i jacked my car up and got underneath.. the forward bolts look pretty tricky to take off... is there any tricks to getting these off or is it pretty much going to suck?

 

i dont know what kinda cats yall got around there......but here normally they just wash right off, maybe a lil scrubbing with a brillo pad or sumthin

 

It is pretty much going to suck man. I would find a place willing to do it for you. That will be hard though. I had only a ratchet and some wrenches and no creeper and some jack stands. It took me 6 hours to get them off and 3 to get the pipes on. If I had a lift and some power tools it would have taken about 15 minutes. Also, I had to take the cats to a shop to get them to take out the O2 sensors and put them into the pipes. They used some anti-seeze on the O2 threads also. Good luck.

 

I just finished installing mine. I did'nt think I was going to be able to break loose the top 2 nuts on the front pipe but after using "pentetrating oil", which is a must, I finally got them loose.

Plan on a good 3-4 hours to remove and install. You'll need a14mm wrench not too long 6", an "o" sockett set would help some, a couple of 9/16 opened end wrenches and patience.

The car sounds alot louder.

Good Luck. There is just no room to be able to make this a quick install.

 

How different is the Z from the G-35 under the hood? I did my Cat pipes in about an hour, the trick for the top bolts is long extensions. Go to the parts store or to Home Depot/Lowes and buy your self 3 feet worth of extensions and a universal joint. If it's like the G, on the pass side just snake the socket/ swivel/ extension down to the nuts from under the hood and loosen away. put replacement pipe in fron underneath and put nuts on by hand from underneath. Go back up top and tighten with your long mega socket. Drivers side requires the air intake tube to be removed. Remove intake tube and do same thing as passenger side. This is not a hard job at all with the proper tools. Trust me, it is not that hard. Like I said, I did mine in about an hour in my driveway on a pair of ramps.

 

I have a set of those ratcheting box end wrenches. It made the job a lot easier.

 

yikes!! lets use the proper metric tools

i stripped a nut changing out my exhaust...good thing it came w/ replacement nuts.

 

That had to hurt. Wow, replacement nuts, what will they think of next?? Next time apply pressure with your arm and not with your whole body.

 

LOL

 

wooohooo! .. i did the complete swap in under 2 hours!.. would have been faster but i didnt have the right size socket for the bolts that i bought!!!! 17mm ... i only had 16 and 18 !!!! doh!!

Those top bolts were a pain in the @ss !!!... my ratchet barely fit in there and I was only about to get 1/8 turn at a time

I didnt need to get the bolts/sensors unfroze, I just used brute force

 

whose test pipes did you get and how do you like em?

 

I meant anti seeze when putting the sensors ON not to take them off.

 

lsdunique's. .... there somewhere along the line they messed up my order.. he went on vacation and i never received by pipes, when he returned he contacted me and had another set made and shipped very quickly.

the fit is perfect.. i dont see why anyone would spend 400$ on some of the jdm brands .. they are only straight pipes.

unless of course u wanted the titanium :P

highly recommended

 

cool, i got mine on order.

 

i put on a borla today and the cat bolts are 9/16, believe it or not the whole exhaust used english. i couldn't fit any metric in there and my dad thought it was strange, so he tried too. it's all english under there.

 

i stripped it with a 9/16.....used a 14mm just fine (i think it was 14mm)

 

weird...... what was your build date? it's on the driver door jamb.

i think build date may have something to do with it.

 

Those are the tightest bolts I have ever tried to take off... after much frustration and much break free used. I broke down and took it to a muffler shop, the guy charged me $75.00 to take off the cats and put the straight pipes on. It smells, and is louder.

 

I am glad everything worked out for you.

 

have any recommendations for taking these things off?