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Today I got the gear oil topped off in the diff and aligned and installed the C beam.Note the aftermarket beam support plates on either end for extra rigidity.

Here are the details of what it took to accomplish the driveshaft installation:

I had boxed myself in because, in my hurry to get the C beam installed and torqued before the Window Weld hardened, I neglected to install the driveshaft. Now that the C beam was aligned and installed with the beam plates, I struggled to figure a way to get the aluminum driveshaft in place without damage to it.

After a lot of study, I decided that my only option was to to unbolt the C beam and move it enough to get the driveshaft back in through the narrow opening between the floor and the C beam. I was concerned about the hardened Window Weld. Will I be forced to remove the C beam completely and start all over cleaning all the adhesive off and reinstalling?

So I loosened the C beam bolts, but the beam would not budge. Window Weld had it glued in place. I eventually got the driveshaft in place inside the beam by pushing the trans tail shaft to the right with a 2x4 and wedging some wooden blocks against the side of the trans to hold it there. This provided just enough room to get the driveshaft in place. There was just enough springiness in the drivetrain to allow this to happen. The Window Weld never did let loose of it's death grip on the trans and rear end. I was relieved to get the C beam realigned and torqued in place once more. I pity the next guy who has to work on this after me. It will be a nightmare to get that C beam out of there short of a sawzall.

All is finished in the rear. Half shafts in and suspension buttoned up. Time to move forward to the right catalytic converter and the busted off stud.

I worked on the busted off stud today. I rigged up a drill guide and was feeling quite proud of it. I thought for certain it would guide the drill bit right down the middle of the stud. NO SUCH LUCK! It ended up off-center. The good part is I was able to use a cobalt drill bit to drill all the way through the stud. With that accomplished, I'm quitting for today. Monday is another day!

Today, I worked for five more hours on this busted off stud. My first attempt was to drill the hole from yesterday big enough to accept the appropriate Black & Decker thread extractor. After tapping the extractor in place, I used this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TGM7HY?ps ... ct_details to turn the extractor and promptly broke off about 1/3 of it. Now what? The first thing I did was to throw away the set of Black & Decker extractors. Then,I tried to grab a piece of the extractor that was sticking out with some pliers to attempt to dislodge it. No good. So then I decided to try to smooth off the broken end of the extractor with a high speed stone in my Dremel-like tool. To shorten the story I ended up grinding the extractor/broken stud until the extractor just vanished. At that point I was about 3/4 of the way through the stud, so I decided to use up as many grinding stones as necessary to work through the remainder of the stud. A couple of hours later, I made it all the way through. So now I had a 1/4 hole through the stud with no way to turn it out. After a lot of pondering, I decided to drill out the hole to the size needed to tap the hole to 10mm x 1.5 thread (OEM size). From this point on, things went astonishingly well. When I got the hole drilled to size, I saw that it was very near dead on center. Unbelievable!!! So I got out my handy dandy tap turner (see above) and a 3/8 drive ratchet and worked it through the hole. Again, unbelievably, it went right through and cut some very nice threads! I won't know until I install the left cat how straight the new stud is, but it looks good to my naked eye.

It was the long forgiveness prayer for all the previous swearing that turned the tides for you.

-BP

Nope. I prayed to St. Joseph the worker and he answered my prayers.

The holes look good from the pictures. I would have a bolt that is
the correct size handy in case the stud is crooked and the flange
of the converter won’t fit over all of the studs. A bolt could be put
in last after the two studs are started. Just a thought.

GM

Good thinkin', GM. I'll see if I can find a 10mm-1.5 bolt. Did you ever think you'd have to think of exhaust manifold studs in millimeters

I'm glad I decided to work on replacing the fuel filter today. Since the right cat is out, access to the fuel filter is very good. When I removed the filter, I saw that two of the three A011 7.65 x 1.78 Viton O rings were bad. I replaced all three. Interestingly, I had detected no leaks up to this time.

While I'm on the subject, to stop a lot of gas from draining from the tank when the filter is removed, I used fuel line clamps on the rubber fuel hoses at the filler neck. The idea worked great. I should be able to finish the job tomorrow and also hope to work on installing the right hand cat.

wxo wrote: Tue May 09, 2023 8:12 am Good thinkin', GM. I'll see if I can find a 10mm-1.5 bolt. Did you ever think you'd have to think of exhaust manifold studs in millimeters

I’ve never been a fan of metric bolts on vehicles. At least your car has all metric bolts
on it as opposed to the late 80’s when GM was converting over to metric. Those cars
had standard threads on the motor and everything else on the car was metric!

GM

I started my day by buttoning up the fuel system. I started the engine and ran it for a short time to check for leaks. All looked dry. I then started on installation of the right side cat. At first, the holes in the converter flange would not engage the three studs on the exhaust manifold. Then I remembered GM's suggestion to remove the new stud and use a bolt to hold on the third side of the flange. Well, I didn't have the correct bolt, but instead removed the stud from the newly tapped hole and then was able to get the cat held in position with two hand tightened nuts. Then I screw the third stud through the flange and into the manifold. No problem. It went right in. All I had to do now is add the third nut, snug them up and torque to specs. Getting the cat hanger bolted in place was a bit of a struggle due to the inaccessibility of the top bolt. I got it as tight as I could with all the tools at my disposal. I believe it will be fine.Next it was time to start the LT4 and warm it up with only the cats as mufflers while checking for gas leaks. Still dry.https://www.youtube.com/shorts/km6qlz-Zf1A

Getting ready for tomorrow, Randi and I toted the exhaust system from its basement storage up to the garage.

I spent a few hours today installing the exhaust, braces underneath, wheels and airing the tires before taking my first ride since January 7th. All went very well. She sure felt good. Everything in the rear felt nice and tight. No slop or strange noises. I put about 17 miles on her. ODO now is 103759.

I'll bet that was a very satisfying drive. Great job! I think you need to post a few pics of the car again.

-Dave

I will take some photos after I get a chance to clean it up. All three of our vehicles need some TLC right now and Randi's comes first. It's next in line.