M54 3.0i Exhaust Gasket Replacement at Catalytic Converter

[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by richardb

I have cancelled this mission, going to let the repair shop handle it. A torch will be needed, perhaps drilling out the STUDS, not bolts.

I took a quick look under my 2001 3.0i just now, and I do have studs, not bolts, as well.

The studs are in the cat/manifold end. They are tapered, conical, coming almost to a point. As I mentioned earlier, mine are in fine shape and are original as far as I know at 196k miles.

AWR's suggestion there does look interesting. Depending on what exactly is wrong under there, one or more of those may solve your problem without needing to go anywhere.