Install Your Own Exhaust?
 

How many fd owners install their own exhaust? I ordered my dp, mp and catback but I don't know whether to put it on myself, or send it someplace for installation, my bes friend has a lift, do you think its better? Thanks

Of course a lift will help, unless your exhaust sits on your roof.

It is very easy to install it yourself, especially with a lift. I did mine on my back under jack stands, yikes!
Be gentle with the factory DP studs, they can break off.
It is about a 1.5 hour job I'm guessing based on your experience. Have fun!

Raj

Thanks Raj, I can't wait until they get here.

Also before anyone else mentions it, you;ll need to get an ECU with al of those mods.

mp evil! mp evil!

Power FC on the way

Awesome... exhaust shouldn't be much of a problem just have someone look at it from the side to make sure its straight.

Thanks for replying everyone, what sre yoiur exhaust combos?

i've done both

I personally prefer to let a shop do it. 30 bucks for an hour or more of not fun shit is worth it for me. Plus alot of times the pipes need to be relaxed a bit and made to fit properly.

I'm putting md/dp on mine now and have run into the "unholy bolt of defiance". Impact didn't touch it so i'm gonna heat/impact. Just seems like a lot of work for no brain shit that it hard to screw up.

i say pay 30-40 bucks and be done with it and not even get dirty.

A couple of additional words of advice:

The night before you begin installation of the DP, soak the DP nuts/studs in a good solvent like Liquid Wrench or anything of that sort. And spray them again just before removing them (be sure to wipe off any drippage before you begin work under the car, so that you don't get any in your eyes).

Have the right tools handy. A "u-joint" extension with a deep socket is a good idea, as it's pretty tight working quarters.

Be very careful when removing the nuts/studs. Chances are 50/50 that some or all of the studs will basically come out along with the nuts during removal. If you feel some heavy resistance, don't force it; try going backward a bit, then forward (counterclockwise) again. Otherwise, if you just try to manhandle it off, you'll probably break the stud off in the exhaust manifold, and you may be FUBAR. Also good insurance to get a couple of new exhaust manifold DP studs and nuts, that way they probably won't break because you have new ones on hand. :)

You'll also need to remove the surrounding heat shields, including the ABS shield, for easier access.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

You can search for that thread subject, it's been covered umpteen times...

agreed, but just for shits and giggles. :D

Pettit DP, Pettit HiFlo, PFS CatBack.

It is very simple to install. I enjoy doing my own work. about 1.5-2hours like some else mentioned.

with a MP you get Boost Creep which is why people are mentioning the aftermarket ECU. Also, if I remember right porting your wastegate helps.

yeah, I know Its been posted alot of times, I was just wodering what the combos of the invidividual people that were posting here were.

The downpipe is not an easy job. Don't plan on getting everything done in a couple of hours. That won't happen.

If you are going to pay a mechanic to install all that, make sure they know what they are doing. If they know what they are doing, expect to pay around $300. :(

I have a M2 DP & RB catback with stock cat.

Some wd40 for the hangers and rubber holders. Makes pulling out and pushing in the hangers alot easier!!!

Very true. My dp took me about 6 hours to install, including a trip to Meineke to have them heat a broken stud on the cat and remove it once we snapped it off trying to remove the nut. The dp is such a bitch because everything has been on there for 10 years of heat cycling and road crap, and does NOT want to come off.

That being said, I liked the experience of doing it. If you have the time then it's worth it to do it yourself. If you don't like getting your hands dirty, or just don't have the time to mess around with it, have a shop do it.

As others have said, the whole trick to the downpipe install is liberal use of a good penetrating oil like PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench the night before and again prior to start of removal of the pre-cat.
It took me about 5 hours to do the dp, I think I could do another one in about 2 hours pretty easy, as long as there weren't any unforeseen problems like stubborn nuts or broken studs. All in all, I would MUCH rather do a downpipe than say....change the fuel filter! :(

The rest of the exhaust is a breeze. You should be able to put the mid-pipe and cat back on in 3 or 4 hours total.
I did mine with the car up on jackstands, give yourself PLENTY of room under there.

