I spent most of my afternoon today working on a couple of things on my maxima. I installed a blehmco ground kit, made progress on mounting some 6x9's with custom made (by me) mounting points (hard to explain, will have pics by this weekend), attempted to track down the tranny leak that has haunted me since I bought the car (still not sure), and started removing the stock y-pipe to replace it with one from warpspeed. All that being said, I am going to finish up the y-pipe tomorrow. Any tips/ Pointers on doing this? It looks to be somewhat of a P.I.T.A. Thanks in advance.

 

the only tip i have is spraying all of the bolts in advance with liquid wrench, WD40 etc etc to make the removal of the rusted and/or frozen bolts a bit easier. chances are if they haven't been touched....ever then they'll be stuck pretty good

 

I agree with Chris. Mine were totally rust free and were still pretty hard to break loose.

Check to be sure you have all the gaskets and everything, too. I got mine used, so I had to buy all of the gaskets beforehand. I know the warpspeed comes with them, but it's always good to double check.

 

Also if you havent had your o2 sensor replaced nows a good time for it because your going to have to take it off anyways...

 

yeah just get a long hollow pipe for a breaker bar and use the largest drive socket wrench you have. My VG y-pipe was cake, took about 45 minutes. The VE had rusted cat bolts and those took an hour and a half to remove on their own. I didn't use any lube on the bolts and they came off easy with the breaker, but I would suggest using one. Also, use anti-seize on all the threads when you put the new one back on. It will make it easier to remove if you ever have to again. Just jack the car pretty high up so you have room to work (with jackstands of course) and you should have no problem at all. Make sure you pre-wind the O2 sensor so when you put it on the new pipe it doesnt get all twisted.

 

Thanx guys. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

i just ordered the y-pipe too, im gonna do it myself (im 16) ha ha, well i guess ill spray the bolts so they are easier to get off. i just dont want the dam bold breaking off into a spot that i cant get to! that would be a pain.well good luck maxitech!

 

On my VE it took about an hour. Lift+air tools. Easy-peasy.

 

I'd also go ahead and buy 6 new stainless steel nuts at Autozone, just because. Shouldn't run you more than $10 max. My nuts were horrible, I had to have 2 of them chiseled off and made the mistake of buying new ones at the dealer

 

 

Well, I finished the speaker install and will post pictures when I get a spare minute. Still haven't completed the y-pipe install. Also, is it worth putting any of the heat shields back on? The one around the top of the front pipe section, specifically?

 

I personally didn't, I guess you could but I don't think too many people have. I can now look down into the engine compartment and see my y-pipe without the heat shield and its pretty! I vote for no heat shield.

 

sound like a personal problem!

 

use an acetalyne torch

get them bolts red hot
they come off like butta
....mmmm butter...

i would stongly use heat if possible
the breaker bar is risky because u might brake an exhaust stud.

good lucK!

 

If your y-pipe hits the swaybar after installation on acceleration like my warpspeed y-pipe did on my VG motor with suspension techniques front swaybar, you can increase the clearance by making spacers to install between the swaybar brackets and car body.

 

will it do that with the VE motor too??? hopefully not, i dont wanna get into that stuff right now

 

This is old news, but you may want to remove the hanger and replace it with the wsp one provided. it will give you a bit of a better seal and hold the exhaust a little higher.

 

I spent almost two hours trying to get one of the heat shields off! Some dumb@$$ welded the end of it to the pipe when the flex section was replaced. It took a blow torch, pry bar, hammer, and tin snips to get the thing off! Now I have to wait till saturday to finish the install.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking