I want to change my mufflers on my 02 C2. Is it true the only way to do this is to remove the rear bumper cover? Is there a method other than pulling off the back of the car?

 

The bumper does not need to come off to change the mufflers.

 

I just pulled mine a month ago when I did my spark plugs. Just have to remove the rear wheels. Very easy job. I decided to bypass them, and love the sound now. 99 C2. The bumper was no where near in the way for me. You must be thinking of the Twin Turbo muffler. That was much more difficult to remove than the NA.

 

Reason I asked is my usual mechanic tried and said he could not get the mounting bolts out because they were hitting the 1/4 panel. I did not go out and look but these guys are pretty good with Euro cars so I believed him. I then went to Pelican and they discribed taking off the rear bumper cover???? My understanding is you remove the three mounting bolts and loosen the clamp and they drop out, swap out the mounting brackets and reverse, Is that wrong? Am I missing a step? Is the best way to access the three bolts by removing the wheels? He wanted to drop the whole system after undoing the header bolts swap mufflers and lift the whole package back up and didnt because he didnt have header gaskets.

 

Don't need to remove the wheels or bumpers. I've done it several times.

 

Definitely don't need to remove the bumper. We did remove the wheels and I believe it helped. If you dig around here or on rennlist you should be able to find a DIY with pictures. I brought that with me when we did mine. Good luck.

 

If a mechanic just puts the car on a lift and looked at 996 non-turbo mufflers, they might think they could remove them with the two fairly obvious bolts on the muffler support bracket. Then they would discover that doesn't work. The bolts are too long to come out, they hit the fender wells.

There are actually three different bolts that connect the muffler to the support bracket, not as easily visible but still pretty easy to get to, that allow you to remove the muffler without anything drastic like pulling the fender.

Sounds like your mechanics haven't worked on many 996's and don't want to crack open the service manual.

Turbo's are a different story.

 

I fell for that aswell when i was installing my cat bypass and muffler bypass. didnt even need to take off the wheels just pulled it out

 

I have to share the blame,I knew about the three nuts and told him about them, I should have gone out into the service area and shown him but honestly I have never been under the car so I would have been looking for them myself. I have a lot more info now and I will show him just how to do it. I also found some DIY pictorals and emailed it to him at the shop for another try this week.

 

I had the same problem. I went in blind and started to loosen the two bolts your mechanic tried to undue. I ran into the same problem and the bolts can not be taken out with the mufflers on the car because they hit the body of the car. There are 3 NUTS that need to be taken off of the muffler hanger on the side of each muffler. Undo the 3 NUTS on each side and the mufflers will be able to shimming out. I did not take my wheels off. I just turned and pulled...turned and pulled. Clamped on the new bypass pipes and never looked back. Bypass pipes are the way to go. I swear by dead body in the trunk issue was lessened by 1/4 inch after taking off the 2 rear mufflers...lol.

 

Thanks guys all of you were very helpful. I wont have time to get the mufflers done just yet till the car comes back from Raby's in Ga.. He just called and the car carrier is expected soon. He is going to install the IMS solution, change out the AOS and check the water pump and look for anything else amiss, plus a before and after dyno session and ship it back to Ma. : )