Hooker Exhaust Install Help

[The_Big_J]

Boys,

Just got a Hooker dual exhaust system with at THDP and was wondering is this just a 'bolt on'? Any drilling/welding besides modding the turbo shield to fit the DP? Any extra parts needed? Hoping for tips and tricks that worked for other guys. Should also say that there is no Cat converter.

Thanks

 

[BlackBeauty]

You'll need to drill holes in the frame (one on each side behind the rear tires) for the tailpipes. Also, the Hooker exhaust comes with rubber straps to hold the mufflers up, we used holes already underneath the car and they were in the right place to hold up the rear of the mufflers.
Word of advice: It was a total pain to install the Hooker. Of course, it was installed in the garage on our backs.
-Make sure all the pipes fit together before climbing under the car. If the pipes are not COMPLETELY round, it can give you problems.
-Work backwards: hang the tailpipes over the rear axle, then slip the mufflers onto them, then slide on the large part, and bolt it up to straight pipe.
-Another thing, for installing the DP... it was a bigger pain to remove the factory DP. We couldn't get the cat off, so we had to remove the downpipe and cat as one piece.... not easy. We had to get the car on 4 jackstands and wrestle that thing outta there. It would be a breeze if only we had access to a lift....

Good luck.

 

[TryMeGT]

Black Beauty - Wish I would have known about the backwards insatllation for the Hooker system a week ago. I went with the instructions in the kit and argued for hours trying to get it to work. It ain't happening that way whatsoever. Finally after numerous profanities of the engineers at Hooker, I figured I would try it my way. Which just so happened to be starting at the rear of the car and working forward. Now it is all under the car and I just have center everything up an tighten it down

Very good point about test fitting everything first before you get under the car. The tolerances between the pipes and mufflers are very very tight so you want to know their are no imperfections in the fit before being under the car. It will still take some patience to get everything lined up under the car because of the tight fitting pieces. These pieces will only go STRAIGHT in to each other with a little coaxing.

 

[BLACK6PACK]

Mine went in very easy. And I did mine in the driveway on my back with the car backed on to a set of rhino ramps. I started at the front, pieced everything together got the tailpipes on, drilled the holes in the frame, tightened everything down then took it to a muffler shop and had it welded together.

 

[The_Big_J]

Thanks for the tips guys. Went in pretty easy except a couple bolts on the old DP elbow. Took the old system out, worked the down pipe in then worked backwards from the tailpipes. I had also set it up in the basement before the install to make sure it all fit, and I'm glad I did! One of the tailpipes to the muf was a little off - just a little gentle tapping with a mallet to get it right.

Thanks again!