Ok guys,
First and foremost I dont know if another DIY exists for a Y pipe, but there might be one out on the web somewhere. Before I post pics of my install and procedures, some legal issues: I AM IN NO WAY RESPONSIBLE FOR DAMAGE DONE TO ONESELF, ANOTHER PERSON NOR YOUR VEHICLE PARTS OR TOOLS BLAH BLAH ETC ETC!!

I PURCHASED MY Y PIPE FROM 350ZFORUMS.ORG, THEY HAD THE LOWEST PRICE, GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND FAST SHIPPING!!! THANKS GUYS!!

Tools: 3 ton Jack, 2 Jack stands, 3/8'' ratchet w/ a 14'' socket and breaker bar, undercar/hood light, medium- large size flat head screwdriver, heavy (sledge) hammer, WD-40, piece of 2x4 wood!!

You might use power tools, I actually have power tools and a compressor but am a bit nervous as I've never used them! Now I know Im probably gonna hear it from the few **** people regarding my jacking points as well as my 'breaker bar' solution, but I assure you I've worked on cars for 7-8 years and although my methods may be unorthodox or 'old school' they work!!

1. PLEASE LET YOUR CAR COOOOOOOL DOWN BEFORE YOU GO BELOW AND START WHACKING AWAY!! (ALWAYS MAKE SURE TO JACK UP A CAR ON A LEVEL SURFACE!!)
2. Jack up one side of your car to a height which will allow you ample room to manuever below and access/remove/install the Y pipe. The Y pipe is towards the front portion of the car, so you'll wanna jack it up about a foot after the front tires. After jacking up one side, use a Jack stand and slide it below the car, SLOWLY release the jack onto the jack stand making SURE stand is setup properly (on all 4's, YOU MIGHT NEED TO USE A PAIR OF PLIERS TO LOWER YOUR JACK HANDLE SLOWER THAN YOUR HAND CAN CONTROL). After you have lowered the jack and the car is now supported by the stand, move over onto the other side of the car and again jack that side up to about the same level, and again insert your 2nd jack stand. Try to make sure the 2 jack stands are about the same distance from the 2 front wheels!!

 

3. At this point, add a generous amount of WD-40 to the 6 bolts/nuts composing of your Y PIPE!! Give it about 5 minutes to settle, in the meantime you can unwrap your new Y pipe!! BTW the Y pipe I purchased was the Topspeed aka Pro-1. Ok, now that you've let the WD-40 sit you can put your 14'' socket onto the Y pipe nuts. You can start on either side of the top of the Y, I chose the left (driver) side next to the driver side cat converter. Insert your socket and ratchet onto the nut and add breaker bar if not using power tools and untighten the first nut. You will notice that the initial force req'd to open is the hardest part, after that the nut opens up w/ ease!! Remove the second bolt using the same method.
4. Now move over onto the opposite side of the car and remove the second set of bolts/nuts on the second cat (passenger side). Dont try to remove the Pipe yet!! You still have to remove 2 bolts/nuts attached to the Mid Pipe!! Remove the 2 nuts again using the same method at the bottom of the Y pipe. Once you have removed all the nuts, place them somewhere you wont lose them and again spray them with a decent amount of WD-40. The stock Y pipe is MUCH heavier than the stock one, so if you have a hand great!! But if your alone, slowly slide the top part (part closest to the hood and engine) of the Y pipe off of the cats, THEN remove the portion from the Mid pipe!!

 

