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CATTMAN Y-PIPE INSTALL


Here's a picture comparing the cattman to the old bulky stock ypipe.

A FEW WORDS ON DOING IT YOURSELF

This is certainly a do-able project for the do-it-yourselfer. In concept, the procedure is really simple. You only have a couple of oxygen sensors and 8 nuts to worry about. Note I'm speaking from my perspective on installing a cattman stainless steel Y-pipe on my 1996 Maxima. So there may be more bolts/nuts/sensors for you to worry about depending on your model year. Now for the bad news *gulp*. Let me tell you about those bolts! hehe Man, they're certainly located where the sun don't shine, where it gets real hot, and can get real wet (Sounds like a bad movie, eh?) In a word...Rust. If you're car is putting on some miles, take a quick peek under your car to see how things look. More likely than not, those nuts and threads are rusty and if you don't have air tools, well, as Cheston of Maximadriver.com fame says, prepare to heave your way into a few new bruises.

Sometimes, not even air tools can save you. (Like in my case - darn my luck) I was all happy that I got all the nuts off from the exhaust manifolds and had the sensors aside nice and safe. All that was left was the nuts on the catalytic converter. Yay! Those are easier to get to. I got one out no problem. But the LAST @#$@ nut, I couldn't remove even with my impact wrench - which can do up to 400 ft-lbs! After a day of fighting that nut with a dremel - Trying to cut it off - I gave up and put everything back so I could go to a muffler shop. For $20, a guy with a torch took it off in 15 minutes *sigh*. (Hmm..I wonder how much torches cost...hehe) For $75, the guy offered to put in the ypipe for me - but NAH - I guess I'm a die hard - and he just removed my one remaining obstacle anyway. Plus, 75 bucks? that's a Momo shift knob or something! One last thing: be very careful around those oxygen sensors -they're rugged, but not invincible. Breaking one of those puppies will cost you $100 - enough to have paid that mechanic in the first place.

Have I scared anyone off yet? hehe I hope not. Many people have done this mod themselves. Just keep that muffler guy in mind if you get into trouble. :)

RECOMMENDED TOOLS

Air tools will Really help - though not required.
DREMEL - to bail you out if things don't fit right.
22 mm open ended wrench - for removing the oxygen (O2) sensors
Universal joints and extensions- some of those nuts are in awkward places.
A friend - will really help taking down the old pipe and putting up the new pipe
Liquid Wrench and/or WD-40 - can mean the difference between a free or a stuck rusty bolt.
Zip Ties - to hold the O2 wires after you cut the stock plastic retainers.
14mm deep socket to get those nuts.
Anti-seize - to help prevent the nuts from seizing and make them easier to remove. Someday you may want or have to remove the y-pipe (*cough* emissions *cough*)

INSTRUCTIONS



1. Lift the front of the car up and put on the jacks. I also recommend removing your front wheels at this point for better access down there.

2. Give all the nuts some liquid wrench or WD-40, preferably when the piping is still hot. Give more doses to the nuts as the piping cools.

3. Disconnect one terminal on your battery to reset your ecu.
4. Unscrew the rear O2 sensor and move it aside.



5. The front O2 sensor is hard to reach when the old stock ypipe is still up. Keep it screwed in until you can bring the front of the y-pipe down. However you won't have much slack on the wires. Disconnect it from the engine bay ... heres a pic from my 96.


The lower half (the one I'm not holding) is what leads to the sensor and what you'll need to take down. Remove/cut any plastic holders keeping the O2 sensor wire in place. Don't worry it'll be easy to zip tie them back.

5. When you got enough slack so that there won't be any tension on the O2 sensor wires if the y-pipe falls to the floor, its time to work on the nuts connecting the y-pipe to the exhaust manifolds. Keeping your extensions and universal joints handy, remove all six nuts.

6. The next step is to get at the two bolts holding the middle of the stock y-pipe up.


BE CAREFUL. Once you remove the two nuts (shown above) the forward end of the y-pipe will drop and BOP you on the head if you're not careful. The stock y will bend a lot because it has a long flex section. This is when a friend will be handy. While supporting the y-pipe, remove those the two nuts and bring the forward end of the y-pipe down to the floor.

7. Now that front O2 sensor is in easy view and access. Time to pull it out.


8. The last two nuts left are those connecting the the y-pipe to the catalytic converter. (As shown by the yellow arrows). Remove them. A small heat plate/shield -as shown by the green arrows - can get in the way. Removing the plate is not necessary, but may help you remove that nut on the left (only a couple of screws holds the plate in place anyway). Also be careful of the grounding wire that's attached to the cat nut on the right.



9. You will find that the exhaust is supported by a pair of rubber hangers connected to a bracket. This bracket will prevent you from pulling the y-pipe off of the cat so you'll have to disconnect them. Unscrew the bolts holding the rubber hangers to the chassis of the car. Once the bracket is free and the cat nuts are removed, you can pull of the y-pipe.

10. Alright! The old pipe is out. Time to slip in the new one. Don't forget to put the metal crush rings in place. This is another time when an extra set of hands will be helpful. Start by aligning the bolts on the cat to their respective holes on the ypipe. Put the rubber hanger bracket in its place, but don't screw it on to the chassis yet. Also make sure that the gasket that goes between the y-pipe and cat is in place.

11. Put the cat nuts on (don't forget the grounding wire), but don't tighten them yet either. You now want to follow through first and align the holes to the bolts on the exhaust manifolds. The first couple of times I could have sworn that it didn't fit right and would have to pull out Mr.Dremel to make some holes bigger, but after pushing /pulling /yanking /twisting it seemed like the planets aligned and all the bolts/holes lined up. Now you can torque down on all the nuts and screw the hangers back to the chassis. Don't forget the anti-seize.

12. With the new y-pipe in its place, its time to put the O2 sensors back in. Check that the sensors' threads are clean and give them some anti-seize. Note: the reason that you put in the front O2 sensor now rather than when the new y-pipe was still on the floor is a precautionary measure. You don't want to accidentally damage it as you're pushing and pulling to get the y-pipe in place. Plus, you'll find that the new y-pipe takes up much less space - it's easy to insert it in after the new y-pipe is bolted down. Lastly, the position of the front sensor actually partially blocks one of the exhaust manifold bolts, making it unnecessarily difficult to get to.

13. Send the front sensor wire back up to the top of the engine bay and reconnect it. Zip tie it in the places you had to cut.

14. Reconnect the battery. Start up the car and take a quick look underneath for leaks.

15. If all looks good, turn off the engine. Put your wheels back on and lower the car off the jacks.

16. Start up the car and give it a test drive. Give the car 15-30 minutes for the ECU to learn its new parameters. Listen for any leaks or noises that would indicate something banging/rubbing. I heard some initial creaking during my test drive, but it went away as the y-pipe settled in.

17. After the test drive, recheck for leaks. If you are having problems with the y-pipe bumping into things, Cattman has suggestions in his instructions (mostly involving the Dremel). This is one time I lucked out and didn't have any problems.

18. Enjoy your "new" Maxima.

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