DIY tips for installing extractors yourself??

[RoaringSky]

Hi all,

I am about to install a set of 1 3/4" extractors with high flow cats myself next weekend. Just wondering if anyone who has done it before himself would like to share his tips and experiences with me.

So far the plan of attack is:
- I will soak the header bolts in CRC for 1 hour or 2 before undoing.
- Undo all leads and flip them back so they are out of the way.
- Undo all header bolts but leave 2 in loosely.
- Jack up the car on 1 side, undo the cat back bolts and disconnect the O2 sesor plugs.
- Leave the jack under the cat to take the weight.
- Back to the top and take off the 2 last header bolts.
- Carefully drop the whole thing down and then remove them from under the car.
- Take out the o2 sensors and put in the new extractors.
- Reverse order to install the extractors.
- Connect the o2 sensor plugs with extensions and bolt on the high flow cats then the cat back.
- Put leads back on and finish!

I have also bought a set of leads and plugs, just in case...




I had a quick look just then and was wondering:

1. If I jack up the car as much as I can on the side I am working on, (~400mm) I should have enough ground clearance to remove the headers together with the factory cats as 1 piece from underneath yeah? I just want to save the headaches of separating them.

2. The rear bolt on the passenger side header, it seems very close to the strut tower body work and firewall. I have angled and dished ring spanners and sockets too, will they be enough to remove the bolt? The room for movement seems limited, as well as getting onto the bolt.

3. The driver side header is close to the steering column and chassis rail. Can it be removed from underneath?

4. The dipstick tube, it needs to be removed before the driver side header yeah? I can see a 14mm bolt holding it on top, once I remove it, can the tube be pulled out of the sump as is?

5. Pre Cat oxy sensor wiring, I have to access the connection plug from underneath yeah? I can only see the sensor and wire on driver side. I bought 2 extensions for them.

6. Once it is all done, I know the Check Engine light will be on. I have been told by APS that is not harmful and the car will drive as normal. How long can I drive the car for though?


Any other tips and advices that you guys may wanna share from your own DIY experiences are more than welcome!

 

[mikey-]

Mate have a look through my past threads..

I've done a full HOW TO on installing an exhaust at home on a VE SS

 

[mikey-]

1. Leave them together, no point separating. It's a pain in the ass and gains nothing.

2. It's a prick to do basically, I just used a small open ender but it took ages and was a pain.

3. Yep, theres a bolt on the bottom of the shaft, undo it and push the shaft out the way.

4. I undid the bolt in (I think the head??) and just moved the tube out the way, but left it in the block/sump.

5. You only need to use 1 extension, check my thread for more info.

6. Don't expect it to be on straight away, mine took a few weeks to come on. You can drive the car forever, but it will annoy the **** out of you.

 

[mikey-]

Infact I went and got it for you, enjoy...

Appologies I don't have any photo's to go with the thread, but I've tried my best to explain it all.

When I refer to the front or back, or LHS and RHS, it is as viewed from the driver seat.

Basically my technique was to start at the back removing everything and work forwards, then start installing at the front and work backwards.

Parts Installed:

Hurricane 1 7/8" Extractors
Manta 2.5" Cats
Manta 2.5" Cat back (center hot dogs, rear mufflers)

All supplied by Not_an_Abba_Fan (or Southwest Performance Exhaust Supplies)

Time Needed:

I don't do a great deal of work on cars, and my old man hasn't done a great deal in the last 20 years either, but we are both handy enough on the tools.

It took us approx 3 hours to do it all.

If we were to do a second set, I'd say <2 hour is achievable now we know what we are doing, and some of the tricks and problem areas.

What I used:

4x Axle stands
1x Crappy little trolly jack
Basic hand tools

Prep:

1. Put the car on stands, or ramps. The higher you get it, the easier your life becomes.
2. Be careful doing this, I never feel safe putting a car completely up on stands, but it's gotta be done for this really.
3. I unplugged the battery at this point as well, not sure if you need to, but I did it.

Removal Cat Back

1. Undo the 2 bolts on each side that hold the rear mufflers to the middle section of the cat back.
2. Pull both rear mufflers out of the rubber hangers. Mufflers now removed.
3. Remove the tunnel brace (4 more bolts)
4. Unplug the 2 O2 sensors (just unplug them for now, they will be way to tight to bother trying to undo them while underneath the car)
5. Undo the 4 bolts that hold the cat back to the factory cats.
6. Slide the rear of the cat back out of the rubbers and lower it to the ground (2 people made this easier, one at each end).

