f***in uppipe

[20 BLK WRX 04]

got my perrin uppipe the other day and today i gave a shot at installing it. it was going pretty smooth, removed airbox, intercooler, bpv, heatshiled, until i tried to remove the downpipe. the bolts that held together the downpipe and midpipe were extremelyy tight and i broke 2 ratchet joints trying to go after it. i didnt want to try a crescent wrench cause it might strip the bolt. anyone have suggestions on how to approach this? more pb blaster? different tools? help pleasee!

[Spanky WRX]

go for the flange bolts between the dp and cat back. these will most likely break so go by yourself a new set. make sure you also get the stuff you put onto brake bolts to stop them from welding to eachother. and put them on every exhaust bolt you take off.

[Kavik]

I'm slightly confused.....do  you have to take off the down pipe to install an up pipe?  Or are you replacing the DP at the same time?

Anyway, you're talking the stock down pipe to mif pipe bolts with the stupid springs on them?  Those were a bitch on mine....I didn't even try using a ratcheting wrench, I went straight for the 1/2" breaker bar and ended up with a 5' long cheater bar over that.  When mine broke loose sparks flew and it sounded like someone tossed a small fire cracker under the car. 

Break them loose, cut them off, do whatever you have to, then replace them with a regular locking nut and bolt.  That's my advice 

[idipskoalmint]

On a car that's ~7 years old, especially if it's lived life in the rust belt, bolts will be corroded and difficult to remove. I would advise you have brand new uppipe studs and downpipe bolts and studs. The cost is inexpensive, but if your car is apart when one breaks, you'll have to try to bum a ride to the parts store, and that's not fun.

We do have access to the RPI Autoshop again, which would be much easier to install those parts than doing it on the ground.

[zeedeveel55]

yea if you break'em, i think fred has bolts that are like a hair longer, so it will be easier to get back on. or i am miss remembering information again.

[RS25BG]

Have to remove the downpipe to get to the up pipe studs..

Don't forget to remove the motor mount nuts n jack the motor up a little...makes things easy

Might as well use a big breaker bar n break any bolt/stud that gives u shit...can always replace n ur better off to replace them anyways

[Kavik]

Have to remove the downpipe to get to the up pipe studs..

ahhhh, I didn't remember that.  but I'm pretty sure I did both mine at the same time last time....

[spoolordie]

craig was tellin me about you doing an up pipe

your prolly gonna need a highspeed cutter, new exhaust bolts for the DP to CBE

[hookedontronics]

you can say Fuck on our forums

Can you get an impact in there?

[spenk]

Have to remove the downpipe to get to the up pipe studs..

Don't forget to remove the motor mount nuts n jack the motor up a little...makes things easy

Might as well use a big breaker bar n break any bolt/stud that gives u shit...can always replace n ur better off to replace them anyways

Damn straight.

Break 'em all and replace. 

[20 BLK WRX 04]

you can say Fuck on our forums

-duly noted

thanks for all the help guys, sounds like i found a solution (breaking the shit out of the bolts, then replacing them). ill get in touch with fred.

also, spoolordie, i didnt know you're the guy craig was talking about lol. he was supposed to give me a hand yesterday but bitched out.

[idipskoalmint]

also, spoolordie, i didnt know you're the guy craig was talking about lol. he was supposed to give me a hand yesterday but bitched out.

Dan's a bitch as well...

[spoolordie]

Dan's a bitch as well...

this guys an ASS ^^^

[nubs1094]

you can say Fuck on our forums

LMFuckingAO

[20 BLK WRX 04]

Hey guys, just thought I would update you on the status of my uppipe installation, and give some advice to people who are thinking about doing it themselves. I did a lot of work on it today (about 12 hours worth) and I'm just up to the part where you jack up the motor and take out the stock uppipe. As for the spring bolts, they were no picnic. I had to gnaw through them with a hack saw. Definitely the most time consuming task of the day. But thanks to Fred at Capitaland, its no problem to replace the old ones. The girl should be back on her feet tom. night 


Tips if you are thinking about installing one yourself:

MUST HAVE: At least a full can of PB blaster, and a breaker bar -these guys will save your ass in hairy situations.

