Hey everybody. Been lurking for a few months. This is my first post. I just got the RRM Testpipe in for my 03 OZ. And I noticed there wasn't any write up for it. So I thought I'd give it a shot.
Theoretically this is a pretty easy install. BUT I dunno if anyone else has experienced this when tampering with their exhaust, my stock cat was rusted on there REALLY bad. Turned what should've taken half an hour into a couple hours. Which is what this is mostly going to help out with. These are the methods I used to knock it loose.
If you're rusted on there good. And don't have another vehicle to drive, don't take anything apart yet. I went down to Advanced Auto Parts and got me a can of "PB BLASTER" This stuff works really well IMO. I suppose good ole WD-40 would work as well. Now get everything lifted up like so.
First I got a wire brush and scrubbed all over the nuts and bolt threads to get the surface rust off. You might want to close your eyes for this. Once that was done I sprayed all 5 problem areas. That includes the O2 sensor. Then let it do work for a couple of minutes.
It will probably help out a lot if you have a spare jack stand lying around. As you can see I'm up on ramps so I had spares. I assumed the stock exhaust would have a hanger somewhere near the cat but after I took off the bolts on the rear end of the cat, the whole back half of the exhaust nearly fell on me. Apply jack stand like so.
Now for actually removing the nuts. This took me forever to figure out because like I said I'm kind of a n00b, but the rubber mallet to the wrench trick works wonders here.
Don't remove the nuts completely, obviously. Loosen up all 4 first. One of the two front end nuts is the most difficult. There won't be a lot of room up there at all. Once it's all loosened up and ready for removal make sure your O2 sensor wire isn't still hooked up to the frame. You can bend open these hooks by hand.
Now take that heavy thing out. This might seem a little unnecessary but I tried everything before coming to this solution. My O2 sensor was perhaps harder than any of the other nuts to get loose. What I did was flip the cat upside down and bolt it back in to the exhaust, so that A) I didn't have to hold the thing anymore [the O2 sensor wire isn't long enough to reach the ground so the cat will be pulling on it if you don't hold it] and B) it had a solid position so that I could take the rubber mallet to the wrench once again. Now you've got everything off. High-Five! Throw that cat out of there. But save the gaskets. If you'll re-use them. I should probably get new ones.
Now apply the RRM Testpipe. Same process only in reverse, and minus the rust. Should be a breeze. Like so.
Don't forget to hook the wire back up to the frame. Wouldn't want it to lay against something hot and end up melting. Before starting it up, don't forget to pop the hood, and disconnect the battery for 15 minutes to reset your ECU.
Now you can start it up. VROOOM. GREAT SUCCESS!
I got a louder and deeper tone with this testpipe in. I love it. Haven't had any sort of problems or leaks whatsoever. It's been 4 days so far.
to RRM.
