At some point, I will format this into a Stan-like thread.
First let me say that doing the exhaust on this car is not the easiest thing. If it is your first time, set aside a couple hours... maybe 3. This can be done by one person, but it is easier with two. If your car is not brand new, it may be worth starting out by spraying WD-40 around the the main bolt holding the exhust pipe to the cat pipe. And spraying around the two pipes because this is where it gets frozen together.
You should have these tools:
8mm wrench.
8mm socket on a 1/4" drive ratchet
Allen head bit
Big bolt on the exhaust (15mm?) deep socket.
Block of wood.
Large hammer.
WD-40
Steps-
1. Remove rear diffuser. This is actually (IMO) pretty easy and should take 10 minutes. Use both the 8mm wrench and the 8mm socket. The wrench is faster on the 5 forward bolts. The ratchet is faster on the bolts where you can't spin the wrench. Remove the 2 allen socket bolts and then drop the diffuser to the ground and place it aside.
2. Loosen drivers side rear lugbolts. Jack up car. Remove rear wheel. You probably should have made sure the parking brake is on well and you should use some sort of support in case of jack failure. Removing this wheel gives you *some* access to the 4 exhaust hanger bolts.
3. Remove the small heat shield below the passenger side hanger. Use 8mm socket. Set aside.
4. Either use a floor jack or enlist the help of someone to support the exhaust upon removal.
5. Remove the 4 bolts holding on the brackets around the rubber bushings on both hangers. Four bolts per side. It's easy on the passenger side. Hard to reach on the drivers side. You can get better access to the rear most bolts there by carefully pulling aside the black perforated rear thingie. If you decide it would be easier to go in from the back, there are 3 bolts under the carpet, near the glue line, where it is attached. We decided it was not worth a potential hassle on re-aligning the thingie after we were done, so we skipped doing this. With those 8 bolts off, the metal hanger clamps should be removed and set aside
6. Remove the main clamp bolt connecting the two pipes. Totally remove the nut and odd shaped bit. The rest of the clamp is welded to the exhaust and will not be reused.
7. While someone or the jack is holding up the exhaust, you now need to pry it apart. We found the onyl thing that worked was the WD-40, and placing a block of wood on the exhaust and hammering away. Little by little it came out and then was able to spin inside the cat pipe.
8. Pull the exhaust towards the passenger side until the pipes separate and then lower it down. Set aside and mark "For EBAY in 2007."
9. Slide the four rubber bushings from the old exhaust hangers onto the new hangers. A little WD-40 as lube helps here.
10. Position new exhaust in the rough placement. Use floor jack to raise up and insert the exhaust inlet into the cat pipe. You will probably have to rotate and wiggle the cat pipe to get it to align well. A little WD40 helped again. Slide the pipe in until it is full inserted. You can very roughly check it for being centered by looking at the two tips and the center diffuser mounting clip. Note, swinging up the exhaust moves the tips.
11. Rotate rubber bushings so that the big bump is away from the mating surface (you can see it). Slide and position over the mounting holes. You will need to pull and push the exhaust to get it positioned right. This part is a pain. Insert one bolt and hand thread it in, careful to not cross thread. Rinse, repeat. Do not fully tighten.
12. Add new U-Clamp (2.75" pipe). Make sure that clamp is almost parallel to the ground and bolts are pointing to the front of the car. Do not fully tighten.
13. Temporarily position diffuser in place. The extra length of the tips on the Quicksilver mean that it will slighty interfere where you have to get the very front edge of the diffuser over the other panel and also at the same time, get the tips through the hole. But it works.
14. Make sure the tips are centered to your satisfaction. If not, move the exhaust from side to side. Putting one or two bolts in the diffuser is enough to hold it. Make sure the diffuser is not hitting the U-Clamp.
15. When satisified, remove the diffuser. Tighten up the 8 hanger mounting bolts. Tighten up the U-Clamp nuts.
16. Replace the diffuser. Note, do not tighten diffuser bolts until all bolts have been hand threaded.
17. Clean up, put away your tools.
18. Drive away.
19. Realize that Randy never mentioned putting the wheel back on the car and lowering the jack as you fall to the ground after you put the car into reverse.
