Zero Gravity

just bought a stillen y pipe and a b pipe and took it down to a mechanic and he said he will do it for 50. HE then looked at my car (98 maxima se) and he said it will take him about 2 and a half hours to do the whole job and would cost me like 200 dollars. He also said it might screw up my O2 sensor and might screw up my engine blah blah blah. Now I dont know that much about pipes but i heard on this forum thats its the fastest best mod you could do to your car, and I"m stuck with the pipes in my house and dont know what to do. Take it to more mechanics or just try it myself. What have other people experienced with installments on the y-pipe? and the side effect if any besides a smile on my face?

mzmtg

iTrader: (11)

Do it yourself.

Your "mechanic" is a moron.

KINGMAX

As far as the O2 goes just get an O2 simulator, it suplies a signal to the ECU basically telling it that it is working properly(works great for guys in NC where the state has gone to strictly computer inspections...no codes, no problem....hmmmm time for a test pipe). Like Ben said, do it yourself, when I do things myself on my car if I screw up I have only myself to blame and as far as I am concerned that is less of a headache than having to deal with an overconfidant tech who is always(in his eyes)right.

Will

mzmtg

iTrader: (11)

The ECU reads the upstream sensors to determine air/fuel ratios...the are CRITICAL.

The ECU uses the downstream sensors to make sure the cat is still working...not so critical.

O2 simulators are only for the downstream sesnor, which a Y-pipe has nothing to do with. The pipe should have fittings for all your existing upstream sensors, so dont worry about it.

Zero Gravity

so is it pretty easy to do it yourself? How long does it take and is it just like bolt off the old one and bolt on the new one?

KINGMAX

Uhh I am an idiot, listen to your local moderator. I had tooo many beers....yeah the Y-pipe should have nothing to do with the O2 on the exhaust, the sensor on the exhaust is after the CAT, idiot me and so is the mechanic.. BTW, Mr.Garner. I clicked on the link in your sig, damn you crack me up

Lo-Tse

I have my Budget Y-pipe installed by the Budget guys.
Did not look that difficult and they did it fast - well,they
probably have done dozens and dozens of them. Basically, removed all
O2 sensors and then all the bolts. One word of caution, they
used the flame thrower (an oxy-acetylene torch I presumed) to
loosen some of the bolts before removed them. Also, I saw them
used a very long socket wrench extension for two of the bolts
holding the Y-pipe - presumably because of very tight space. Apart from that, everything seemed straight forward. It took much longer
time to remove the pipe as compare to re-install the new one.
Just make sure you have all the tools needed. Good luck!!

Lo-Tse

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

from what i remember, 95-98 maxima's use basically the same y-pipes...in fact i have a y-pipe off of a 95 max which will be put on my new 97 max (warspeed)....he maybe never saw it before and was worried about getting in trouble installing it so charged mroe so it would be worth it...........












































or maybe he's a moron...

joaquink

I suggest that you try it yourself. However, you want to be careful
to not bust any of your bolts/studs. To avoid this I recommend two
things:
1)PB Blaster Penetrating Lubricant (from AutoZone or other parts store)
2)An impact wrench.

With the above 2 items and a bit of time, you'll do fine. It is a
very straightforward job that really is unscrew, replace, bolt up.
You'll find lots of information on the process if you search a bit
more. Go to the How2 section of Cheston's (aka Chebosto here) site
at Maxima Driver

Good luck.

Cheers,

JK

JAIMECBR900

If you believe what your "mechanic" tells you, you have no business trying to install it yourself either. If you take it to a local muffler shop, it should cost you no more than $50-75 max. The only grief you will get is about emmissions since you are technically removing the two pre-cats that are found in the stock pipe. Some shops are **** due to regulations, others don't care at all.

Your "mechanic" is an absolute moron, and you should never take your car to him. Tell him to come on in here and explain how the Y is going to "kill" your engine. Then again with such a display of obvious mechanical expertise, he may not know there's an internet...

BriGuyMax

iTrader: (1)

After installing, and removing and installing aftermarket y-pipes on 6 different maximas and doing it on my car 5 times (don't ask), I feel that I've got it down to a science.

This is what you'll need to do to make it as painless as possible:

1. take your car to a local muffler shop and have them remove and replace the two bolts that attach the stock y-pipe to the cat. (These bolts are typically rusted on BAD) This will cost about 15 bucks and it will save you A LOT of hassle later.

2. Get these tools

• 3/8in drive socket wrench (prefferably a pretty big one)
• 14mm deep socket
• 12mm deep socket
• 10mm socket
• 22mm box set wrench or O2 sensor socket
• 12 inch 3/8 drive extension
• universal 3/8 drive swivel (for hard to get at rear bank bolts)
• jack stands or ramps
• LOTS of WD-40 or PB blaster
• good work light
• something padded to lay on while under the car (you'll be under there for a while)

3. Jack the car up (or drive onto ramps) and soak all 8 bolts and O2 sensors with WD-40 or PB blaster and let them soak for about 10 minutes (make sure car is pretty cool before you do this or the stuff will just burn off)

4. remove the 2 12mm bolts that hold the y-pipe to the engine block (they come off really easy)

5. loosen the 2 14mm cat bolts

6. loosen the 6 14mm y-pipe to manifold bolts (2 of the rear ones will require the swivel extension) These will requre a lot of elbow grease...don't be afraid to use a lot of force on them....you will NOT need an impact wrench. I've pulled all 6 of them off a max with 120K miles on it no problem.

7. loosen and remove the 2 o2 sensors on y-pipe. The front one will be REALLY hard to get to. You might have to disconnect the harness for the front 02 sensor located in the engine bay in front of the front valve cover (right behind the radiator) and give yourself some slack to work with so you can lower the y-pipe a bit before loosening and removing the front 02 sensor

8. Now everything should be loosened, you can remove all the bolts and slowly lower the stock y-pipe to the floor (be careful, this thing weights 25lbs and it's very ackward to balance while laying on your back.

9. There is a heat sheld that you will probably have to remove for clearance with the new pipe. I believe it has 2-3 10mm bolts holding it in place and it's near the drive axle.

10. The aftermarket y should go in the same way the stock one came out. It will be MUCH easier to bolt in becuase it's much less bulky. Make sure to use new crush ring gaskets and a new cat gasket. You can use anti-sieze on the bolts when you install the new pipe if you choose.

11. Tighten everything up, reattach the O2 harness, lower the car...and ENJOY your added POWER

BriGuyMax

iTrader: (1)

I think my last post should be in the FAQs if there already isn't a GOOD write-up on the y-pipe how-to