I've got my J-pipe on order and have some questions on the install. This will be going on my 07 TL-S. I haven't gotten under the car yet but are the bolt readily accessible? How much clearance is there? Will jack stands be enough room? I am planning on doing this in my driveway.

 

Jack stands is plenty. Here is a pic to give you an idea. With the car up this high in the pic, there is plenty of room to work.

 

The hardest part of the job is removing the exhaust nuts without having them strip their threads. The factory uses "jam nuts" on the exhaust. A "jam nut" is a nut that intentionally has threads that are slightly off pitch... thus causing a jam or tight fit against the stud. The exhaust jam nuts love to strip the threads off of the stud.

Here is what I did, and highly advise you to do too. Although you do not have the new pipe yet, go ahead a loosen all nuts (3 per each precat and 3 for third cat). As suggested already, use PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench pentrating oil. Loosen each set in the proper sequence, but remove just one nut at a time to apply antiseize to the threads. Retighten to just 25 Ft Lbs. The oem spec for the nuts is 40 Ft. Lbs. But, I recommend 25 Ft. Lbs. The 40 is too tight and not necessary.

Reuse the old jam nut if the threads feel good. Or better yet, find a regular nut that will fit. Finding a regular nut might be difficult because the factory uses an odd-ball thread size. Do *not* replace your current jam nuts with new jam nuts as the service manual suggests. Those studs can barely endure one encounter with those damn jam nuts, and you will really be tempting faith (high risk of destroying the threads on the studs) by using another new jam nut.

This is THE BATTLE. Go ahead and fight the battle. Then, when your new pipe arrives, you will have an easy R&R (Remove and Replace) without any surprises. Worked for me !

Very Important - Do *not* use a 12-point socket or any wrench. Never. You must use a 6-point socket ONLY. Preferrably, use an adapter (3/8 drive to 1/2 drive) to use a large 1/2 drive breaker bar.

 

Inaccurate you da man. Thanks for the help/suggestions. Doesn't the new j-pipe come with new bolts/nuts? Do I use the new supplied ones or the old one if they are in good shape?

 

Yes, nine nuts are included with the new RV6 jpipe. Richie is great about including everything that you will need to finish the job.

In my previous post, I was referring to if you were to loosen the fasteners before receiving the RV6 jpipe.

When you install your RV6 jpipe, use the new nuts that come with the RV6 jpipe. Tighten to just 25 Ft Lbs. The oem spec for the nuts is 40 Ft. Lbs. But, I recommend 25 Ft. Lbs. The 40 is too tight and not necessary.

 

VERY helpful Inaccurate, Im going to tackle this job this weekend as well with the RV6 jpipe and test pipe.

 

The J-pipe came on friday and I installed it on sat. Thoughts on install:

1. Jack stands are ok but a lift would have been 100 times better. I couldn't get the car very high so I had to use the jack stands on the lowest setting.

2. As inacurate posted, soak the nuts a day or so before hand. I did and use a 1/2" breaker bar and had no problems except for on nut on the 3rd cat. It was just very hard to get to.

3. Fitment of new j-pipe is pretty good but I needed to use a pry bar to get one of the studs on the rear precat fitting.

Everything is torqued down and I started the car to make sure there were no exhaust leaks. It sounds just like stock which the GF was worried it wouldn't.

Here are some bad pics of install. Will post back after test drive.

http://community.webshots.com/album/575887727DuJLSP

 

Nice.

Did you notice any performance difference? From looking at that picture you took with OEM and RV6 side by side... OEM doesn't look that bad?

 

Thanks for the instructions Inaccurate.

Hope you are enjoying the J-Pipe @ BigJack75

 

Yep there seems to be a nice power increase around 3k. It just seems like the power is more available and smoother. It's most noticeable when you are driving and punch it like passing someone on the highway. Also the stock j-pipe is quite a bit heavier for some reason. So weight savings is always good. Sounds just like stock which I like too.