TIME: If this is your first time doing it, don't expect to get it done 4 hours. Where we live, rust really fucks us over. I'd say have at least 2 days free, or a car you can borrow in the meantime while your 'rex is spread out in 1,000 pieces all over the garage.

GET HELP: Brand this into your head - there's no way you are going to do this alone. Yes people have done it solo before, they're called mechanics. The more people that can help you with this, the better. People = more tools, hands, and knowledge. If you don't have car savvy friends, ask someone here for help. I'm sure there are *ahem* members here who will help out for a case or two of beer.

BE AFRAID: This is not an easy job, its more like a project. Pain in the ass is an understatement. You'll have some parts that go smooth, and some parts that will make you loose your mind. If you don't love working on cars, then this installation isn't for you.

In closing: The uppipe is a necessary evil that you'll only have to deal with once (hopefully). If you have extra cash, it might be a good idea to treat yourself and get it professionally installed. If not, i wish you the best of luck.

              -"Its gonna be worse than when you got your butt cherry popped, and hey! you just might." -Ari Gold 

[spoolordie]

I think it relize on the tools you have... I did mine solo in my drive way in about 5 hours but I have pnuematic tools  but I also worked in a shop for over a year doing shit like this

[Kavik]

First off, I'm sorry you're having such a hard time with this.....

 But, let's not make it out to be the sword in the stone that only a select few can remove.  I did mine on my last car solo, when I was just learning to work on cars.  Sure it was a real bitch, I'm not gonna say it wasn't, but it wasn't impossible either.
 In a span of a couple days (not putting in full days by any stretch of the imagination) I had the up-pipe, down-pipe, cat-back and a small handful of other things done. 
 All of this with hand tools, no previous experience, on a 6 year old car (rust, salt, corrosion, etc fully in effect).

I'm not knocking you for your experience with it....there are always possible problems to run into (who hasn't had one single bolt hold them up for an hour or more?), but your description is gonna scare people away from a job that is nothing less than a bitch, but far from impossible.

Getting help is great if you can....but if you can't don't lose faith    Get a good breaker bar, a long cheater bar, 2 cans of PB blaster and spray things down a couple times at least a day in advance, then jack up the car, remove heat shields, spray everything again liberally and take a good half hour while it soaks to eat or drink or organize tools/parts or whatever. Oh, also make sure you have a decent set of sockets, some of these bolts will break cheap ones 

Those spring bolts on the dp to midpipe do suck balls. I used a open ended wrench wedged in to hold the head of the bolt still, then on the nut put a socket on a 24" breaker bar, with a 5' length of pipe over that.  Leverage is your best friend in that situation 

[20 BLK WRX 04]

you have some good points kavik. im just trying to inform other newbies that this is probably not gonna be something you can bang out in an afternoon

[Kavik]

oh no, deffinately not!  I just didn't want them all running away screaming in fear of it either 

[idipskoalmint]

Anyone in this area should at least make an attempt to get into the RPI lift bay - the $10/hr they charge is well worth not having to do the install lying on your back. Seriously, it's that much easier...

Also, depending on who gives you access, they may help with the install.

[AirManCam]

4-5 hours to do an upipe? Geesh. I have it down to about 2 hours in an out...of course i'm on my 3rd grimmspeed EWG upipe but its all good My bolts don't have time to get rusty on my car, seems like they are off atleast once a month

[crxgator]

It's really not as hard as everyone makes it out to be. i did my uppipe and downpipe in 3 hours, by myself, no air tools, and it was the first time i ever did this before.

i think the whole stigma was created by shops, so you become afraid of working on your car and you have to pay them to do it, same with brakes and suspension work...

[Turbaru]

I give you credit for tackling that yourself, 7 years is tough on bolts.
Had the car been a year old or so, it would have been much easier.

Edit: Woops, this is an old thread.

[TheBigChill]

 Good job.  I'll be doing this soon, and am not looking forward to it.  Jut waiting to get all of my "stage 2" goodies together.