Well today the fun started at 7:00ish!
A one man job..Whew!
Please keep in mind this is NOT a write up on how to do, but more of what I did so far today, and what was the easiest/hardest time!
I did this on my Quick Jack, so set up was about 10min tops.
Next best thing to a lift!
Disconnected the long hoses for more space to use my creeper and started the disassembly of the exhaust system.
First off, I find it strange how all the videos out there make this look so easy, I guess I'm not mechanically literate!
AWE says to disconnect the NPP harness, Phastek made this look so easy...NOT!
On the passenger side I had to remove the small trim screws that hold the bumper by the rear of the rear wheel fender. I could not get my hand in there to release the harness, not even on the driver side where it is much easier do to the orientation of the harness, not sure how people can do this. My hands aren't small, and not overly large (xl glove) but even a small hand would have difficulty...so I bypassed this and removed the easier items...cross brace etc.
Those GM harnesses are a pain in the butt...pulled the gray tab back and pushed down, nothing happens!!
I had this same problem with the O2 sensors, I could not get the harnesses off...so I removed the cats with the exhaust.
A time consuming process was removing the aluminum front skid plate.
So many screws, bolts and nuts...well only 2 nuts.
And then it could only swing down since the car was not high enough to remove, but it worked out fine.
I did all what I could on the bottom first, removing the entire exhaust from the primary cats to the tail pipes in one piece...that's one long exhaust system...and pretty heavy too for this old man!
So under the car the worse items were the GM harness locking clips
I finally got the NPP harnesses out when I dropped the back end of the exhaust system...had my floor jack under the suit case, the front side got hung up on the aluminum skid plate which worked out good.
Once all that was out of the way, I moved to the top engine bay for more frustration and lessons on patience.
The heat shields were a breeze, the passenger side was a little more challenging with the back bolt on the secondary shield.
What ever happened to the old school spark plug wires?!!
These were a pain only because they are so far down and there's not much room to pull/tug on the wire to release them. They are pretty snug!
The plastic valve cover cover with the 2 torx screws were a small pain due to trying to get access to the driver side rear bolt. And the passenger side bucked me with the oil dipstick and the heater hoses...I was temped to remove the heater hoses, but did not.
That dipstick entry to the pan is way way down there,
I can see frustration coming when it's time to re-install!!
Another item that looks like will give me some frustrations is the steering column connector, because the bolt heads are facing down...yay!
I'm hoping I'll have more room with an extension when the Kooks are in to reach those bolts from the bottom.
Removing the driver side exhaust manifold was a breeze, the passenger side rear bolt was a challenge...my hands just don't fit back there very easily...this took some time to remove!
I stopped working on it at 6pm when I got all items that needed to be removed, removed other than the steering column connector.
So tomorrow morning I start the install frustrations
...but I'm keeping my eye on the prize!
I'm open to any suggestions on the installation portion...or even on the removal...is there something else I could have done to make life easier for me?
The good thing about this project, is I don't have to rush...I even went to my allergist for 2.5 hours for some shot, ate breakfast, lunch and took a few breaks...to eat again!
I think my neighbors are getting afraid when they see the exhaust system sitting in my drive-way...
