It's day 2 of my DP install. I got the heatshield partially removed from the precat, it's still stuck with the precat and I will remove both together.

For those who have installed their DP, did you put the precat heatshield back on with the DP? I have a PFS mildsteel DP (very similar in shape to the HKS MS DP). I am not sure if the stock heatshield should go back on or not.

In order to get the heat shield back on, I'll probably need to slide the DP and heat shield together into the car first, then put on the bolts/studs. I don't think the heat shield will fit on after the DP is bolted.

Oh, so far I've gotten 1 bottom bolt/stud off. Is there any good way to get the top ones off? It's tight and a socket doesn't seem to fit. I am picking up a closed 6 pt. wrench, any other better suggestion?

TIA!!

 

Day 2? whats wrong? I did mine in just under 2 hrs.
I dont think that the heat shield will fit any aftermarket DP. My last car had a HKS, and my new one has a Bonez. Neither would accept the heat shield.

P.S use some good quality tools.

you should never undertake a job without the proper tools.

 

heat sheild does not go on any aftermarket DP!

 

duh, I wasn't thinking. There isn't a hole on the DP to screw on the shield! What was I thinking?

I spent about 2.5 hrs taking the hoses out, playing with the heat shield and soaking it with WD40. I got one bottom bolt out, that was cake walk. The top ones are hard to get to. I got some pivot socket wrench and some 6 pt wrenches. Hopefully I can wrap up the job after I'm done watch Crank and Chrome and Motorweek! That and some rest in between catching up on Indy 500.

 

I did mine over the last few days, IT wasnt the bolts on the manifold that got me, it was the bolts connecting the precat to cat. Maybe its cuz im in chicago, but I had to heat those ******* up with a torch to get them to move. Make sure you tighten the downpipe on pretty damn good, I made the mistake of not tightening it enough and had an exhast leak big time and had to take it apart again. My downpipe to cat still leaks, so I prolly have to get a new gasket. Just make sure u got em tight!

 

also, if you use your old O2 sensor, if you spray the bolt to get it loose, and all the other bolts, your car wont start very well the first time, and your check engine light will probably come on till the o2 sensor gets cleaned off.

 

you don't need the head sheilding, just wrap your DP with heat wrap and you should be fine, I went over board and wraped mines with about 8 layers. now after hard runs i can grab my dp with by bare hands and its just slightly warm to the touch! underhood temps have also gone down alot!

 

It's all put back together now. I started the car and it smokes. It could be exhaust leak or all the WD40 or anti seize being burnt off... The smoke is pretty clean smell, almost no smell at all, no gasoline smell so it could be the WD 40. Smoke color is light blue, warm but not hot. It was pumping out smoking = about 3-4 cigarettes being puffed hard.

I ran the car at idle (1100 rpm) for about 5 minutes. The stock temp gauage was almost 1/2 way.

It's hot near the precat so I hope it'll burnt off any remaining oil. I'll start the car tomorrow again to see if smoking still exists.

Does anyone else experience long smoking like I did? I hope it's just WD 40. I am really not looking forward to working on the car tomorrow after 6+ hr of work over the last couple of days.

 

Yeah, the WD-40 will smoke a lot! Just keep an eye on it.

P.S. If you do use thermowrap, its gonna smoke so much its gonna look like your car if on fire the first couple of times u warm it up

 

Thanks, I'll start it later again. I don't have any wrap, just plain DP.

How long should it smoke in my case? I soaked the bolts 4-5 times over night and it dripped with a 4" diameter poddle of WD40 under the car. I just don't wanna over heat my car while trying to burn off the WD 40 (or maybe it's just an exhaust leak to begin with).

Thanks

 

Can't you drive it? Yes, it smokes like crazy but will burn off after 10-15 minutes.

 

I think it's WD40! Idled for 8 min today and most of the smoke is gone. I'll let it sit for a little bit and hopefully it won't burn much anymore.

Thanks Toadman! My car is on a ramp and it was a little hard to get it on there (blame that on low clearence) so idling will do for now. I also didn't want to drive it bc it was smoke quite a bit the first time I started.

Can't wait til I get it on the road later today! Thanks guys!!

 

You will know if you have an exhaust leak, your car will sound like a beast and it will smell up all over the place hehe.

 

Be sure to re-snug the DP bolts at both ends in about a week.

 

I hear that! When I first started my car with the new DP and thermal wrap, plus all the WD40 all over the place, it smoke so bad, I'm surprised the neighbors didn't call the fire department! It went away with about 30 minutes of idling, but smelled for several days.