DP is a biatch to get off. Cat-back is extremely simple, should account for about 10 minutes of the job. MP should be in the neighborhood of an hour depending on how runsted on the 10 year old bolts are. The down-pipe will take at least 2 hours if you are good and everything goes flawlessly, no stuck bolts, studs etc.

dp was easy for me

getting that damn bolt off the RB cat back and the cat is insane.

300 dollars to install.......damn......

maybe u should do it urself. I just remember them welding my presilencer to my dp and installing for less than 100 bucks on my FC.

as far as what i'm running exhaust wise i've got a 3" SS high flow cat from clean and fast, a catco high flow cat welded into a midpipe, and a greddy SP catback. Very nice deep sound while not loud unless you are really on the throttle. catback install was easy, but i can't comment on the d/p and high flow

the stock hangers are absolutely a bitch to get out of the rubber hangers. dremel dremel dremel. the stock exhaust is tack welded together too. get a breaker bar, a dremel and a sixer cuz this is an all day job minus a lift

If you do the work yourself, refresh or replace the exhaust ground strap while you're under there.

Now I am all anxious for my exhaust to get here. I track it like every 2 hours. lol, I hate it when that happens. Thanks for all the tips everyone.

it took me about 1 1/2 hrs to do my full exhaust. jus put some penitration oil on the studs over night. and squirt some in the rubber hangers...

I came up with a nice little trick for removing the rubber hangers easily. Put a little grease on the outside edge of the metal post. Take a large channel lock and place one end on the post place the other end on the far side of the rubber hanger. Squeeze the channel locks so that the post pushes into the rubber. Try to squeeze the post at least 1/2 inch into the hanger. Once you get it this far, it is easy to remove the rest of the way. :)

Hmmmmm....all this talk of the rubber 'donuts' being a bitch.....mine were fine. Still nice and supple and I had no trouble getting the hangers off them.
I did lube them up with some silicone grease prior to reassembly.

I haven't done the rest of the exhaust on my car yet, just the dp, so I have no experience with these rubber hangers, but from others I've done they're really not that bad.

My preferred method it to stick a flathead screwdriver in the hole in the rubber hanger alongside the metal bracket, inserting from the side that you need to slide the hanger toward. Once the screwdriver is in, you can use that as kind of a slide to push the hanger along. Works every time. Of course lube helps, but either way that should work.

To get the hangers off on mine, I just took some silicone spray in a can with a straw, stuck the straw in the middle of the hanger on the rod and sprayed. Slipped off like a hot knife on butter (best analogy I could come up with)

Thats probably the right way to do it. Did you put the grease on the nmight befoe like everyone else? Im thinking that the more precautions I we take, the less chance of breaking things we have.

I had a shop do the DP. I did the Hi flow cat and the cat back at the sametime myself. It took a couple hours on jack stands. The worst part was using bolt cutters and a hack saw on the old bolts. They would not budge even with penetrating oil. One of them broke. So the time invested was cutting off the old bolts and nuts.

The trick to the hangers is getting it started. I don't think putting it on the night before is necessary, but it won't hurt anything.

Agreed. very easy job. I recomend PB blast it is a catalist that if you spray the bolts the night before it will make the removel a hell of a lot easier. PB blast is 100 times better than WD-40. It comes in a spray can that is white with black lettering that looks like a kid desinged the lable. Its great stuff and well worth the money ($5).

Really? You learn something new everyday, thanks SVT, Ill try that for sure.

how about just replacing the catback?

i know its basically the 2 bolts and the hangers but damn i dont have any jack stands or nothing..i was thinking of backing the car on some ramps and hope its high enough to where i can undo the bolts..

You actually don't have to get the car that high off the ground anyway. I did my exhaust myself and it took about 30 minutes. Very easy. Spray the two bolts with some PB blaster or something similar. Wait a few hours for it to do it's thing. Take the bolts off. This is where a jack stand would come in handy. The stock exhaust is very heavy so you'll need something to support it while you're unbolting it. Once it's off take some exhaust gasket sealant and bead it around the new gasket stick it on and then install the new exhaust in the reverse order. All very easy.

well i already have an aftermarket exhaust on, so at least i know the bolts were removed more recent than 13 years lol..i just wanted something different, thats why i changed it..

im HOPING the gasket thats on there now is still good cause im gonna have to reuse it since the used exhaust i bought didnt come with one..im gonna buy gasket maker just in case..