Ok guys as most of you know I got my new exhaust in yesterday from FedEx. Here is my writeup on it:
First...disconnect the negative cable on the battery!
I used this wondeful stuff to break apart the bolts that were rusting up on stock exhaust.
Spray it on these.
I also sprayed some WD-40 on the rubber hangars to help them slide in and out easier...which is still a little task!
Next take off the 2 nuts that is holding together the tailpipe to the muffler. Notice how the bolts from the muffler pipe are attached. These do not come out they are welded in.
Slide out the tailpipe from the rear (this will take a little manuevering but nothing too hard. Set tailpipe to the side.
This part took me 2 hours. Take the nuts off of the U-bolt that is holding the muffler pipe onto the catalytic converter pipe and pull off the U-bolt. Then you have the wonderful task of getting the muffler pipe to, as the install sheet says, slide the muffler right off! BS! :wall: As I said I was working on this for about 2 hours. I bent 1 screwdriver, broke a chisel, and spilled my beer! I tried using a torch to warm up the pipe to get it to bend easier. Let's just say it was a pain but I finally wiggled it off.
I don't have a floorjack so this part may disturb a few people. I will tell it how I did it. Please use your own safer methods if you want
Set the muffler underneath the rear tire to keep the Escape from rolling. I took my jack that came with the Escape and jacked up the right side of the Escape to bring down the axle. You can't slide the tailpipe through unless you make some clearance as it is wider in diameter than the stock pipe.
I kept the tailpipe wrapped in the bubble wrap to protect it from scratches during the install and to protect from hitting my bumper.
Next slide the muffler into the 2 fittings from the tailpipe and the catalytic converter and hand tighten the nuts on the u-bolts...my ratchet decided it wanted to chill on the nut while I was taking the picture. DO NOT FULLY TIGHTEN THE NUTS YET!
Next make sure you mess around with the whole exhaust and get the tailpipe so that it has
atleast 1/2" clearance from any plastic.
Tighten all the u-bolts...with the ratchet that is chilling on the nut this time...
Reconnect the negative battery cable.
Final pics that I could get...it was dark out.
