S1CK TypeS

Well this install was almost as bad as mine. it took about 11 hrs, most of that time was devoted to taking out 2 bolts connecting the cat to the down pipe. once we were able to drill those out, the rest was cake. here are some pics from the install.



Hes a happy guy (hasnt gotten to the 3 cat bolts yet lol)





Me trying to get the cat bolts loose





torching the stupid bolts



At this point we're about to cut his tire and leave





Now this is how you install the back header

AMGala

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for posting the pics, Kev. I also did the fog light mod today (it was the easiest mod I've done to the car), it took about 15 minutes.

JnC

iTrader: (12)

Sweet, I remember when i installed my Comptechs it was a breeze since i had access to a bay and a lift.

CL Platano

those cat bolts are a bitch

@sport

Thanks for the pics. Looks like you guys had a great time.

fsttyms1

11 hours huh? I could have preformed the 6 speed swap in that amount of time

Good job sticking with it and finishing it

AMGala

iTrader: (4)

LOL, we could've used you down here! Man we tried everything to get those bolts out, and the 3 bolts on the other side of the cat look even more rusted than the ones we removed!

AMGala

iTrader: (4)

I've read that a lot of you guys don't use the hanger because it gave some resonance. Well I don't know if you knew this, but the hanger mount has about 1/2 inch of play if you loosen its bolts and move it left or right. This may help you align the hanger better so you can still use it but without resonance.

Phrosttz0

those damn cat bolts

ThreePointTwoTeeEl

iTrader: (1)

so do you feel a difference?

PiZauL

iTrader: (1)

Those cat bolts are a bitch, thank god mine came off easily. But the feeling of the additional ponies makes up for the headaches.

S1CK TypeS

yea the car picks up a lot quicker. defi worth the time and money invested

AMGala

iTrader: (4)

Yup

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

LOL, I'm loving the Chem goggles
I was thinking about using mine from a few semesters ago when I get my headers in the mail.

LeeDan00

very nice pictures and thanks for sharing. i'm thinking about headers too. we'll see...

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

One question, how many of the new bolts do I need to go get? I see the six that came with the package, but do I need to get any more than those?

S1CK TypeS

yea u need 3 more if u cut the cat bolts. but i suggest u change it anyway cause they will be rusted

AMGala

iTrader: (4)

I suggest that you get either 35 mm or 40 mm length bolts. Even the Comptech instructions say at least 33 mm. It's better to have more than enough length.

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

Yea I was gonna get 10X40 1.50 pitch.. so get 9 total.. 6 to replace the ones they sent and 3 more for the cat... I'm about to go to Home Depot now and get something to get the bottom bolt off the front heat shield, as it was too small of place between the heat shield and radiator fan for my socket to fit. Any recommendations? I have a basic socket set with all the size ones I will need and a few different sized extensions. Also have a Dremel if I can't get the bolts off but I've sprayed them a few times with PB Blaster already.

AMGala

iTrader: (4)

Your best bet is probably a smaller socket wrench. And if you haven't done it yet, spray ALL of the bolts now before you start working. And every so often go back and spray everything again. It may take many, many sprays before they start to come loose. A breaker bar will also come in handy for the cat bolts. Just in case you can't get them off, do you have a drill and some good (titanium) bits to drill them out?

S1CK TypeS

yo will most definitely need extensions. u'll need small extension and a realy long one, along with the ones amg told u

S1CK TypeS

if you hit any problems send me a PM and ill help u out as best as i can

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

I'm gonna try and do this tomorrow after work. I still gotta pick up a few things from Home Depot and Wal-Mart, though. I should probably go ahead and get the Dremel battery charging for the cat bolts, because I went down there the other day and they wouldn't budge at all.

When I jack up the car, the stock jack only lets me go up to the first notch on my jack stands, so there isn't very much room for me to work. Also, they won't fit on the notches where I jack up the car when the jack is there because there isn't enough room so I am putting the jack stands on the frame.

Am I supposed to be jacking from somewhere else so I can get the jack stands on the notches right behind the front wheels or is there some other trick to getting the car higher with the stock jack?

AMGala

iTrader: (4)

There is a jacking point under the front bumper. Lift it up from there and then place the jack stands under both of the side jacking points. I hope this works for you, my buddy has a hydraulic jack so it was a lot easier than using the stock jack. If you can get one, I think they run like $20 at an automotive store, and believe me it will make your work a lot easier. Also, I don't know how tall your jack stands are compared to my buddy's, but we also left it at the bottom notch. There was just enough room to work under the car to get some good leverage (which you will especially need for the cat bolts). Have you been soaking all of the bolts the past couple of days?

AMGala

iTrader: (4)

Just to clarify, the front jacking point isn't right under the bumper, but back a few inches.

ryebreadisme

iTrader: (1)

I think everyone has had tons of trouble with the cat bolts except me. That was the easy part. For me the hardest part was the rear manifold. That thing was nasty.

fsttyms1

the header i just put on for a member his bots came right off no issues both times we installed his headers.

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

Well, I got it all done last night.

After going around to some places in town, I decided it was too much and to try this myself (got quotes from $150-300). I got the floor jack from Wal-Mart for $20 and went at it. I wish my internet would've been working so I could've seen the jack point because I lifted it up from another point and bent something pretty bad. But, thanks for the future reference.

All the bolts were very easy to get off. I highly recommend spraying the bolts with PB Blaster (or something similar) on all the bolts every night for about a week before you start (after the car cools; I sprayed it on cat bolts when they were still hot and it started smoking ). I did this and the bolts came off really easy and they looked pretty rusty (I have almost 140K miles). I also recommend getting the crush washers for each side of the manifold to b pipe bolts to help tighten everything down. You don't have to have someone on the other side holding the bolts while you tighten.

The whole install took me about 6 hours, but I also went to the store to get an adjustable wrench for the O2 sensor (the biggest one I had was 19mm) and had to wait for my roommate to get home to help with lining everything up at the end. If I had his help the whole time and had that wrench, I could've done it in about 3.5-4 hours. The hardest part for me was finally hooking the b pipe to the manifolds and actually getting every thing to line up.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. This was actually really easy with all the instructions on here.

AMGala

iTrader: (4)

I'm glad everything went well for you! My biggest mistake was not spraying the bolts ahead of time, we only started spraying them the day of the install, so it was a lot harder. What got bent when you were jacking it up? Hopefully it's nothing too important. How do you like the new power? Do you get that whooshing sound? How about any resonance? Remember to re-tighten all the bolts after a couple of weeks.

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

Yea I am going to tighten everything back after a week. I can feel the power a little bit, but I think the ECU just needs to get used to it for me a feel even more of it. I don't really have any resonance, but I don't know what it sounds like and what to listen for. I guess it kind of has a whooshing sound, but it sounds good to me.

I tried to jack it up from what I think is the frame and it didn't really get bent too bad, it just has an indentation from where the thing lifts it up with a jack like this
.

I can post some pics from under the car to show you what I am talking about if you would like, and maybe get some more input as to what I bent and what could happen from doing this.

Malayalee King

iTrader: (1)

nice but at hour 4 you should have just started removing the cat back and pulling the entire catback out, then dropped the downpipe and cat together