This took me approx 30minutes. Now I've done it once before, I'd say the next time would only be a 15minute job.

Removal Exhaust Manifold and Cats

This took me I'd say over an hour and a half. Realistically, now I've done it once, I could do it in 30 minutes.

I made a decent mistake here that now you guys wont have to as I'm telling you not to. Leave the cats attached to the exhaust manifold. There is no need to remove them, it's a pain in the ass to do, and it gains nothing.

1. Unplug the 2 O2 sensors in the cats. These are abit harder to reach the plugs, but it's do-able.
2. Remove the leads, they just pull off at the top and bottom, nothing fancy, but they might be tight.
3. Undo the bolt holding the dipstick bracket to the head, no need to remove the dipstick, just push it out the way a little.
4. Go along and crack all the bolts on the exhaust manifold, I think they were 1/2" (bloody yanky engine, everything else was metric).
NOTE: The rear LHS bolt is such a pain to access, it took me ages to remove, doing on tiny tiny increments of a turn.
5. Now remove all of the bolts, except I left the front and rear bolts still in the manifold, but quite loose.
6. Get someone under the car to support the manifold and cats, while someone removes the last 2 bolts.
7. Both sides will drop through to the bottom without any issues. Nothing needs to be moved, this is straight forward.
8. Throw horrible stock cats and headers in bin (I kept mine, just incase of defect)

Installing Extractors:

1. On the RHS you will see a steering shaft that goes from the firewall down to the steering rack. On the steering rack end there is a bolt that clamps this shaft to a uni-joint type thing. Undo this bolt. I had to open the clamp up a little with a screw driver and the shaft came off the uni-joint pretty easily. I then cable-tied the shaft to something on the RHS of the engine bay to keep it out of the way.
2. Place the O2 sensor extension harness on the LHS, this is hard once the extractors in (RHS does not need an extension).
3. Place the exhaust manifold gasket against the head and screw the front and rear bolt into the head a just enough so you can sit the extractors on these bolts. Do this to each side.
4. Pass the extractors up from the bottom and sit them on the 2 bolts you just prepared. Now begin to add the other 4 bolts into the head. I had someone support the weight of the extractors while I put the bolts in. Snug them all down gently.
5. Torque the bolts to 15Nm first pass, then to 20Nm for a final pass.
NOTE: This is what I did, it might be wrong, but it was the info I found on the net.
6. Attach the steering shaft again, I found this was easiest from underneath the car.
7. Put leads back on.
8. Screw back down dipstick.


Installing Cats:

1. Push the cat onto the rubber exhaust hanger.
2. Place a gasket between extractors and cats and do up the 4 bolts.
3. Repeat for other side.
4. Install 2 O2 sensors and plug them in.

Installing Cat back:

1. Put the rear of the center section on the rubber hangers.
2. Place a gasket between cats and cat back and do up the 4 bolts.
3. Place the rear muffler in the rubber hanger, do up the 2 bolts (repeat for other side).
4. Install 2 O2 sensors and plug them in.

 

[one_and_only2004]

I always take the spark plugs out - if I don't I always end up snapping one off with a manifold.

 

[RoaringSky]

Thanks so much for the input guys! How hard was to crack the header bolts initially? I would guess they are all ceased and rusted.

Mikey I wont be as lucky as u were, as I will be working on the car by myself. The only helping hand I can get is my car jack to support the weight of the cats and headers. Hence I would say I will take longer than u did.

 

[bandit10]

I had to take the steering rack out on mine.
You only need 1 o2 extension loom, left hand side iirc

 

[jeep pit]

u definitely don't want to work under the car with a jack holding up your car buy some axle stands 1 pair will do

 

[jbray1984]

Quick question, when you say you need to unplug the O2 sensor plugs, where do you unplug them from? Is it at the bolt on the exhaust end? I'm just having troubles getting mine unplugged.

 

[RoaringSky]

Jbray, I think the o2 sensors have a connector in the wiring loom, I know as a fact for the post cat ones as I did my cat back myself. Pre cat sensors will be the same I guess....They look like a 4 wire water proof deutz flat plug. You disconnect them first, then undo the o2 sensors as if they are normal bolts.

Oh well, I paid for 2 oxy sensor extensions already on ebay. Doesn't matter.

Yeah I do have 2 jack stands, what I meant was using the jack holding up the weight of the cat and headers as I undo the last 2 header bolts from top.