stands & looked at the nuts holding the down pipe to the next pipe but didn't like what I was seeing. When the dealer replaced the exhaust pipe they rounded both of the nuts off. I went ahead & shot the nuts with some PB, then had some pizza for dinner. When I went out to the car & put a socket with a ratchet on the nuts all that happened was the socket spun on the nuts.:eek: I knew I was really screwed then, I shot some more PB on the nuts. Then I went to Sears to get a speciality socket set that was supposed to work on rounded bolts & nuts. I wasn't having any luck getting the nuts to break loose with the new sockets. I sprayed the nuts again with some more PB before calling it a night. Today I tried it once more but the new sockets weren't working. I tried heating the nuts up with a torch, & then trying to free the nuts with some vice grips; still no luck.

 

Sorry for being so long with the explanation. But right now I have an absolutely rounded nut with a death grip on the down pipe stud, I haven't done anything else with the other nut after the first attempt. I'm thinking that my only option right now is to cut the studs so I can get the down pipe off so I can replace the turbocharger. If anyone has another suggestion I would like to hear it.

 

If I have to cut the studs on the down pipe, then I'll need to replace this as well. Now if I order a stock pipe then the BNR, & the software tuning will work fine with this set up (as I understand). But if I were to order an aftermarket pipe such as some that I've read about here (Cobb, Infamous, ect) will this have any adverse effect with the BNR 16G turbo, & the software tuning?

[hadvw]

AFAIK, the tuning should work either way (although you might have to adjust for a different flow rate on an aftermarket cat, or no cat, as the case may be).

 

If you don't mind spending the $$$, you could go aftermarket, and your tuner should be able to adjust. On the other hand, if you prefer to save some $$, find a used stock downpipe on the for-sale lists here. Shouldn't be too hard, since you only need the top part, and you can probably get one for around $50-70 shipped.

 

Just be aware that there is a difference between manual and automatic downpipes, so make sure you get the right one for your model!