Adamant1971

Well my x-pipe is in, not without a few bumps in the road.

1. The bolts holding the cat back were rusted, grinder to the rescue!

2. I could not get the cats to separate from the cat back, so I dropped the whole thing, dragged it out and used my persuader to negotiate the cats off.

3. Bolting up the collectors, they would not line up perfectly. I had to use a strong screwdriver through one of the holes to force it to alignment. Not a big deal.

4. The old 02 sensor was a bitch to get out of the cats, I should have gir a new one. But some heat did the trick. One I had it all bolted up I moved the old cat and the element cap from the o2 sensor fell out. Doh! Took the sensor off and it had a cap, must have been from a previous o2 change.

5. I used tiger patch not the fiberglass. So far no leaks. I will likely get back in there and tighten the clamps more with my impact wrench. But I did not have 1/2 to 3/8 adapter, so I used a good old pipe persuader.

It's sounds nice and civil, but when you get on it wow, what a growl.

928mac

Glad you stuck with it. Those pipes are a tad tight.

Andy Kay

Congrats ... in my few short months of ownership, I found this to be the best bang for the buck!

Imo000

What is "an element cap for the O2 sensor"?

Sounds like you spent the better part of a day under the car. Good job!

Kalspeed

Is this x-pipe (or in MY 82 y-pipe) a replacement for the cat (like the catalytic "test" pipe) or will adjoining pipes be needed?

Phil 9xx

I just did this a few weeks ago. I feel your pain about removing the cats and getting the X-pipe bolt holes to line up.

I agree -- best bang for your buck mod. Sound and power gain are great!

Adamant1971

The little metal cap the covers the ceramic tip of the sensor.

fbarnhill

Adamant, Any way you can post a sound byte for me or send me an mp3 in an email? I am orderign mine soon and I am anxious to hear what it will sound like. More like on the edge of my seat.

Adamant1971

I'm on it

Murray

Hey Adam, glad your install went well. I finally got around to working on getting my x-pipe installed. You were right the rear clamps needed to be cut off with a grinder. The air pump connection was easy. But the manifold bolts would not break free. I finally stopped for the night when the socket wrench slipped off one of the nuts and gave me a nasty gash in the head. Doh!

Ah yes...now I remember why I swore I would not work on exhaust systems any more. I'll try and grind them off tomorrow.

Adamant1971

Try using a dremel with the metal cut of wheels. It will let you get in tough spaces, and much easier to control than a grinder. I ended up using my dremel after the grinder got away from me.

I have a few cuts myself. Luckily my flange bolts came out pretty easy. It's getting them back on and lining up the x-pipe that will have you swearing like a trucker.

I just put a new o2 sensor in tonight and tighten up the band clamp some more with my impact wrench.

But it's all worth it.

Murray

The dremel sounds like just the thing. It was kinda funny when I cut myself I kept working for bit and was trying figure what had started leaking... til I realized it was me. I can't wait to get it finished and go for rip.

Adamant1971

That's funny, when I stuck my head in the sink to wash my hair last night, I had so much ATF in the back of my head from my leaky rack, that the suds turned a dark red.

For the dremel I used these: http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Accessor...aspx?pid=EZ456

The EZ lock system is great since you can change the discs in about 2 seconds.

You will fall in love with your car again!

Murray

Well it's finally done. It was a bit of a pita! Putting the new parts on wasn't nearly as bad as trying to get the old stuff off. Of the dozen or so bolts that needed to be loosened only 3 didn't end up needing to be cut off. Next time I work under there I have to vet the car up higher. I just had no room to work.
I had the cats welded into the straight section of the x-pipe and I really like the way that turned out. I also ended up using the tiger patch material as there wasn't any fibreglass wrap in my kit. We shall see how it holds up.
Took it out for short drive last night to check it out and resettle the front suspension. I didn't push it hard as I wanted to let the patch material set up before really hitting it. But it is definitely louder and does seem to rev more freely. But I am also getting some vibration now that wasn't there before. I'll give it a real run later today.

Avar928

How much weight is saved with an x-pipe and cat replacement with high-flow ones? I'm thinking of an x-pipe and high-flow cats on my '86 32V once I get her setup properly to handle it.