Is It Tough To Install Catback Yourself?

TweekedGT

New Member
Jul 22, 2004
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Alberta
I just got my Magnaflow Magnapack Catback yesterday and want to install it this weekend. I only have access to jackstands and a jack and will have to do it in the garage. Is it easy to do by myself. It looks fairly straight forward. Are there any problem parts i should look out for? Is it safe to do it without a hoist? Anybody got anty tips to make it easier? How long should it take?
 
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what everyone have seid. hardest part is to cut above axle. Other then that, it was pretty easy. Should take you no more then few hours and 2 or 3 cans of beer to compleate, unless your moron like me not have sawsall, and have to cut the stainless pipe with hack saw....

oh and your being 96, bolts might be hard to get it off, but again, not too hard. have WD-40 handy
 
here's a tip, before you begin, take off your rear tires, support the car on the frame, not the axle. This *might* give you enough clearance to muscle **** the old pipes out.

If there still isn't enough clearance, take a sawzall and cut the pipe clean right before it bends over the axle.

If you have to use a hacksaw...good luck!!
 
This is a great job for the beginning modder. May I also point out that most of the time you can buy the parts AND the tools to do the job with for less than the cost of the install for most parts. When you're done, you have cool new parts, the afterglow that comes with modding AND MORE NEW TOOLS! :nice:

Also, PB Blaster is a great penetrating oil. Apply it generously well before you start the install.
 
DTMach1 said:
here's a tip, before you begin, take off your rear tires, support the car on the frame, not the axle. This *might* give you enough clearance to muscle **** the old pipes out.

If there still isn't enough clearance, take a sawzall and cut the pipe clean right before it bends over the axle.

If you have to use a hacksaw...good luck!!

If you only have a hacksaw, go to home depot and rent a saw. I paid $15 for 4 hours of rental, just so I didn't have to worry about it. What DTMach1 said about the jack stand location is key as well, it'll make it a lot easier to move the pipes around.

Good luck.
 
My dad and I installed a Magnaflow cat back on my 2004GT in about 90 minutes. We put jack stands under the frame to get the back of the car high enough off the ground.

My dad has an exhaust cutter that looks like a pair of vice grips with a cutting chain on it. It cut the tail pipes off in about 2 minutes!

We hung both sides before adjusting the pipes and tips.

It fit perfect and sounds good.

You should not have any trouble.
 
Took me 1.5 hours to install my Flowmaster cat-back, and that included running to the parts store to get new exhaust clamps cuz i broke one.

The easiest way to do it is to use ramps and a jack. Drive the rear of the car up the ramps. Now, doing one side at a time, just a jack under the body on the left or right side and jack it up higher.

I cut the stock cat-back with a sawzall after the muffler and lifted it right out. The new flowmaster pipes slid right over the axle.

Once i had both axle pipes over, i lowered the car down off the jack and just worked on the car on ramps.

I could have had it done in less than 1 hour if i didn't have to go get a new clamp.

Small hint though, if your cat-back is the type where you slide the tailpipe into the muffler section and then clamp it, go have it welded later on. Even though i got it tight for the install, a small leak developed after a few weeks. I tried to retighted but i just ended up haveing a muffler shop run a bead around the pipe for $25.
 
As long as you put the jackstands under the subframe and not on the rear axle you will be good to go putting on the new cat-back. If you support the rear end with the jack stands under the axle it will not give you enough clearance to fit the new system through ( at least I did'nt have the room on my 02 GT ). Later.
 
I'm going to take my angle grinder and a 5" Zipcut to cut the old exhaust out. It will make short work of it. Probably take all of 10 seconds per side to cut through the pipes. It seems pretty straight forward. The directions are simple enough. I just have to get my carcass under the car
 
I also had to unbolt the rear shocks so the axle would drop low enough to get the new pipes over when i put my bassani catback on. Ear plugs were nice too cause the sawzall blade made a hell of a racket. :)

take your time, follow the instructions and be safe and its a piece of cake.