Andrew Leinen

NOTE: YOU WILL NOT GET THE CAT OFF WITHOUT A TORCH CUTTER OR SOME OTHER KIND OF CUTTER
NOTE 2: THIS IS NOT FUN

So first things first You'll need to disconnect the O2 Sensor, you'll notice that the cord of the O2 Sensor goes into a black circular plug thing that goes into the floorboard, to unplug the sensor you have to go in and take off your center console, which is less grueling than it sounds.

First you have to take the back half off (E brake, Storage, Cupholders) and remove two screws at the bottom of the storage compartment with a standard phillips.

Then you should be able to simply pull it up from the back and it should undo it self from a clip in the front. You may need to pull the E-brake up if its not already up to pull it off. Then you can get off the front half of the console.

Once you've taken off the back, you'll see 2 more phillips head screws right behind your shifter, unscrew those. You'll also see a wire with a plug inbetween those screws, those light up the letters on your shifter (If Auto) and power your cig lighter. You can unplug it if you want, but you don't have to, just be careful when you pull the console up.

The front part of that console is held in by some clips, I just ran my hand under the plastic and pulled, and it came loose, obviously be careful so you don't break any plastic. Now you should be able to pull it back and over the shifter. You may need to pull it back to "L" to get it off. (Note. Mine is automatic, I'm not sure is manual consoles are much different)

Then the backside of the sensor plug will be on the passenger side near where your foot would sit, you'll need to pull back the carpet a little to get to it then you'll see the white plug, unplug it and push out the piece in the hole and let the plug go with it. Now your O2 is ready to be removed.

At this point, you can try to unscrew the sensor, but its gonna be extremely hard to get out if its like mine, if you are unlucky like me, you'll end up rounding it out if you try to torque it by hand, I was replacing my catalytic converter and we ended up taking it out of the car, put it on a workbench vice, heated up the metal around it with the torch and had to use an impact gun to get the damn thing out. Not to mention soaking it in PB Blaster as well.

This leads to the blowtorch part, the flange bolts on the back of the cat are welded on, you have to cut them off to get it out, we used a torch cutter, you might be able to use a disk cutter. We tried to sawzall through them, but it ate up our blades. (If you find a good sawzall blade for metal, let me know)

We were also replacing the flex pipe coming from the manifold down to the cat which can come down all in one piece if you can get the hanger bolts out (They are 12mm), it will come down cat and all once you've undone the flange bolts coming from the manifold.

Even if you aren't replacing the flex pipe, i'd take it out anyways, it'd make it a lot easier on yourself because you'll have to cut more bolts and cut the current hanger off to free that cat.
If you choose to replace that pipe as well, its the walker one Autozone has, It has hanger arms welded right to it, so you can throw that whole old piece away. (Don't forget to swap/install your new o2 sensor)

Putting on the new stuff is easy, you'll need new bolts obviously, I used some M10s with 1.5 thread, you'll need at least 30 mm length for both flanges, and if you haven't thought about it already, you are going to need at least 2 new flange gaskets (I replaced all 3 to be safe). Also, it would be a smart idea to get some antiseize for the o2 Sensor, you can get the little packets at Autozone for $1.50, it might save you a future headache.

I hope this is helpful to you, it took us all damn day.

CrAnSwIcK

iTrader: (5)

strange, most regular reciprocating metal cutting blades I've used will cut through exhaust rather easily...


Nice write up though, pics make these way better


welcome to the forum.