TwinTurbo.NET: Nissan 300ZX forum - EGR maneuver .... possibly helpful to someone in the future?
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Subject EGR maneuver .... possibly helpful to someone in the future?
     
Posted by Zuberman on March 22, 2015 at 2:24 AM
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Message If you're not going to re-install the EGR and don't really care about the condition it's in after it's off, this may help ease the removal.
I got the EGR and all the plumbing off with the engine in, transmission in but with its cross-member and mount removed and shift linkage disconnected at the pin/clip, along with driveshaft out, plenum removed, as well as valve covers, and appropriate other wires-tubes-etc over the EGR out of the way. None of this getting-things-out-of-the-way was specifically for the EGR removal; it's all part of many improvements that are going on, so this stuff being out of the way is just serendipity.

With the transmission tail resting on a jack-stand I was able to put a piece of plywood just slightly larger in area than the tranny pan between the tranny pan and floor-jack and jack up the tranny about 2 inches very gently, checking to make sure nothing was getting bent or strained or broken. This gave me much greater access to the back of the engine and EGR, and allowed me to jiggle out the long bolts that mount the EGR. I'm confident I didn't damage my motor-mounts but I'm replacing those anyways.

Sprayed all metal connections with lube. Got everything regarding the EGR un-bolted/disconnected except for the pipe-fitting that goes into the exhaust on the driver's side which was not really accessible from the top but was accessible from underneath the car with an open-end wrench. BUT that pipe-fitting hex was stuck fo sho! All it did was start rounding off. So I stopped and got out my humongous chisel which has a slightly dull tip. I don't use this to chisel anything. I use it to bite into the edge of nuts and bolts that are rust-age frozen and break them loose. It's basically like the chisel from a jack-hammer. It's a beast from back in the day that my grandfather had when he ran his service station. I don't know what the hell he was smackin with it, but God bless him! Went back to the top of the engine, put the chisel on the right-hand edge of the pipe-fitting's hex and started firmly tapping the chisel with my hammer. After just a few taps and some gouging of the hex it started turning. Resistance is futile! Having it broken loose, I went back underneath and got the wrench on it and after a few small turns I could turn the hex with my hand. It got stuck due to the tension presented by the pipe that's going into it but I just went back to my wrench when that happened and then it freed up again and then I went back to turning with my hand, and then it got so loose that I could jiggle the pipe when it got stuck again and then go back to turning it by hand until it finally came completely loose.

I didn't have to cut any pipe. The passenger-side pipe that goes from the EGR to the underside of the plenum was problematic but after some maneuvering that came out in one piece. It's the insulation on that pipe that causes the most anti-movement but once you get the bare pipe slipped up between the coolant-pipe and the rear of the lower-intake the pipe slides out with some twists towards the passenger side, with the EGR-end plate connection coming through that same space between the coolant pipe and rear of the lower-intake.

Some will ask why didn't I just cut everything to get it out.
iono.
It would have taken as much time to get my Dremel and go cutting up everything as the way I did it, and I didn't have to be careful to not get metal shavings all over the place, and I got enough of a filthy mess going on in that engine compartment, lol.

Anyway, the point for me is that my chisel and hammer made it a LOT easier to get that freakin pipe-fitting broke loose. Maybe that technique might help someone else, and not only just with that EGR pipe-fitting but also any nut or bolt :)

     
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