I did a search and came up with nothing...except links to a site, Imagine Auto, that no longer exists.

Does anyone have a good DIY with photos they can post up? TIA

 

its fairly simple when you get under the rear of the car .

 

I have read you need a curved 13mm wrench for the top bolts and that the strap is somewhat of a pain...

One question I have along the same line, is are there any gaskets or anything between the turbo and cats?

 

I have always done it without a curved wrench, so that is not required. A set of metric sockets and open end wrenchs will suffice. And a metric allen wrench for the two strap bolts.

Soak the four turbo nuts with penetrating fluid the night before you plan removal. They rust and tend to sieze easily and this will lessen the chance of a broken turbo stud.

Remove the four nuts on each turbo.

Remove the two strap bolts.

Slide the straps to the outside. Once they clear the hanger, the exhaust will begin to fall. It's heavy and this part goes much smoother with two people, but I have done it alone. As the rear drops, pull it rearward, off the turbo studs and it will fall right off.

There are o-ring gaskets between the turbos and exhaust. I have re-used mine many times without any problem. They are very pricey to buy.

 

Thanks John

 

You're welcome. There is one more item I forgot. The heat shields have a small bolt that attaches on the side of the turbo oil reservoir. You need to remove one bolt per side, along with the four turbo nuts.

 

^ and unplug the O2 sensors and snake the wires down

 

I just put John's older style two piece exhaust on without pulling the rear bumper off (but I had access to a floor lift). It takes twice as long to take the stock system off (it's really heavy) than to put John's system on. The O rings are stupid expensive ($70 a pair) so don't buy them unless they get torn up taking the stock system off. The only trick is to be careful with the wires/O2 sensors (don't get them mixed up or kink the wires). Put a little anti seize compound on the O2 thread but be very careful not to get any on the sensor head itself.

 

it took me forever to slide the straps over to remove the old exhaust, if i had to do it again i would just buy new ones and cut the old ones off, i would also buy much longer new straps or much longer bolts, my new exhaust was a little larger diameter so it was really hard to get the new straps fastened together even with slightly longer bolts