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Old 02-21-2012, 07:26 PM   #4 (permalink)
axio
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It's not too hard, I don't have a Nismo so I can't tell you how different it is. It is probably one of the easier things you can do. Just lift up the front of the car first (obviously use jack stands) to unbolt the Y-pipe from the cats and the Y-pipe from the mid pipe, then lower it back down and raise up the rear to do the rest.

Like Mike said, the hardest part was getting the rubber hangers off the exhaust. If you have a friend that can help you lift the muffler up as you're doing this (or maybe even a jack with a piece of wood in between) that'll make it easier. Everything else though is something you can easily do yourself. I ended up spraying some liquid wrench in between for extra lube and helped to pry it apart with a flathead screwdriver. Wear goggles if you're doing this. Actually wear goggles anyways cuz you'll be under the car and the quarters are tight. Don't want **** flying in your eye, or tightening down or loosening up a bolt and the wrench slipping and hitting you in the face. Ask me how I know...

When you're putting the new exhaust on, don't tighten all the bolts down just yet. Get them bolted up so they hold but have room to play and adjust, then use a jack with wood again to align the different pipes in place, and then tighten it all down while it's being held up properly. You'll want to do this to make sure your pipes clear the rear crossmember. I'm not sure how it is with the ARK exhaust but the Stillen exhaust's first run had a lot of crossmember clearance problems. They fixed that one (they sent me a new mid-pipe) and it cleared just fine.
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GTM Stg II SC w/ Aquamist methanol injection, GTM oil cooler, Berk HFC, Stillen CBE, BC ER coilovers, Hotchkis sways, TWM short shifter, Clutch spring mod, CarboTech XP8s
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