How do you tighten these nuts on the downpipe to turbo? Bought the car and it has an exhaust leak. One of these bolts on the front bottom is completely loose, but I can get a socket or any wrench in them. What’s the trick?

 

No one has ever had this issue?

 

You should be able to get at it with the right combination of extensions, swivel joints, and shallow/deep sockets.

 

No socket will fit on it. The width of the socket wall is too much to even get over the nut.

 

Can you get an open ended wrench in there? Try a stubby one, or just take an angle grinder to a regular wrench.
Also if it was loose for a while and you've been driving it chances are the gasket is ****ed so you might still leak a bit even after you tighten it.

 

I'll have to try cutting a wrench unless they sell a stubby one. The car has about 500 miles on it like this. Three of the bolts are tight, this one I think the previous owner probably got frustrated and gave up on, or it just backed off possibly.

 

They definitely make stubby wrenches:

Is there any branding on that downpipe? It's absurd to not leave enough clearance to tighten the nuts that hold it together.

 

I believe it’s an ETS DP. Agree...absurd. I see no rationale for the design. I ended up “fabricating” my own wrench using a cheap wrench and a hacksaw 😜

 

Also...you can’t even turn the wrench a half turn with how close The nuts and studs are to the DP. You realistically get an 1/8 turn max. If you trying going further it’s not gonna work and you risk rounding the bolts. Ma e the original studs used a different design with another fastener? A hex or other style stud might work in that tight space. I’ve never heard of a DO with hex or other studs though, have you?