Yes,
I have and still do use stainless hardware for the collectors, cat, muffler
and tail-pipe connections, it makes removal years later a much easier task.
Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of John Rodgers
Sent: Monday, May 31, 2004 12:44 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Install of catalytic converter on 90 multivan

Ed,

I wonder if anyone has attempted to use stainless nuts and bolts as
replacement hardware so as to avoid the rust/corrosion/need to cut and
sacrifice/ issues they may be faced with in the future! I know stainless
doesn't have the hardness as steel on a piece by  piece comparison, but
it still may be strong enough to do the job.

Just a thought.

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Ed Shultz wrote:

>Debra,
>
>I knew I had to sacrafice all of the fastening hardware for the cat and the
>muffler. I used a sawz-all type of saw with a metal cutting blade to cut
off
>all of the bolts. My cat dropped right out. I was careful not to damage the
>flanges on the muffler and the flange on the other side.
>
>This method just saved me time when I replaced mine.
>
>Ed
>
>
>