Removing Stock Exhaust...
 

So I pulled off the stock exhaust on my 02 S today for a GHL. GHL was a breeze to install. Getting the stock exhaust off, not so much. Since the exhaust is part of the crash structure Porsche engineered, its in there VERY well. Were I to do this again, I would absolutely remove the rear bumper to do this. Getting the upper bolts out is a ridiculous chore. I'd say if your shop will do this for an hour's labor I'd have it done. Swapping various aftermarket systems seems very easy, but getting the stock out is a royal PITA

Just thought I'd share.....

Patrick

Yikes. How long did it take you to get it off and how long did the install take?

Took me and a buddy 1 1/2 hours to swap out my stock exhaust for the dansk, and that includes taking off the rear bumper, spoiler and some heat shields to do it. It's easier to take the exhaust off this way as it gives you much more room to do your work, but then again, you have to take off all these other parts and then also put them back.

http://i3.tinypic.com/w7m1af.jpg

It's not a tough job, especially once you know the clamps are splined, on a lift the top bots are easy too.

As I said in my previous post, you really HAVE to take off the rear bumper. I managed to do it without, but it was very much not a fun project. When I asked my local dealer after the fact and they said they would only charge and hour labor for it....I was a lil upset lol.

The way I see it, if your dealer will do it for $75 I'd just let them do it. If you have a lift and can remove the rear bumper, not a bad job. Laying on your back under the car without the rear bumper on I cant recommend....

Patrick

Was there any issue taking out all the heat shield and the steel brace on the rear?

I recently removed my stock exhaust as well up to the headers and It was not difficult, but it did take a bit of trial and error finding the muffler nuts with the socket wrench by feel alone. But not hard to remove once your on it.

Took about 3 hours to remove and install mufler and 2nd cat delete pipes.

I jacked up the rear only on jackstands as it produces the perfect angle for getting at everything.

No splined bolts to contend with either and I gave everything a good soaking with wd40 before getting started and had no nut/bolt issues.

2004 S
When I did my exhaust, the original bolts and nuts were suppose to be a 13mm but they must have rusted enough that I had much better luck with 1/2 inch wrench especially on the manifold bolts.

The cheaper the tool the higher the fit tolerance. My Craftsman 6point socket fits 13mm fasteners perfectly.

Good piece of advice to know Bypro.

How do you like it?
 

New Porsche owner here guys, hope you don't mine me jumping in. I'm curious, did you install this Dansk muffler system onto the existing manifolds and CATs? Or did you go with a header setup? How do you like the Dansk so far in terms of sound, performance upgrade, ease of installation, etc? Currently shopping around, any input would sure he appreciated! Thanks

For what it is worth - i have now owned 2 boxster and rid myself of both OE mufflers (still have the 2nd OE Muffler sitting now in my garage if anyone wants to purchase it...). My first was the Fabspeed maxflo and the one I just installed is the GHL. Both are catback systems so no messing with anything additional, just plug and play. The install was actually quite interesting taking the back end of the car apart. I took mine all the way down to just looking at the exhaust so rear bumper, brace, heat shields, etc were all taken off. I did NOT have to jack the car up as once the back end was off, it was very simpple. Hardes part was getting one of the U pipes out of the stock muffler. the other was shearing off a hex bolt that holds one side of the rear spoiler. had to make a run to Ace Hardware to get a tiny drill bit and reverse bit to get it out. Took me about 4 hours from beginning to end but that is because I went slow, marked everything I took off, took some breaks, and took my time putting it back together.

I was nervous as hell when I started but now I could do it in no time flat and have all the confidence in the world.

Cat back?
 

Thanks, when you say "CAT back" system, what does that mean? Will that work in CA?

nevermind
 

sorry guys, nevermind, I already answered my question