Would You Remove Your Exhaust For £200?

Hi, I am planning to have my exhaust modified (standard bypass-like arrangement) by H&S in Essex. They have quoted me £295-350+VAT for the job or £125+VAT if I remove the boxes and re-install myself. If you have done any 996 (1998 C2 tip, 45000m) exhaust removal work, is it more than £200-worth of hassle? (I am not a millionaire suffice to say or I wouldn't be asking....or driving a 1998 C2!). Do you just wave an angle grinder at it and it drops off in your hands or is it a skinned-knuckle 4 day job from hell? Any advice welcome (keep it clean!) Thanks, Dave

Well if its not been touched for 12 years I suggest you let H&S take it off - your words 4 day job from hell have hit the nail on the head so to speak.

Dave , for the difference let them do it, these exhausts can be real liitle devils. Its quite involved and will be as you say a skin and knuckle job. Mike

I beg to differ, ok its not a walk in the park, but I just purchased a pair of brand new modified mufflers from Oteele in Germany, comeplete with new tip brackets as these are often shot, total cost delivered 405 pounds.. i took one side off with no loss of knuckle skin, removed the 3 nuts that hold the exhaust bracket onto car the horizontal bolts if that makes sense, the other side ok was a tad of a pig, 1 horizontal nut wouldnt budge, so no room to do anything if they are stuck, so took the vertical nuts and bolts, two come off easy, ones a pyramid, doesnt even look like a nut anymore ! so i got a dremmel and dremmel'd the ***** off, bingo, two sides off, replaced all bolts and nuts id removed with frsh and im away, probably took me 4 hrs in total, most of that on the one that needed dremmeling, i took so long trying to loosen or dislodge it any other way, wish id just dremmeled straight away.. so for 4 hrs , maybe less if you work quick, and 405 pounds i have two brand new modded boxes, and my original boxes to keep too delivery from Germany to UK 2 days.

Hi, I took my C2 exhaust cat' sections out, and it wasn't too difficult if you know your way around a socket set. Definitely worth saving yourself £200 - I'm an economy driven 911'ist too! I needed to replace the oxygen sensor on bank 2, (allegedly a 5 min job - unscrew and screw new one back in?), and ended up having to unknot both sides in order to take the bank 2 cat' section out, as the sensor threads were bust. To get them out, jack the back of the car up, unscrew the three bolts on each triangular flange holding the manifold and cat' sections together, and remove the two bolts holding the bracket for the two cat' sections against the back of the engine block. Next, unbolt the connector sleeves that connect the cat' section to the silencers. The cat' sections are now out. So that's 12 bolts to get the cat' sections off and about an hour or so's work. If you're taking the rest off, it looked fairly straightforward once I was underneath, the only potential problem would be the manifold bolts themselves, which stand a good chance of snapping during removal due to heat / corrosion. Good luck :thumb:

Ideally you want access to a lift (jack). Even if 25% of your bolts are OK, you should replace them all. How are you getting the mufflers to and from H&S? Dropping them off while-you-wait, or courier? I take it you have a spare car? (or a different kind of lift) I just had a full English breakfast round the corner and let them get on with it. Perhaps my wallet and waistline would have preferred a DIY solution?

£125 + vat if you take them off That is an absolute bargain! I want this done to mine but Sports&Classic local to me want £190 + vat or £300+ if they take them off and do it. Take them off yourself :thumb:

Had my C4S done last year. Got there at 8am, didn't leave 'til 1pm.... They had a total nightmare getting the old silencers off. Let them do it is my advice!

Exactly - remember it's just another car at the end of the day - it'll surprise you how it all comes into perspective once you crawl under it with a few spanners. :thumbs:

Does anyone know of a place in the NW other than Sports&Classic that will do this work so I can compare prices? H&S is a bit of a distance to travel for me. Also what's the website details of oteele given that £350 for a 'convert' against £405 for another set of boxes ready to go is a no brainer

Moss means "Oettle" which is the generic name of this (bridge/PSE1) mod. Markus Oettle is here: http://www.oettle-tuning.de More info: http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=51363

Thanks for the input fellas (and ladies?). Doesn't sound too bad (famous last words) so will prob. have a go at it. If it gets a bit full-on I always have the option of asking my good friend Tomas the Polish mechanic to do it and he'll be a lot less than £200... One thing I didn't ask, I can leave the car in our garage whilst exhausts are away getting 'fixed' but do you reckon it'll do it any harm to start it up and move it about a bit (might have to get the bread knife some fish fingers out)? In answer to Mr GT4 was planning to courier them back and forth (prob similar cost to petrol these days...) and been deliberating over doing the job for eighteen months so not in a rush for a day or two extra. Otherwise may drop them over whilst around that way myself sometime. Cheers

Will be OK, just make sure your neighbours aren't on nightshifts

Whatever you do, DO NOT START THE CAR UP WITH NO MUFFLERS! One of two things will happen: you will go completely deaf, or you will go partially deaf, and then the Oettle mod will sound disappointingly quiet and you would have wasted all that money for nothing.

I did this, same car same year. Using ramps,spray the couplers if there is any of the nut hexegon left or slice with an angle grinder. The upper mounting bolts are difficult a 1/4 drive socket is required once you have them loose.These can shear(I snapped 1) but you can tack a new bolt in place when you get them off. The couplers slide back quite easily after copious amounts of WD40. Have look first and order all the clamps you need first.You may want a set for the tail pipe connections as well.There not expensive. Faced with this again I'd do it myself even if the bill for someone else to do it was only £50.Again,it was to the extreme end of decay,12 years of road salt and rain. Secret is get up high on a pair of ramps,prep. the bolts with WD40 and have all the parts ready for the refit.Plaster the bolts with copper slip during reassembly. Yes I ran it without mufflers and had a drive Has to be tried to be believed! PS I did the mod myself and a friend welded the tubes in for free. All in about for £30 clamps. And buy or borrow some goggles!