42empress

Wheels are off, Muffler is loose from cats, BUT I can not find the third 13 mm hex nut to remove the muffler bracket. I took out the two down low, but can't get the long bolts out of the bracket. My car is an 02.

Thanks

mrcook02996

If I understand you correctly, the long bolts don't have to come off. They hold the bracket to the muffler which is taken off once the muffler is out of car, and is used on the new muffler. As for the 3 nuts, If I remember correctly there are two towards the rear wheel (one above the other by about 3 inches or so) and the third is about 6 inches or so left of the bottom nut. They are in a tight space (in muffler bracket) and are hard to get to and can only be turned about 1/2 turn at a time.
Hope this helps some. Good luck.

Kims996Cab

Two of the studs with 13mm nuts are directly in line vertically (high and low on the plate).

The third is in line with the high stud, about 4 inches across the plate.

Trying to upload a picture of a bracket out of the car ... but my camera picked a bad time to give up the ghost.

1999Porsche911

Here you go:

TT Surgeon

When you initially pull the muffler, leave the bracket and two long bolts in place, the three nuts that attach are visible. If you can move the muffler freely, you may have only had two, as it is a common trick when changing out mufflers to only use the easy two to hold it on, discarding the third(bitch)one. Your car may have had a muffler change in the past, good luck, keep at it!

42empress

GOT IT!!!!!!

found Loren's pic on renntech. I was stupidly taking the bracket off the bottom of the motor. Once i figured out i was in the completely wrong place, i saw the 3 correct nuts. I did put the bracket back on before remounting the mufflers, but did switch the bolts upside down as Chris suggested. The hardest part was getting the tips off and then back on. I do not think the had been touched in4 years, 53000 miles of daily crap on them. Anyway took her for a spin and it is just the type of enhancement sound i was looking for. Thanks to "Bob in NY" for the sale.

Time for bed

Thanks again for all the help and support

Jeff

m5guru

Glad I saw this post as I will be doing the same thing later today (hopefully).

Can't wait.

David

gota911

Jeff & David - you didn't state in your posts exactly WHY you were swapping exhaust cans! A stock set of cans modified (hacked) to sound like PSE, maybe?

42empress

I was going to do the hacked PSE, but found the GHL's at a good price. I still may do the hacked PSE with my stock cans. Although, the GHL are smaller and lighter, more than i was anticipating, and were relatively easy to put in. I found the REMOVAL of the old ones, was by far the hardest part because they had been on there so long. I was looking for a better sound. These are nice, but the hacked PSE will probably have a deeper sound. Hopefully i will be able to do a good compare one day.

Kims996Cab

I have seen several comments like this lately, and concluded it must have something to do with the environment in which the car is operated.

Others should not be discouraged from a muffler project simply because they have older cars. My Cab is over 5 years old, with 52K miles .... and the cans came off with just a few (15-20) minutes per side. No rust, no crud, no chemicals or muscle necessary.

Of course, the time was cut by the fact that I already had the bumper and heat shields off .... but that was not a factor in the freeing of nuts and bolts.

m5guru

Well, for me, I was looking for a different "sound signature" and bought a set of Fabspeed mufflers.

During a break at work today, I managed to go home, get a snack, and swap out one muffler. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to break the nuts/bolts free. My car is a 2002 with 30,000 miles. It did spend most of its life in California and Nevada, though.

Hope to get done with work today and get the other side.

So far, so good. The sounds is much more aggressive and (to my ears) pleasant. It is definitely louder under load, but under light load the sounds is very mellow. The tone has a much lower, rumblier character.

David