Removing CAT without removing the Downpipe

[shiro1745]

Is it possible to do this for a FWD MT? I looked under the hood and it seems there is enough room to get the CAT out by itself from the top, not under the car together with the downpipe. I spend like 20 min under the car and I was able to loosen all the bolts that hold the CAT and downpipe togheter.

What do you guys think, is this doable? Anybody did this already?

I don't feel like getting the downpipe off (in my case would be even more work cause it's welded to the exhaust - so that's one more problem)

[Stewy]

Hard to say, as I've never attempted it from the top. Only thing you can do is try it and see.

[brownishwater]

You can; it's pretty easy with the exception of 1 bolt **** its a bitch.

Btw, the engine bay was built to house a V8 which is why it looks like there is a lot of room in the engine bay.

[makav3li]

yes you can, thats exactly what i did, now if you already have the stock air box ripped apart which it looks like you do, then the cat will just come right out. But i still had the box installed and i just gave it a good amount of force and it came out with the box installed. yes it is kind of a pain in the ass but remove the heat shield that is on the underside of the cat and it makes things alot easier. Its a torx bit of some size and it looks like it will be a bitch to take off but its really not easy as long as you have a relatively small torx bit in there and the 3 bolts come right off and the shield comes off as well. Makes things alot easier and overall it took me about 2-3 hours worth of dicking around with it till i got it to work. Now that i know what I'm doing, i bet i could do it in an hour and a half max as long as the bolts are to fused on there. Good luck, know you can do it, just dont be a pussy about the bolts lol.

[shiro1745]

yes you can, thats exactly what i did, now if you already have the stock air box ripped apart which it looks like you do, then the cat will just come right out. But i still had the box installed and i just gave it a good amount of force and it came out with the box installed. yes it is kind of a pain in the ass but remove the heat shield that is on the underside of the cat and it makes things alot easier. Its a torx bit of some size and it looks like it will be a bitch to take off but its really not easy as long as you have a relatively small torx bit in there and the 3 bolts come right off and the shield comes off as well. Makes things alot easier and overall it took me about 2-3 hours worth of dicking around with it till i got it to work. Now that i know what I'm doing, i bet i could do it in an hour and a half max as long as the bolts are to fused on there. Good luck, know you can do it, just dont be a pussy about the bolts lol.

I will definitely do it. That was the plan. Yesterday it was getting dark when taking care of the bolts, I had to spray some BP Blaster on them. So by the time they got loose it was almost dark and I don't have a garage. I will let you guy know how everything goes. I'll try to take some pictures and maybe get a DIY done.

[jmars]

Awesme......please report back if you can. I'm installing mine next weekend. I've been hosing the nuts and bolts with PB every few days or so. Hope that makes life a bit easier

[shiro1745]

Awesme......please report back if you can. I'm installing mine next weekend. I've been hosing the nuts and bolts with PB every few days or so. Hope that makes life a bit easier

That should be more than enough, I just waited like 10 min for the PB to work. It did a great job on mine. They looked like they would never come off.

[schizzy]

when i did it i had to take the down pipe with it, the screws were so rusted together i couldn't get them apart

[shiro1745]

when i did it i had to take the down pipe with it, the screws were so rusted together i couldn't get them apart

We are not talking about this here. I mentioned above that i loosened the bolts

[schizzy]

We are not talking about this here. I mentioned above that i loosened the bolts

Ok easy there killer, I just said when I tried that's what happened.... that's what forums are for

[shiro1745]

Ok easy there killer, I just said when I tried that's what happened.... that's what forums are for

Don't get me wrong I didn't mean to say it that way. I just typed it on my cell and I was trying to be really short. Yeah bolts are a PITA sometimes.