Dropping muffler without removing bumper help
 

Can someone point me in the right direction of dropping the stock muffler on a 2002 S without removing the bumper? The car is on ramps now and I have disconnected the obvious clamps and brackets, the thing that I am wondering about is how it is attached at the top of of the muffler. I have the Bently manual and its kind of unclear here. Are there some more nuts up there or are they just some sort of pins that are just aligning the muffler? Thanks for the help.

:cheers:

Technically speaking, YES.

There are 2 bolts on top that you will have to be a contortionist to undo. It can be done but it will take patience and some scraped knuckles and quite possibly a dropped wrench right between the eyes. Ask me how I know ;)

I am sure someone else can explain it in more technical details.

So speaking from personal experience, if you had to do it again, would you take the time and remove the bumper? Have you removed the bumper before? If so, how long does it take?

Sorry for all the questions. :o

:cheers:

hey man, replied to your PM as well.

its just a few screws (8 if i remember correctly) and 2 bolts holding the bumperettes, thats all.
i dont see why you would even want to try doing it without, it makes it much easier to install and align

Update
 

Thanks for everyones input! I came home after work and decided to remove the bumper. So glad I did. Djomlas and Wingnut2u, you guys were so right it took me
about 45 minutes to remove the bumper and once I was in there, I could see how difficult it would have been trying to remove the muffler with the bumper in place. Took me about 3 hours to install the new Top Speed exhaust. Just let it idle and revved it up a bit, then came inside to take a shower. I really like what I'm hearing so far! I will let you guys know what I think and if I am getting any resonance tomorrow after I have had a chance to run it. By the way I really want to thank Chaudanova here on the forum. I bought the muffler from him at a great price and and he shipped it out the same day I ordered it! I highly recommend buying from him. Thanks Chris! :cheers:

I will try to post some sound files in the next couple of days.

Mark
:D

Hey Mark, thanks for the kind words, it was a pleasure doing business with you! I'm glad to hear everything worked out great for you with installing the exhaust... Can't wait to hear your sound clips
:cheers:

Glad to hear you got the exhaust installed and that you are happy with the sound. Hopefully you will post a sound bite soon.

Ok here is a link to an MP4 file of the Topspeed exhaust on my 2002 S. Its only revving up in the garage. Not too sure when I will have the time to capture some sound while I'm driving the thing. :)

http://www.filefactory.com/file/fa5639/n/topspeed_mp4

At around 0:46 seconds you can hear what sounds like to me a bearing whining noise? It only happens when I rev around 4500 or higher and when I let off of the accelerator I can hear the noise wind down to no noise at all. Is this a common sound on this engine or is there something I should be concerned with? Let me know what you think.

Thanks.

This is a bit of a cheat; and my apologies to Borla whose muffler I didn't buy, but the install instructions (downloadable) from their website show how to do this w/ minimal effort (and no bumpercover removal necessary), I gave the 3 pages of this to a competent, generic, independent muffler shop, who did the R&R in under an hour.

The largest consideration in taking it to a shop is that a lift is almost a required tool, but this CAN be done on ramps or jackstands. #2 reason was that I could take it back, they could perform the work, if there were any oddities (leaks, bumps-in-the-night, etc). It ain't Rocket Surgery;It's just helpful to see what you're getting into, before you get into it..... Possible hook for a Country song? About as difficult and time consuming as changing the muffler on my 911sc