THanks for that info man.

 

No problem friend. I looked at my lower radiator support today and almost cried. Its rusted to hell. Theres a hole!

I bought a new lower radiator support, new engine crossmember and hood latch support bracket. All 3 items have developed the rust cancer .

$401 for all 3 genuine oem.

Im scared to ask shops about labor cost...

 

Yeah mine is rusting also at the lower support area. I wish it was a few screws to unbolt and then bolt that thing back up. Im afraid of what the labor is gonna be to replace that also. Starting to love my 4th gen more now lol.

 

SO my car is in the shop getting the precats put on. They called me and said the bolts are fused into the exhaust manifold and they cant get them out. They say I need a new exhaust manifold and they cannot use a torch... uhhhhhhhhh

 

Remove manifold, cut off bolts, drill. But that's gonna cost, too.

This is one reason why removing the whole thing is easier.

Or headers and never look back lol

 

he wants 8 hours labor to install 2 new manifolds. the manifolds are like $200.. FREAKING $1100 basically with taxes... um I think im gonna leave the cats sadly...

 

I have a remanufactuted engine. Is it true to install it they had to remove the precats?

 

You don't remove the precats to swap a motor.

 

do they mean the exhaust manifold or the y-pipe? Mine are fused to the y-pipe so what im gonna do is remove the front manifold with the precat, and then just strip the bolts on the rear pre cat so i can at least take off the y-pipe and gut the rear one.

 

I had the ypipe off last year so i don't think thats the issue. I think the precats bolts are fused to the manifold .

Might have the other shop tackle the job.

Will ask them to remove manifolds and cut the cat bolts.. :,(

 

yeah im gonna try n remove myself man at least the front manifold.

 

I just said fff it and bought 2 new exhaust manifolds with new bolts and gaskets.
$850 to install the new manifolds and new pre-cats

$1000 to replace lower radiator support (nice mechanic, great aura).

He said he would do it right and paint and clean all rust. welds will be painted.

$1000 is a lot, but I sensed an angel when I met this guy. I trust him a lot. I might even spend $15 extra and get him a pizza.

I don't want headers because with my luck they will get spotted during emissions or my engine will explode. (even though they dont inspect the car underneath).

Lots of money spent... but im planning of getting another 14 years out of this car. Rust is the only enemy at this point. Rear swaybar has rust... frame has surface rust in rear... might just paint over it with POR 15.. will cross that road once my massive exhaust leak is fixed....

new y pipe didnt fix it. must be the manifolds?

I basically bought my car 3 times fml........ im legit BROKE now

 

I definitely understand where your coming from. Looks like ill be sending mine back to the shop once the front pre cat comes as the exhaust is first priority. Then to the lower radiator support. Seriously thinking is the car worth me dumping this amount of money into it even though I didnt pay very much for it.

 

I hear you friend. Once everything is fixed the car will be perfect... Besides the rust I found in the back of the car. The sway bar, frame, control arms... I legit dont know how I am going to make it through life.

 

For 1000 he better be an angel with a real aura. i paid 150 to have my lower support welded in and it had bad rust from being in newburgh ny. If those numbers are just for labor.....thats crazy. None the less i hope that your car issues settle as fast as possible.

 

I know its a lot, but i really believe it will be done right.

Other ppl will just bolt on the new one with no welds or paint

 

DId you just get the lower support or the whole assembly welded in, thats a great price. I only need the lower support and not the whole entire thing.


yeah i hear u man. Once it all gets fixed then she should be back to normal for a while.

 

I got the lower support only for $150. I called nissan. Got the part number, then clicked the shopping tab

 

I paid 200 for an OEM one. It was painted aswell. Yeah I just got the lower half, it bolts to the upper half already on the car then it just needs spot welds

 

I'm going to have the shop paint the support AGAIN. The nissan paint sucks donkey dong and has scratches to bare metal. They used only paint... no clear coat... no primer... just 1 layer of 1 atom thick paint.

 

Its beautiful. I installed it today. Not only does my car rip a hole in time-space at wide open throttle, my engine is running better than ever before. The car purrs now. I feel like I'm floating when I'm driving. It is that smooth.

I'm 99% sure I fixed the rough start issue. The old nipple with the vacuum cap was dry rotted and had a hole. Put the new cap on and my idle is almost perfect 98.7732%.

The cats and exhaust leak in my opinion are throwing off the idle by about 6 rpm.

With my engine running this clean and smooth it will last forever. My only concern is frame rust.

 

That hole must have been sucking air after the maf sensor, which will throw things off most definately. how bad is the frame rust? If its surface you can get some POR15 and apply it. It eats the rust away and was used to de-rust naval ships from the salty waters.

 

Yeah it was getting unmetered air. The rust looks like surface rust. I actually have POR15, I bought a pint. I'm going to paint any rust in the engine bay. Lower radiator support is getting replaced. Gonna have the bottom of the car rust proofed. May spray the entire bottom with organic apple cider vinegar, let it dry, then have them rust proof it.

 

Oh ok kool so then it should not be that expensive for someone to replace i assume.

 

Maybe ill go to another body shop and get an estimate

 

I had bad rot and my mechanic took 1.5 hrs too install it. Brand name shops (mitas, monroe muffler, etc) have rediculious rates as high as $75 for every half hour. my mechanic is family operated and owned.

 

Thanks friend. Idk why someone would quote $1000. He really was a nice guy. He probably didn't want to do it? Idk sigh

 

I got both new exhaust manifolds in. The site claimed they have been redesigned in the areas where they fail.

I'm a bit concerned.. There is a big indent on the front manifold. It restricts the air flow on only 1 cylinder. See the red circle in the image.

Also the inside of the bores have lumps, making the diameter smaller.

I looked at pics of Nisan OEM exhaust manifolds, they do not have these limiting designs.

Between the bore lumps and the indent, it is basically trying to choke the engine in my opinion??

 

It's already choked. This doesn't matter.

 

I think that anything or any form of replacement of the factory pre cat part of the exhaust on these cars is better than just leaving it on and not removing it. Nissan messed up when they did not put an egr valve on these cars, I see them on the 6gens. Trying to see if i should spend the money on some headers or buy a new front pre cat. I already have the rear pre cat and a new y-pipe. But i was gonna install the header on the front and just gut the rear cat in place since its more difficult to remove the rear exhaust manifold. Would that make sense? I just dont want the noise though.