Why did I even bother?!

[Meallbhan]

An easy job turned into a ball ache. Tried to take the exhaust off to do a precat delete, gave up half way through coz the nuts wouldnt come off, so tried to retighten and sheared a turbo stud!! So an easy free mod which didnt get done will now cost me at least a couple of hundred. 

[bacillus]

Ouch, sorry to hear that. 
Too late now but you really need to soak those nuts with wd40 (or something like it) overnight to avoid such things happening.

[Meallbhan]

Cheers mate.  I did give them a squirt of said stuff and the nuts and studs I could see looked in pretty good condition. 

To add to insult, the turbo gasket is blowing too, but I have it booked in next friday.  VW wouldn't entertain it, so I have to take the car to one place, they take to turbo off then they take the turbo to an engineering workshop then they take it back to the garage to refit. 

I'm going to try and get the day off work so at least I may be able to smash out the cat while the car is in bits.  knowing my luck I won't get the day off work and I'll have to do the job all over again myself.  Or, maybe I should just leave the damn thing alone!

[GrayMK5GTI]

I was worried about doing this myself and having this happen. The Focus ST boys get this a lot when removing the downpipe too. A decent garage can drill out the old bolt and fit a new one 

[Banham]

I got a new downpipe and cat put on my car on tuesday. It was a pain in the ass to get off. Plus i drove it to the garage straight from work so engine was hot. He struggled with the bolts but cooled down with water and soaked in wd40 he did eventually managed to get them off. I feel your pain as he nearly shredded one of the screws and i was getting worried.

[Meallbhan]

The Golfy is all better now. The garage managed to replace the studs without taking the turbo off the car. I got them too take out the precat too while they were at it. After all that, I cant say I really notice any difference. Anyway the whole job was only £190 which was quite reasonable.

[bimbound]

This is the story of my life! I try to do as much as I can myself and make sure I read plenty of guides and 'how to's' before I undertake a task, most seem relatively easy and people post with quotes of '30 mins all done' etc. Yet it more often than not seems to go belly up for me and some unexpected hurdle appears. Anyway, glad you got it sorted 

[Neiltdi]

Try working on a 23 year old mk2 golf , snapped bolts are quite common

[Spadds]

Try working on a 23 year old mk2 golf , snapped bolts are quite common

I can vouch for that!!!!!  Seems like they were made out of cheese!!!  Generally on the mk 5 I copper slip most bolts to try make my life easier in the future......

D.I.Y = Don't Involve Yourself.  We all do though!