gregsdart
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2018
- Threads
- 36
- Messages
- 145
- Reaction score
- 60
- Location
- Andover MN
- First Name
- Greg
- Vehicle(s)
- 2019 mustang gt a10 pp1 301 base
- Thread starter
- #1
2019 GT, i removed the cats for racing only, of course
My first issue was trying to get the passenger side cat and pipe removed. The instructions said to use a curved wrench or go from the topside with a very long extension and swival socket to remove the nut from the topside of the exhaust manifold. I do not posess a curved 15mm wrench and did not have any luck with the 1/2 inch long extension idea. Soooooo,,,,,,,,. out comes the sawzall and i cut the cat off right next to the flange. That also cut the head of the pressed in stud off that i couldn't reach. After removing the bottom nut from the stud i was able to use a chisel and hammer to pry the flange off of the exhaust manifold. Removal of the oxygen sensors is a bit delicete . i very carefully unscrewed the sensors, and of the three i took off two i left hooked up and took extra care to not hurt the wiring by carfully twisting the wire along its length. Once the cat and pipe are off the passenger side, installing that side is easy. Just loosen the drivers side clamp at the resonater to gain enough movement to get the new pipe in place.
My real trouble came with the drivers side. Extra care must be taken to leave enough length for welding the new flange in place. The instructions show cutting right next to the weld seam, on the manifold side of that seam. If i ever do this again i will cut 1/4 inch closer to the cat on the other side of that seam, next to the cat.
The manifold is NOT ROUND where you have to cut it. I had a 1/4 inch crecent shaped gap on one side and 3/8 similar gap on the other side. The instructions say to use an acetylene torch to spread the pipe to fit the flange. But to me that was too dangerous considering the sensor wires right there, or warping the O2 bung which is right next to the cut. So i welded some filler onto the flange to make it easier to weld it together. It may take some time and trial and error fitting to get every thing to line up for tak welding the flange to the manifold, but getting that flange fitted perfectly is vital and will require patience, or experiance of a fabricater to get it done properly. I did a fair amount of welding and grinding with a die grinder to get to a point where i could fill the rest of the gaps and weld it up. I highly recomend a 2 post lift for this project.
I did it with a 4 post which limits your access for welding and shaping that pipe on the drivers side. While i am sure it can be done with rather tall jackstands, i DO NOT recomend trying that. The sound with the stock active exhaust and stock resonater is quite loud except in quiet mode.
I discribe the four sound levels of sound as follows-
Quiet level- sounds like normal till you stand on it. Then it gets pretty loud.
Stock level- too much for a suburban neighborhood
Sport- pees off the neighbors big time
Track- the cops are going to find you!
My first issue was trying to get the passenger side cat and pipe removed. The instructions said to use a curved wrench or go from the topside with a very long extension and swival socket to remove the nut from the topside of the exhaust manifold. I do not posess a curved 15mm wrench and did not have any luck with the 1/2 inch long extension idea. Soooooo,,,,,,,,. out comes the sawzall and i cut the cat off right next to the flange. That also cut the head of the pressed in stud off that i couldn't reach. After removing the bottom nut from the stud i was able to use a chisel and hammer to pry the flange off of the exhaust manifold. Removal of the oxygen sensors is a bit delicete . i very carefully unscrewed the sensors, and of the three i took off two i left hooked up and took extra care to not hurt the wiring by carfully twisting the wire along its length. Once the cat and pipe are off the passenger side, installing that side is easy. Just loosen the drivers side clamp at the resonater to gain enough movement to get the new pipe in place.
My real trouble came with the drivers side. Extra care must be taken to leave enough length for welding the new flange in place. The instructions show cutting right next to the weld seam, on the manifold side of that seam. If i ever do this again i will cut 1/4 inch closer to the cat on the other side of that seam, next to the cat.
The manifold is NOT ROUND where you have to cut it. I had a 1/4 inch crecent shaped gap on one side and 3/8 similar gap on the other side. The instructions say to use an acetylene torch to spread the pipe to fit the flange. But to me that was too dangerous considering the sensor wires right there, or warping the O2 bung which is right next to the cut. So i welded some filler onto the flange to make it easier to weld it together. It may take some time and trial and error fitting to get every thing to line up for tak welding the flange to the manifold, but getting that flange fitted perfectly is vital and will require patience, or experiance of a fabricater to get it done properly. I did a fair amount of welding and grinding with a die grinder to get to a point where i could fill the rest of the gaps and weld it up. I highly recomend a 2 post lift for this project.
I did it with a 4 post which limits your access for welding and shaping that pipe on the drivers side. While i am sure it can be done with rather tall jackstands, i DO NOT recomend trying that. The sound with the stock active exhaust and stock resonater is quite loud except in quiet mode.
I discribe the four sound levels of sound as follows-
Quiet level- sounds like normal till you stand on it. Then it gets pretty loud.
Stock level- too much for a suburban neighborhood
Sport- pees off the neighbors big time
Track- the cops are going to find you!
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