Exhaust mounted with coil nuts

In stripping the axhaust off my 75 bug, I had no choice but to split
most nuts because of rust.

They were all coil nuts for some reason. (nuts with a helicoil inside
-- usually used when high stress applications).

Does this application require hardware like or is this just overkill?
Maybe that's what the guy happened to have?
When I put it back, can I use regular nuts?

Remco

Remco wrote:

> In stripping the axhaust off my 75 bug, I had no choice but to split
> most nuts because of rust.
>
> They were all coil nuts for some reason. (nuts with a helicoil inside
> -- usually used when high stress applications).
>
> Does this application require hardware like or is this just overkill?
> Maybe that's what the guy happened to have?
> When I put it back, can I use regular nuts?
>
> Remco
>

Probably the OEM nuts. They're nice because they *do* split readily.
But, you can use plain ol' nuts.

Speedy Jim
http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/

Yeah, I was very happy to see that splitting them was not a problem
My nut cracker tool didn't have enough room but a sharp chisel worked
well.

Thanks!
Remco

The OEM nuts (the ones you took off) are self-locking nuts, so it would be
best to continue using them (new ones, of course).

On 19 Feb 2005 15:59:08 -0800 "Remco" > wrote:

>In stripping the axhaust off my 75 bug, I had no choice but to split
>most nuts because of rust.
>
>They were all coil nuts for some reason. (nuts with a helicoil inside
>-- usually used when high stress applications).

These were the nuts on the exhaust studs on the heads, right?

Those were the OEM nuts, but I don't think VW sells them anymore. The
Helicoil is stainless, so these will usually come off rather easily if
you heat them a bit, just because the stainless won't really bond to
the carbon steel like a plain steel nut will.

When I find these nuts still on an old engine, they are so rusted away
that the hex is not longer evident, so the nuts aren't really
reusable, at least in this climate.

I put brass nuts back on there. They won't rust either.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

>
> These were the nuts on the exhaust studs on the heads, right?
>
> Those were the OEM nuts, but I don't think VW sells them anymore. The
> Helicoil is stainless, so these will usually come off rather easily if
> you heat them a bit, just because the stainless won't really bond to
> the carbon steel like a plain steel nut will.
>
> When I find these nuts still on an old engine, they are so rusted away
> that the hex is not longer evident, so the nuts aren't really
> reusable, at least in this climate.
>
> I put brass nuts back on there. They won't rust either.
>
I snapped one bolt doing it after I soaked it with penetrant, squeezed it
with lockpliers, tapped on it with hammer and carefully coaxed them with
heat and carefully turned them with a box wrench. It looked like it wanted
to come off but I still snapped the bolt. Another comment mentioned these
nuts are self-locking so that makes sense, I guess.
So, rather than being sorry later, I split all the nuts -- everything came
off like a charm.

I like the brass nut idea... Thanks!

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 09:25:08 -0500 "remco"
> wrote:

>I like the brass nut idea... Thanks!

The brass nuts are hard to find. Some places sell "copper" nuts for
the same application, but if you put a magnet to them they are just
steel nuts with a thin copper plating. They are little better than
plain steel nuts.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

"Jim Adney" > wrote in message
news
> On 19 Feb 2005 15:59:08 -0800 "Remco" > wrote:
>
> Those were the OEM nuts, but I don't think VW sells them anymore.

VW Part: 311 101 463. They used them right up to the end of production in
2003.

Use the original as they are easy to get off and lock on. I have a bag
of them.

href="http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4025706&a=30209382&vt=vp">Den's
1977 Puma</a>

> Is there a reason not to use stainless steel nuts?

Stainless would be great too 0- when the time comes, I'll get what's most
available.
I am just thinking when the time comes to take the muffler back off. What
was on there were totally fused to the studs.