Installed my header,fp,catback Saturday....some notes

so i put a borla catback, FC flexpipe and FC 4-2-1 header on. spent a good 8 hours, not counting the 2 trips to the parts store to get something I'd forgotten about (needed a stupid shopping list arg).


some notes for anyone interested:

• this would have been impossible without an impact wrench and a sawzall. the exhaust bolts from catback->FP and FP->cat were too small to cut easily with a sawzall but the impact wrench got em off fine
  
• taking the old catback exhaust and flexpipe off were relatively pain-free since i had the forementioned tools
  
• to do the front half of the exhaust you WILL NEED jack stands or ramps. I used ramps which unfortunately scratched my bumper a tiny bit but nothing super bad. Gonna replace it with an aftermarket one anyway..
  
• you have to take the cat off before getting the header off, because of the position of one bolt in the lower middle of the header. this bolt is not visible from above the engine..
  
• doing the header was a TOTAL b*tch. no one mentioned how DIFFICULT the EGR tube or o2 sensors in the cat were to get off. I couldn't get the EGR tube off so read up on it here and just cut it off. i spent a good hour on this one step. argh! there wasn't enough clearance to turn the nut
  
• highly suggest you do NOT try cutting the egr tube off. too much stuff in there with not much room so it's easy to accidentally cut something else. that tube is really REALLY thick.
  
• take the o2 sensors off the cat AFTER you get the cat out...will be easier this way
  
• PLAN PLAN PLAN BEFORE YOU EXECUTE!!!! do a dry run if you can
  
• and last but not least... don't do this in the grass. i got chigger bites all over my legs and arms, ARGH!!!!!!!!

hope this helps someone...i could have paid to get someone else to install the header and it would have saved me a lot of frustration and time but I like to do what I can myself and learn from my mistakes

i took a calculated risk doing the header myself, and I expected some problems but they were a bit worse than what I predicted. Of course, this is largely due to the fact that I couldn't visibly look at the stock exhaust until the night before my install...I travel for work

[Sublime]

Can you post pics? Thanks for the advise too!

[whiteboyslo]

yeah, that EGR tube is a BIOTCH. plus side is you only have to do it once, though. after you get the stock cat off, any high flow cat or full length header opens up the engine bay enough to get in there and get the thing off.


O2 sensors come off fairly easy if you use an O2 sensor socket. yes, waiting until you get the cat off the car does make this a ton easier.

i'm so not looking forward to the install on my JBA shorty this weekend, but i've got a couple of friends who have done this before that will help. still, they said i should expect it to take 2-4 hours.

so, you have a nice big write-up on the install, but what about the end result? how do you like it? is that setup horribly loud or no?

Mike

[microtonal]

Nice job and thanks for the heads up for those who will be doing this later.

OT: Chigger bites ay...don't know where you're located but those things use to eat me up down in Texas. Between chiggers, burrs and fire ants, I don't know what is worse in the summer down there.

the performance difference between completely stock and a volant, FC race header, FC flexpipe and borla installed is seriously night and day. it's got SO much more torque it's not even funny. I am very very happy with the results.

it's not as loud as I thought, either. I don't have a resonator on the pipe so I was expecting it to be unbearably loud without the cat, but it's not that bad. You can definitely hear it inside the car with the windows up though

chiggers: i am from kansas city, mo...no fire ants but I know what they're like (sat on a hill of them when I was a kid). cock-a-burrs suck too!

[Focusedat50]

scott77, where in kc? I'm in Blue Springs.

midtown, off of 42nd and locust :)

but i grew up in...ODESSA!!! (agh)

[mofocus]

hah i did all my stuff in the grass, using just the jack that came w/ the car :P

[Vassili95]

Originally posted by mofocus
using just the jack that came w/ the car :P

...same here!

Peace...