ml exhausts and cats

[jonnyboy]

hi all

a mate of mine with no 'net access has an ml similar to mins which both of the cats have gone on.

we're trying to get them off but they seem a nightmare- twisting and turning here there and everywhere.

we have all the bolts and fixings out and they are loose, but seen impossibly routed to get out.

do we have to take the gearbox/transfer case crossmember out? any other hints most welcome !

cheers on his behalf....

 

[lynall]

Had to remove wifes 98 s reg ml320 nearside one, what a *******, in the end i jacked the car up took the tension of the nsf torsion bar removed the bar to get the cat off to weld it up, count the turns as you remove the tension so you cab get it back to the same as before.
Bolt item 410, jack the car well.

Lynall

 

[jonnyboy]

thanks for that advice, worked a treat!

for anyones reference, for a v8 you need the gearbox/transfer case mounting off and the box supported, then the left hand side torsion bar off and pulled down enough to get the cat out. the right one comes out a lot easier and we managed to get it past the torsion bar on that side once the left one was out

 

[jonnyboy]

while i'm on, my mate's heart is running away with him. he's driving me mad !!!

what is the crack with de-catting ie taking the innards out and re-welding up?

not a subject i'm familiar with but it worries me about emissions and bggering up ecu's and stuff .

 

[jonnyboy]

Well, I can confirm that so far so good.

The car is behaving, the emissions appear spot on, it even seems a touch quicker its reckoned.....

 

[A210AMG]

Sounds good will it be ok come MOT time?


Better than de-catting I guess as less obvious?

 

[jonnyboy]

From everything he has read it seems like as long as a car has pre-cats (which the ML does) they should be enough for the emissions. It's a bit "buzzy" but i suspect this is just down to them not being carbon'd up inide yet so are therefore a hollow tube echoing.

We used my welder who did a lovely job - they were cracked around the welds which he has sorted. Shame my young apprentice chucked all the innards into a skip before we could stop him, it seems you can get around £40 a cat, he'll get a kicking lol.