Buschur Racing 2.5" Catback install for 2G AWD

What you need:

- The cat back.. this one cost me $350 right from Buschar, and is a 2.5" aluminized pipe with a stainless Dynomax muffler and stainless 4" Tip
- Various wrenches (open end AND socket wrenches)
- WD-40
- 15mm?? (not too sure) nuts (i bought a bolt into ACE hardware and matched 5 locking nuts.. easy)
- Black BBQ Spray paint

Once you have the new cat back, *I* painted mine all black with BLACK BBQ Spray paint.  Because the pipe is aluminized, it will rust easily..   This way, it keeps the pipe cleaner for a bit longer :)

Also, the cat back pipe is supposed to SLIDE into the muffler.   Make sure it slides in BEFORE you mount this on the car.  I had to bang the extension from the muffler a bit because it had some "pushed in " edges, and the pipe wasnt going in.

First, you need to raise the car.  I put some blocks of wood together and drove the car up them.  This gave me about 8" more room under there.
MAKE SURE the car is SEQURE... you'll be putting some pressure on the nuts/bolts.  I also put some bricks on the wheels, Just incase.
I also jacked up the Left/Rear end of the car,  just enough (the tire still was touching the floor).

Now.  First step, remove the O2 Sensor.   On an old car, this will be very tough.  I managed to use my foot and an open end wrench.  I applied some good presure, but it finally lodged.   The wire from the O2 sensor will twist a good amount (Count the # of turns...  dont forget).  No need to worry.   Just remember, when putting it back , you should RE-TWIST it.  I'll explain later.

Next, I removed the two nuts that hold the pipe extension to the end of the cat.   Again, some WD-40 and some foot pressure was all it took.

Now, you have 3 locations along the lenght of the pipe where the rubber supports are attached to the pipe.  Just loosen them all a good amount.  But keep them on there.  You want to just loosen everything first, THEN remove the bolts/nuts.    I also kept the bolts on the rubbers, so i wouldnt be in confusion or looking for missing bolts.  Leave the pipe hanging on there.  You will also need to remove 3 bolts that attatch the End of the muffler to the End of the cat back pipe.   Now you can remove the pipe.  Put it aside.  There is a spacer/gasket between the cat and the pipe.  Keep this on there.  We will re-use it. 

For those of you who never knew, look at the thick wire MESH inside this Stock cat (of course there is more garbage in there.. this is just to cover it up.. DOH).   Can you say "BIG restriction!"?

Now, to the muffler.  Here you have 3 more nuts to loosen/remove.  The rear one is easy, and the 2 that are on the back of the muffler are tricky to get to.  But its fairly simple.  Now just revome the muffler, and put it aside.

Here is a visual comparison between stock and BR cat back.  Notice the BR has only 2 slight curves...  even though its Press bent (as to mendrel bent), I think it will flow very nicely.

Now, for the fun part. 

Take the BR pipe, and position it into place.  You will have to bend those tabs sticking out of the pipe so you get a good fit to the rubber groumets.  Put all the bolts in the necessary spots, and just give the nuts  a few turns, just to hold the pipe in.  (2 nuts that goto the cat and 3 nut/bolts that go to the rubber holders).   Now, once you got the thing nicely fitted, you will tighten the 2 nuts that attach to the CAT.  HINT:  tighten both a fair amount, but keep in mind, as the get tighter, there is less space to fit your wrench on the nut...  I kept on "prying" the nut a bit back from the pipe itself so the wrench would actually get a good grip.    Tighten these as good as you can (no foot used here :).

Now, tighten the rest of the 3 nut/bolts as you head on to the back of the car. 

For the muffler, position it in place, bend the tabs if necessary, and put the remaining 2 bolts/nuts on.  This will get tricky here.  My muffler to pipe fit was very thight.  I had my brother PUSH on the end of the muffler while i was "twisting" the muffler.  This help push the muffler ALL the way onto the pipe, until it "hit" or "stoped".  CAUTION:  On my car, the rear tab from the muffler was touching my stabilizer bar, which in a few weeks would strart scraping and rusting...  SO, since you wont be using one of the rubber mounts, I positioned the extra rubber mount between the muffer and the bar.

Make sure everything is nice and tight.  Last but not least, screw in the O2 Sensor.  Remember, twist it backwards a few turns, so when you screw it back on, the wire will be fairly straight.  (If you counted the # of turns to take it out, you would be better off here.)

This is what the final product looks like :)

Good luck

Andre Cardadeiro aka dre99whiteGSX