Last time I needed to get to my O2 sensors I removed the entire exhaust.
It wasn't too bad but i don't have a lift and its a pain benchpressing it while on my back in the garage....

I need to get at the O2s again to remove the 90 degree J extenders I installed when i put this catless system and put some fresh primaries before getting the car re-flashed.

I've seen a ton of pictures showing the turbo and exhaust with the rear tires, bumper cover and IC removed.
Is it easier to get at them this way over pulling the entire exhaust?
I can't get a wrench in the tight space as is.

thanks,

 

I actually prefer taking the exhaust off before taking the bumper and inter coolers off. But that's me. I also have straight pipes Though.

 

Are you using one of these in your set up with flexible extensions ?

 

NOthing need be removed. just jack the car up and wrench em out. just did them. they can/do get kinda "fused' on but a little twisting will do it

 

No, I've never seen that, where do you think I can pick one up.

I tried that last time and really could not find much room to get any kind of wrench in there, especially to apply the torque I needed to get them off, thats why I ultimately dropped the exhaust. But the main issue is my rears, i have the J exteneders. with the bung angles more towards the outside its extremely tight and difficult to get anything on them.

I've seen shots where they are full accessible with all the tires, bumpers, IC and shielding gone, I just wanted to know what was a bigger task, removing all that stuff to expose or just dropping exhaust again. I also don't want to begin stripping the nuts.

BTW anyone the part number for the exhaust gasket from turbo to cats and all the 13mm nuts and studs?

 

That doesn't really count, lol


So local Autozone has o2 wrenches (thanks RXBike), i'm going to give it a try with exhaust on and see... wish me luck

 

[QUOTE=YJosephTT;4331380]No, I've never seen that, where do you think I can pick one up.

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-8-eig...nch-97177.html

 

[QUOTE=rxbike;4331387]Local autozone has a set also, thanks much...been doing it hard way all this time...
I'll still have a problem with the J extenders..

 

sorry you're having difficulty. I swear I think we used a small crescent wrench! and they DID need some twisting once removed to get them off the actual wire? part that has the elec connectors on them. but for 100% certainty, exhaust removal is NOT necessary?? or perhaps my kline is up and far enough out of the way? either way good luck. my buddy had done em a thousand times, so that didn;t hurt I'm sure. I just ( as always ) watched while holding the flashlight up under the rear of the car as we even did them in the DARK! lol

 

Try spraying some PB Blaster around the thread area and let it sit 30 mins plus to chemically loosen the threads before attempting removal

 

VERY good idea. ^^ they ARE on there tight. i called em "fused on".

 

The problem isn't with breaking them loose, it was just extremely space limited last time i tried.
The area where the "cat" is is so big it made it tough to get a 22mm wrench in previously, but I just picked up the O2 socket at autozone so I'll try this time leaving it in...
Here is the exhaust:

 

Buy some anti-seize for when they go back in. Makes life easier in the future. I also remembered removing mine without doing other stuff as well. Unplugged them and routed the wires down, then just used a normal wrench so the wire could spin with it.

 

I couldn't do it with it on, those Cat Cans on my exhaust are just too fat or may hands are too fat, but I tried with two different O2 wrenches and didn't have enough room especially with that small pipe from the oil tank in the way to get them free. I managed to get it over the sensor just could not get at a good angle to break them free. But even if I did, i wouldn't have been able to get the J extenders off with the exhaust installed.
Ended up pulling off the bumper first to see if I can get at them behind the IC and heat-shield, took about 5-10 minutes to remove bumper by myself. It looked like to much work to get IC off and I didn't want to risk damaging heat shield, so I dropped the exhaust again, this time took me 20-30 minutes max to get it completely off.
Maybe on a stock muffler its possible, but those big *** cans made it a no-go for me.

thanks for all the advice..