Can't get starter out, Y-pipe welded on
 

So I had starter hum/sticking this morning and had to take another car to work. A little later when I got home (got off early) I went to buy a new starter and then jacked the car up and saw that there was no way that it was coming out without removing the y-pipe. Then I saw and remembered from my headgasket change that when my exhaust was installed, they welded the y-pipe to the i-pipe before the cat.

So what can I do? Last time I took my car to a shop, they diagnosed my no shifting problem with very low fluid and changed the pan twice because it was leaking, and it's still leaking. Can I cut it off before the weld with a saw-zall (reciprocating saw and somehow convert this to a clamp on like it should be? I don't know how I would do that and I'm not sure I can cut too straight with the saw-zall. Maybe some kind of reducer pipe into the i-pipe with a clamp? Or do you think I should just cut it off, change the starter and drive it to the exhaust shop with open headers and hope I don't get pulled over :D ?

May sound like a long process but you could always undo your headers from the heads an hope that it drops down enough to give you enough room to slide the old starter out an the new one back in place. Just a thought.

Take off/unbolt the shortys, use sawzall to cut y pipe, Remove starter, Install new starter, Purchase long tube headers and y pipe, remove new starter, install headers, install new starter, drink beer. Its just that easy.

Just think of it as a 600$ starter, not a starter and new LT headers/ypipe

Cut the intermediate pipe, reattach using a quality band clamp.

So I can band clamp butt to butt two pipes of the same diameter using a band clamp? That's the part that isn't clear, I know very little about putting together exhaust.

I think Joe has the best suggestion

thanks, I just wasn't aware that exhaust can be butt jointed when of the same diameter.