 

Got back from taking a spin around the neighborhood. No more smoking after 2 idles of about 5-10 min each time.

Car pulls stronger than before. No hesitation when pulling from a stop. That's from an auto too. It pulls hard like driving in winter in 30 degrees when it' really 75 degrees out there.

It's definitely worth the effort. It took me 6.5 hrs of actual work over 2 days. It went pretty smoothly but I just too my time and be 100% sure I don't mess up any studs. One came loose but it wasn't necessary to get any of them off. I had the cat and DP hooked up before I lined up the DP to the manifold. Hear from others who had a hard time bolting the cat to DP so...

I think if you don't have a garage to jack up the car, definitely get it done by a rotary shop. If you got some time to kill and like to work with your hands like I do, then you'll enjoy the process and pride in working on your car.

 

dude I recommend that you take your car to a shop next time for anything. Its just a downpipe, not a new engine. I had mine running as soon as I got everything bolted up, WD 40, and paint was burning off of the DP. It just needed to be ran a little bit.

 

Well, I'll work on my car for anything that I know that I can do as long as I have the time and don't feel pressured. Some people rather spend the money but I am a do-it-yourselfer.

I've gotten some very helpful tips and did my homework before I started the job. Maybe I am just over cautious but I definitely don't want to screw up the studs.

I am surprised that few people claim it takes only 2 hrs. I happen to think either you are very mechanically inclined or one of those people who claim everything is a cake walk, some people do that. I actually kept track of time that I spend. Kind of 'testing' how handy I am...

Anyhow, I am glad I did it myself. It's another part of the car that I now have had my hands on

 

I agree with you djant live. I just turned 17 april 20th, and I do all my own work on my car, so it is quite the challenge and learning experience. I started to tackle my downpipe last thursday afternoon, by removing the intake hoses and such, and the downpipe heatshield I moved so I could spray the bolts. then friday afternoon, after letting the bolts soak over night and during the day, I worked out the 4 bolts over a few hours, being really carful, making sure I didnt screw anything up. I got those 4 off, then went to tackle the 2 bolts on the downpipe-cat pipe. those were a bitch, I tried everything ( keep in mind this was all by myself at 17 ) huge breaker bars, everything I could think of, 100 ft/pnd impact wrench, nothing would make those ******* move. so I asked my dad for some help at that point, and he tried his strength which didnt work. so I ran to home depot and got some oxygen for our minny torch, and we heated those guys up which finally broke em loose, then he left the wrest back to me. Putting the pipe on the manifold I had to have him pry the engine up a bit to get it on there. Then me being a retard I didnt tighten the bolts enough on the manifold and had a major exhaust leak, so I had to take it apart and tighten em again. I still have a small leak at the midpipe to downpipe thatI have to take care of tomorrow. So in conclusion I busted up my knuckles and I got that pipe on hehe. I do all my own work!

Stevo

 

I ended up BREAKING the dp to cat studs! You (Rx-7$4$me) said you couldn't get them to move... well, I put quite a bit of force on mine, and ended up breaking both of them. I didn't have torches to heat 'em up... that probably would have been a good idea. I had to drill those damn things out... took forever. I was doing this job at the same time that I pulled my turbos, but I'd guess that it took me 4 to 6 hours, total. And I'm mechanically inclined. 2 hours to do the job is really unrealistic, unless you've done it before and don't run into ANY problems.

 

Hey guys. Dug up this old thread after installing my downpipe and seeing smoke coming from around the studs. I'm hoping that this is just all the pb blaster (like the WD40 that djantlive saw - see above). Is this a common thing? If I had an exhaust leak, how obvious would it be? how can I test to make sure I don't have a leak (without taking everything apart again)?

 

well if you have an exhaust leak, you can hear it sometimes popping. At night, just look at the suspected area and have some one rev up your car, you'll see fire shooting out of there

BTW: smoking right after installing it is normal.

also how in the heck doyou guys drill those studs you break off? how do you get a drill to get in there? mines is really cramped, do you go from above or something?

 

You probably have to pull the turbos if you need to drill it. I don't think it is possible to get a drill in there.

 

At one point I thought I was going to have to drill mine. The guy at the hardware store was going to sell me an attachment for my drill that effectively made a 90 degree turn. Forgot what he called it. Looked like it would have worked, but I ended up not needing it (phew).

Thanks for the reassurance skunks.