5. Now notice in the pic below that the 2 bolts which connect your Y pipe to your Mid pipe are 'stuck' to the stock Y pipe. I am not sure if all Y pipe manufacturer's include these bolts, but mine DID NOT, therefore I had to resuse the stock bolts. Now this is the part of the install that took the longest (30-45 min). After I removed the stock Y pipe I took it over onto a work desk and placed a small 2x4 over the end of the screw and smacked it pretty good w/ the sledge hammer. You may have to use a bit of elbow grease (oomph) to get them to pop out!! Regardless dont worry, the ARE NOT welded!! After removing the 2 screws from the bottom of your Y pipe, reinsert them onto your NEW Y pipe (easier said than done!) This was actually kinda a PITA b/c the new Y pipe holes seemed a bit tighter than the stock ones. The method I used on the first bolt was: Place the Y pipe onto firm surface and try to clamp it down. Place bolt onto new Y pipe hold and place smaller hammer over this bolt. Use a larger (sledge) hammer to slowly/accurately yet w/ some force push the bolt onto the Y pipe flange. I had a real hard time with the first one, but the second one was ALOT easier once I used a small rounded metal file to grind a bit off of the edges. If you have a round file USE IT, or you could always use the sledge hammer method (which is kinda scary/loud and I dont recommend it!!)

 

6. OK, thats the 'hardest' part of the install!! Once you have the 2 bolts flush against the Y pipe flange, insert the 3 gaskets which should be included with your Y pipe onto 3 sets of bolts (total of 3 gaskets). 2 gaskets go onto each cat, and 1 larger gasket goes on where the Y-pipe meets the Mid pipe. Insert the larger (Y pipe/mid pipe) gasket onto the new Y pipe and insert that end FIRST back onto your mid pipe!!. NOTE: Make sure you dont have the Y pipe upside down as it wont fit unless its on the right way!! Use a nut to screw onto the bolt, just enough to hold it into place!! Screw the second nut onto the bolt as well, again just enough to hold it into place. Now move up and align the upper part of the Y pipe gasket and slide the Y pipe into place onto the cat (whichever side you chose first). Now again insert a nut onto the 2 sets of bolts from your cat (both passenger side and driver side) but dont tighten yet completely!! Slowly tighten one side of the Y pipe (eg. driver side) then tighten the passenger side nuts, and then move back to the driver side and finish off the driver side nuts. (I am not sure what the spec torque is on the exhaust but I know they should be very tight, just tighten them up but DONT use a breaker bar to tighten!!) After both driver and passenger side cat/Y pipe nuts/bolts are tightened, move down to the Y pipe/midpipe bolts/nuts and tighten them as well.

 

7. Now jack up your car on either side high enough to remove the jack stands. Remove 1 jack stand and slowly lower that side back down. Now before lowering the second jack stand, make sure you havent left any tools/objects below your car!! After that, jack up the last side again high enough and remove the last jack stand. SLOWLY lower your car and your done!! I typed this up in a bit of a rush too, so excuse my spelling mistakes (if any) and forgive me if I have forgotten to mention anything!! The install took me about 1.5 hrs all alone!! Here's one last pic comparing the heavy ***/ugly stock Y pipe to the Pro-1 Y pipe!!

 

Thanks for the write-up! I'm actually supposed to tackle this project tomorrow morning, so good timing w/ your post. I hope my Y-pipe comes with bolts so I don't have to bang-out the stock bolts. I tried to bang-out stock bolts from my stock muffler flange, and ended up giving up and getting new ones. Hope you enjoy the Y-pipe in combination w/ your new spacer and that you get more than "sound" - ha.

 

hey buddy!!

awesome man, it wasnt a bad install, let me know if you have any questions for your install!! The sound...well its not too noticeable...the plenum spacer kinda drowns it out at WOT, but under idle its a deeper exhaust note!!

 

My 03.5's stock bolts were on there tight! Since I didn't have a breaking bar, I did the extend the wrench trick, and I snapped the wrench in half! Had to rn over to Sears and get a long ratchet... Once I got the bolts off, the rest of it was a snap.

 

thanks! just did it

 

Tried doing this project last night... I got three nuts off but the other three wont budge!!! I've tried using PB blaster, WD-40, I even used a torch to heat the screws!!! I can't get them off to save my life... All help is appreciated!

 

Breaker bar and a second set of hands should do it

 

Mine are on there really well also...will be tackling this again this weekend hopefully.

 

pics would be nice haha but nice DIY. gunna do this when i get my Y-pipe next week

 

Heading to the pick n pull hopefully Y pipe is only 14.99 there so it's in good condition!! They still show they have the one I got the seat seat switch and that car was in pretty good condition .