Submitted by Ryan C.
Submitted by Ryan C.
I apologize if some of the steps seem really obvious. I just wanted to make sure I'm not leaving anything out.
Some things to get together before you start...
First off, allow the engine to cool. It should be cool enough to where you can safely put your hand on
the exhaust manifold without getting burned. Disconnect the negative cable from your battery.
If you still have the stock intake system, remove the air duct just aft of the radiator.
Remove the dipstick. You may have to put the
front of the car on jackstands. Refer to your manual as to where to place the jacks,
usually right behind the front wheel.
Once safely supported on jack stands, get
underneath and unbolt the downpipe from the catalytic converter. IIRC, these are 17mm
bolts, but I may be mistaken. You should see two (2) bolts attaching the downpipe to the
chassis. I'm not sure exactly what size these are, but I'm sure you can figure that out.
:) Once those are free, loosen the bolts connecting the downpipe to the manifold.
You may have to take off the front plastic splash shield, six (6) 10mm screws hold it in
place. Once the downpipe is free, remove it from underneath the car.
From the engine bay, remove the metal heat shield on the manifold. IIRC, there should be
(9) 10mm nuts holding the manifold to the head. Loosen these in a criss-cross pattern,
similar to lugs on a wheel. Be sure to unplug your O2 sensor.
Once everything is loose, slowly remove the manifold from the head. Just as a precaution,
you may want to stuff a small piece of cloth in the exhaust ports, so as not to get any
foreign objects in the engine. You should be able to re-use your O2 sensor.
Use your socket here to get it loose. You may have to use lots of WD40 or penetrating
fluid to get it free. Mine took about 15 min to pry loose.
Once O2 sensor is free from
the stock manifold, bolt it down to the header. Place new gasket over the head studs,
then mount the top portion of your header, being sure to remove those pieces of cloth.
Do not torque down the head nuts at this point. Wait until you have everything assembled,
then tighten everything down. You'll get something in a bind if you tighten something
while something else is loose and that may cause some nasty problems.
Tighten the head nuts about hand snug. Remove the donut gasket off your stock downpipe
and install on your new pipe. You may have to use a rubber mallet or something similar
to properly seat it. Time to get under the car again. :) Position the downpipe to the
top portion of the header and thread the three (3) bolts through. This is where an extra
set of hands could be very useful. :) Remember, loosely.
Next, bolt the downpipe to the
catalytic converter, using the stock bolts. Be sure to reinstall the springs.
When you unbolted the stock downpipe from the chassis, you should have had a small
bracket that came off too. You won't need this when installing the new downpipe.
Simply bolt the downpipe to the chassis, using the flange on the downpipe.
Once everything is fitted on the car, torque down the head nuts to the proper spec found
in your manaul. Please refer to either a Factory Service manual or a Haynes manual for this spec.
Be sure to tighten them in a
criss-cross pattern, from the center out.
Next, tighten up the connection
between the header and downpipe. Finally, tighten down the bolts to the cat and to the
chassis. Go back through and make sure everything is nice and snug. Plug your O2 sensor
back in and replace your dipstick. Start the car to check for exhaust leaks.
If none, good deal. Lower off jackstands and enjoy!
If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.
I tried to be thorough as possible, but I may have left something out.
If you run into any problems, please email me.
Be sure to have someone help you. It'll make it alot easier.