Removing stock exhaust
07-24-2003, 11:54 AM
#1
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Removing stock exhaust I'm going to order a Loudmouth catback system, and figured I could do the install myself. But, I would like to remove the stock exhaust, intact if at all possible. I've seen a couple of websites where they say you have to disconnect suspension parts in order to do this. Is that the only option, or is there a way with some time and patience to remove it without disconnecting suspension pieces? I only have a couple small jack stands so I can't really suspend the car in order to drop suspension pieces. Thanks for any advice.
07-24-2003, 02:16 PM
#2
Re: Removing stock exhaust This is the way I remove stock LS1 F-body exhausts without cutting: The whole procedure can be done in about 30 minutes with air tools.
Use ramps to raise front of car. (Raising the front of the car is optional. It just gives you more room to work where the intermediate pipe connects to the Y-pipe) Jack up rear of car and support with jackstands on subframe ahead of rear axle. Remove RR wheel. Place floor jack under rear end center section and raise rear end but let car rest on jackstands. Remove bolt from panhard bar on pass side of axle and swing panhard bar down. Remove brace above panhard bar completely. (one bolt on pass side and 3 bolts on drivers side) You will need to remove the 2 sheet metal screws that hold the heat shield to the bar, (7mm socket) Remove bolts (2) where sway bar bracket bolts to pass side frame. No need to remove these on the drivers side. Remove the 4 nuts (2 on each side) that hold the sway bar to the axle with the u bolts. The rear end will not drop down far enough with out the sway bar loosened. Remove nut from pass side lower shock mount and pull shock out of lower mounting hole. Lower floor jack so pass side of axle hangs down. Remove nut from clamp where intermediate pipe attaches to y-pipe. Remove the 2 bolts on the drivers side tail pipe hanger. Remove the nut on the pass side tail pipe hanger. Have one person grab one tail pipe while you grab the other and with a twisting motion while pulling back on the cat back, separate it from the y-pipe. Swing the catback towards the pass side and rotate it 180 degrees while snakeing the intermediate pipe through the pass side wheel well. Reassemble in reverse order.
Use ramps to raise front of car. (Raising the front of the car is optional. It just gives you more room to work where the intermediate pipe connects to the Y-pipe) Jack up rear of car and support with jackstands on subframe ahead of rear axle. Remove RR wheel. Place floor jack under rear end center section and raise rear end but let car rest on jackstands. Remove bolt from panhard bar on pass side of axle and swing panhard bar down. Remove brace above panhard bar completely. (one bolt on pass side and 3 bolts on drivers side) You will need to remove the 2 sheet metal screws that hold the heat shield to the bar, (7mm socket) Remove bolts (2) where sway bar bracket bolts to pass side frame. No need to remove these on the drivers side. Remove the 4 nuts (2 on each side) that hold the sway bar to the axle with the u bolts. The rear end will not drop down far enough with out the sway bar loosened. Remove nut from pass side lower shock mount and pull shock out of lower mounting hole. Lower floor jack so pass side of axle hangs down. Remove nut from clamp where intermediate pipe attaches to y-pipe. Remove the 2 bolts on the drivers side tail pipe hanger. Remove the nut on the pass side tail pipe hanger. Have one person grab one tail pipe while you grab the other and with a twisting motion while pulling back on the cat back, separate it from the y-pipe. Swing the catback towards the pass side and rotate it 180 degrees while snakeing the intermediate pipe through the pass side wheel well. Reassemble in reverse order.
07-24-2003, 02:18 PM
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Re: Removing stock exhaust I just had my Hooker catback installed 3 days ago. I called like 6-7 local shops and the price ranged from "didn't wanna mess with it to $150."
One shop was gonna do the install and remove my fact. for $50, but he wanted me to leave the car with him. I said notta...no thx.
I got it installed @......beleive it or not: CAR-X for $75.
They had the factory one off and the hooker installed in 1.5 hours. This included .5 hrs. of misc and bullsh** talking. He had to cut the factory twice to get it off of the car. I was told that you could get it off with one cut, but it would mean alot of toying around with it. The other option that I heard was to drop the rear end to save the factory. Too much work for me and besides if you needed to put the factory back on in 1 piece you would need to drop the rear again.
