How to remove your stock exhaust. Offered for your comments
05-11-2012, 11:59 AM
#103
Registered User
^You really don't need the pics. Just take a look under your car once the back is up on either ramps or jack stands. You're dealing with 3 nuts (at the cat) and 5 rubber hangers. The biggest hassle are rusty bolts, some penetrating oil fixes that and access to the rubber hangers on the muffler cans if you don't remove the wheels. I have small hands and didn't remove my wheels. If you're doing this alone, I found using a jack to lift the muffler cans about an inch made it easier to remove the rubber hangers. When re-installing either stock or an aftermarket cat-back, grease the rubber hangers and metal attachment points with silicone grease like Sil-Glyde. It'll go back on easy and in the future come off easy.
05-12-2012, 06:01 AM
#104
PB Blaster for the bolts to the cat and WD40 for the rubber hangers. Pair that with some good old fashioned American bicep and you're good to go. Also DO NOT jack up the rear of the car unless the front wheels have something to keep it from rolling forward or backward. E-brake engages the rear wheels so if you lift it in the air there isn't anything keeping the car from rolling. People have died this way. I always lift the entire car up on all 4 corners if I have to work under the rear. Be safe and have fun! 
05-12-2012, 06:27 AM
#105
Registered User
PB Blaster for the bolts to the cat and WD40 for the rubber hangers. Pair that with some good old fashioned American bicep and you're good to go. Also DO NOT jack up the rear of the car unless the front wheels have something to keep it from rolling forward or backward. E-brake engages the rear wheels so if you lift it in the air there isn't anything keeping the car from rolling. People have died this way. I always lift the entire car up on all 4 corners if I have to work under the rear. Be safe and have fun!
Good post. Once I have the car up on 4 jack stands, I like to give the car a good test shake too. If it's sitting weird on the stands, I'd rather it fall during that test than when I'm under there taking off a bolt. I just open the trunk lid and find a place in there to grab and give the car a good shimmy. One time I did find the car was rickety due to an uneven garage floor, and it gave me the opportunity to fix the problem without having to change my underwear first. 
05-15-2012, 05:05 AM
#106
PB Blaster for the bolts to the cat and WD40 for the rubber hangers. Pair that with some good old fashioned American bicep and you're good to go. Also DO NOT jack up the rear of the car unless the front wheels have something to keep it from rolling forward or backward. E-brake engages the rear wheels so if you lift it in the air there isn't anything keeping the car from rolling. People have died this way. I always lift the entire car up on all 4 corners if I have to work under the rear. Be safe and have fun!
It's way better to use silicon grease on the rubber hangers, since WD40 is bad for rubber.
I couldn't agree more about putting all 4 corners up on jack stands though. After a near death experience myself 2 years ago, I would never consider using 2 jack stands, even with wheel chocks. When my car dropped on the ground just 30 minutes after I was fully under it, it ejected the rear jack stands just from the "normal force" (remember vectors?) on a slippery garage floor.
05-15-2012, 05:58 AM
#107
After you have the car on four jack stands, put your sissor jack under the pan with very light pressure. Honestly, I realise tis isn't necessary but why not make use of this jack anyway? If there is a such think as overkill, lets use it when were under the car.
