my new h pipe came in, quick question..

[deftsound]

Well my new offroad h finally came in today. My question is, a friend of mine who has an 03 gt was telling me how much of a pain in the ass it is to take those things on and off. I was pretty surprised. He said he had to use a 10 inch extension or something...? I dont really know if i believe him or not because im fairly confident its a pretty simple procedure. What do you guys think?

 

[blackink00]

youll need a 10in ext. for the exhaust manifold bolts. its just a little awkward to get to but nothing to complicated. have fun

 

[deftsound]

damn thats a big extension, he told me i need a ball joint socket thing too, do i? Also the h pipe came with a u-clamp, where does this go?

 

[03ghoststang]

it's not really a PITA but there will be some struggles some of it is that the top O2's are a little struggle and thats pretty much it otherwise it's a straight foward process the nuts on the maniflod, the ones coneecting the cat back, and rear O2's.
You will need an extension and swivel for the front nuts

 

[venom97]

just put an x on my uncles 03, the only bolt that was a pain was the pass side top, just have a swivel and an ext.

 

[sgarlic]

Make sure to unhook the battery too before you start.. that starter is right by the lower pass. side manifold nut and you'll be smacking the extension in to it all the time.

Just use a medium deepwell socket to get at the lower one, with a swivel, and an extension.. use 2 people to put pressure on the nut if you need to.. and make sure to soak it in PB blaster first.

 

[deftsound]

so where does the u clamp go?

 

[03ghoststang]

is it a 2 piece h pipe because if it is it is to clamp both sides at the crossover pipe

 

[timeless2]

Make sure to unhook the battery too before you start.. that starter is right by the lower pass. side manifold nut and you'll be smacking the extension in to it all the time.

You should always do this as a safety precaution anyway. Plus, it is a good way to reset the PCM for the next exhaust flow pattern the car will experience.

 

[RedDaemon]

Make sure to unhook the battery too before you start.. that starter is right by the lower pass. side manifold nut and you'll be smacking the extension in to it all the time.

i learned that the hard way

 

[deftsound]

ok ill be sure to unhook the batter, yea its two piece, i figured it had to do with clamping the two pieces togethor

 

[bham_gt]

Just use a medium deepwell socket to get at the lower one, with a swivel, and an extension.. use 2 people to put pressure on the nut if you need to.. and make sure to soak it in PB blaster first.

Yeah, with the medium depth socket, it will go straight on the nut. With a regular deep well, it sits on the nut at an angle and will start to round the nut off.

 

[deftsound]

crap, i just bought a 15mm deep socket a few days ago for doing this, guess ill have teo get a medium one along with a 10 inch extension and swivel socket at the same time...

 

[bham_gt]

Here is the one I used:
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&pid=00943235000

It worked great. I had to wait a week to install my H pipe though because they didn't carry these mid-length sockets in the store. I had to order it online.

 

[Mossberg]

I needed airtools to get my bolts loose at 29k miles. My manifold bolts laughed at the PB Blaster.

 

[helty]

what h-pipe did you end up going with? brand i mean.

and for the install, listen to these guys. use plenty of PB Blaster and give it a good 15-30 minutes to soak and do its job. dont get to eager, disconect the battery and take your time. also try to do it when the car's cold, because the tranny will stay hot for quite a while and then disconnecting and reconnecting those 02's become a pita. good luck

 

[drag0nfan's04GT]

I have 30K plus some change on my 04 and the bolts came out no prob. I just used good ole WD-40 about an hour before I put a socket on the nuts. Did anyone else notice that sometimes people say that they have problems with the passenger upper bolt and some say it's the passenger lower bolt? All say that they need extensions and a swivel on that particular nut. I used the swivel on the lower or left side as I'm facing it, and I used a much longer extension on the upper or right side.
My Mac came in three pieces and no U-clamp or anything like that. It was a relatively easy install, though I was a tight fit squeezing under it with nothing but jack stands holding it up. The three piece Mac pipe really helped ease the install though.

 

[deftsound]

i ended up getting a used mac two piece for 80$. Looks great, i just sanded it down today and tomorrow im painting it with engine enamel to prevent rust and to make it look good.

 

[topless98gt]

I have 200,000 miles on my car and my bolts didn't laugh at the PB blaster They had fun with it. Unfortunately, so did my mouth I made the mistake of spraying it straight up from where I was laying down. If I ever do another exhaust install, it'll be on a lift hopefully...SOO much easier.

 

[Mossberg]

I also notice that most of you guys who have a million miles on your car and have no trouble with the bolts don't live up north where there's salt on the roads.