I was all prepared to do the install myself when a friend of mine suggested a few things: 1)they have a lift which beats crawling on your back and 2) if they have any problems, they can solve it right there. Turns out he was right. Hooker forgot to include a clamp. Also, per Hooker's instructions: you need to get the car a minimum of 36" off of the ground.
Believe me,it is worth the cash to have it installed professionally @ a local shop. I like saving money just like everyone else, but sometimes it's worth it.
ALso, one thing to remember: IF you have leaks or rattles or whatever after the install, you can take it back to the shop and have them "tighten it up".
I also bought the installer his lunch and I told him I would be back to get an I/Y piipe installed in a few months. He said bring it back to him and then we can install it after hours and for a reduced cash price. Kewl.
Just my $.02. Good luck
One shop was gonna do the install and remove my fact. for $50, but he wanted me to leave the car with him. I said notta...no thx.
I got it installed @......beleive it or not: CAR-X for $75.
They had the factory one off and the hooker installed in 1.5 hours. This included .5 hrs. of misc and bullsh** talking. He had to cut the factory twice to get it off of the car. I was told that you could get it off with one cut, but it would mean alot of toying around with it. The other option that I heard was to drop the rear end to save the factory. Too much work for me and besides if you needed to put the factory back on in 1 piece you would need to drop the rear again.
I was all prepared to do the install myself when a friend of mine suggested a few things: 1)they have a lift which beats crawling on your back and 2) if they have any problems, they can solve it right there. Turns out he was right. Hooker forgot to include a clamp. Also, per Hooker's instructions: you need to get the car a minimum of 36" off of the ground.
Believe me,it is worth the cash to have it installed professionally @ a local shop. I like saving money just like everyone else, but sometimes it's worth it.
ALso, one thing to remember: IF you have leaks or rattles or whatever after the install, you can take it back to the shop and have them "tighten it up".
I also bought the installer his lunch and I told him I would be back to get an I/Y piipe installed in a few months. He said bring it back to him and then we can install it after hours and for a reduced cash price. Kewl.
Just my $.02. Good luck
07-24-2003, 02:43 PM
#4
Re: Removing stock exhaust
He had to cut the factory twice to get it off of the car. I was told that you could get it off with one cut, but it would mean alot of toying around with it. Believe me,it is worth the cash to have it installed professionally @ a local shop. and then we can install it after hours and for
it took me 10 mins to remove the stock catback on a lift lol ...for professionals? 1.5hr for the install?
when i 1st got my ride..IMO if you can change your own oil, you can install your own catback. I got much more satisfaction by doing it myself as well.
oh and this is in no way meant to flame you pewter. BTW you never told us if you like the hooker sound
07-24-2003, 04:21 PM
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Re: Removing stock exhaust Put borla on a friends car yesterday in 45 mins. And yes he had the factory exhaust still on. We cut it right before the bend that goes over the axle. The hardest part was getting the factory muffler out of the rubber hanger on the drivers side, but that was solved with some WD-40. This was done on a lift with air tools btw
08-02-2004, 08:06 AM
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Originally Posted by 2xLS1
This is the way I remove stock LS1 F-body exhausts without cutting: The whole procedure can be done in about 30 minutes with air tools.
Use ramps to raise front of car. (Raising the front of the car is optional. It just gives you more room to work where the intermediate pipe connects to the Y-pipe) Jack up rear of car and support with jackstands on subframe ahead of rear axle. Remove RR wheel. Place floor jack under rear end center section and raise rear end but let car rest on jackstands. Remove bolt from panhard bar on pass side of axle and swing panhard bar down. Remove brace above panhard bar completely. (one bolt on pass side and 3 bolts on drivers side) You will need to remove the 2 sheet metal screws that hold the heat shield to the bar, (7mm socket) Remove bolts (2) where sway bar bracket bolts to pass side frame. No need to remove these on the drivers side. Remove the 4 nuts (2 on each side) that hold the sway bar to the axle with the u bolts. The rear end will not drop down far enough with out the sway bar loosened. Remove nut from pass side lower shock mount and pull shock out of lower mounting hole. Lower floor jack so pass side of axle hangs down. Remove nut from clamp where intermediate pipe attaches to y-pipe. Remove the 2 bolts on the drivers side tail pipe hanger. Remove the nut on the pass side tail pipe hanger. Have one person grab one tail pipe while you grab the other and with a twisting motion while pulling back on the cat back, separate it from the y-pipe. Swing the catback towards the pass side and rotate it 180 degrees while snakeing the intermediate pipe through the pass side wheel well. Reassemble in reverse order.
Use ramps to raise front of car. (Raising the front of the car is optional. It just gives you more room to work where the intermediate pipe connects to the Y-pipe) Jack up rear of car and support with jackstands on subframe ahead of rear axle. Remove RR wheel. Place floor jack under rear end center section and raise rear end but let car rest on jackstands. Remove bolt from panhard bar on pass side of axle and swing panhard bar down. Remove brace above panhard bar completely. (one bolt on pass side and 3 bolts on drivers side) You will need to remove the 2 sheet metal screws that hold the heat shield to the bar, (7mm socket) Remove bolts (2) where sway bar bracket bolts to pass side frame. No need to remove these on the drivers side. Remove the 4 nuts (2 on each side) that hold the sway bar to the axle with the u bolts. The rear end will not drop down far enough with out the sway bar loosened. Remove nut from pass side lower shock mount and pull shock out of lower mounting hole. Lower floor jack so pass side of axle hangs down. Remove nut from clamp where intermediate pipe attaches to y-pipe. Remove the 2 bolts on the drivers side tail pipe hanger. Remove the nut on the pass side tail pipe hanger. Have one person grab one tail pipe while you grab the other and with a twisting motion while pulling back on the cat back, separate it from the y-pipe. Swing the catback towards the pass side and rotate it 180 degrees while snakeing the intermediate pipe through the pass side wheel well. Reassemble in reverse order.
The only things I have to add are the following:
- Make sure the front wheels are chocked before jacking up the rear of the car.
- Spray some Liquid Wrench or PB Blaster into the Y-pipe to I-pipe connection so that they will be easier to pull apart. The clamp between these two pipes has a 15mm nut.
- Also use a small amount of Liquid Wrench or PB Blaster when removing/reinstalling the exhaust hanger from the insulator on the driver's side. It will slide out and in like a hot knife through butter afterward.
- The bolt for the passenger side panhard bar and for the passenger side brace above the panhard bar are both 18mm. If any of the coils of the rear passenger-side spring interferes with removal of either bolt, place a floor jack with a small piece of wood under the passenger-side rear rotor to raise the car and compress/move the coils.
- The three bolts on the driver's side of the panhard bar are 15mm.
- The nuts on the two U-clamps for the sway bar are 13mm and a deep socket is needed.
- The two bolts where the sway bar attaches to the frame on the passenger's side are 15 mm. I had to use a wrench to remove/reinstall the lower of the two bolts as the end of the sway bar prevented me from using my socket wrench.
- Reinstalling the rear sway bar to the frame on the passenger side is a pain in the neck. Be prepared to push/bend the sway bar to get things to line up for the U-clamps and for the frame on the passenger side.
- The nut that holds the passenger's side shock/strut is rather large. I forgot to write down the size but it was something like 21mm.
- The two bolts that hold the driver's side hanger insulator bracket thing are both 13mm.
- It wil be a bit easier to remove the exhaust with the passenger-side rear spring removed too. While the rear of the car is on the jackstands, lower the passenger-side rear rotor so that the spring "falls" out. Before it falls out, note where the end of the coil is located so that the spring can be oriented in the same position when reinstalling it. After that spring is removed, there is a good chance the rubber cup thing from above will fall out too. No big deal but be prepared.
- I think I only rotated the exhaust 90 degrees while snaking it out the passenger side rear wheel well.
