Hey everyone, recently purchased an ark exhaust for my 09 awd sedan. (thank you to Michael @ Tunerz Store - he came through with the exhaust, new rotors, and R2Cs, recommend him to everyone) Looking to do it as a diy instead of having a shop install it. This is my second diy after R2Cs, just looking for any insight or anything to watch out for. It seems pretty self explanatory, but it can't hurt to ask.

Thanks in advance.. also, should the battery be disconnected for the install?

 

1. PB Blaster (not WD-40) on the cat bolts may be necessary.
2. A second set of hands can make it much faster.

everything else is pretty straight forward.

 

^^^What rks said^^^
Those Cat bolts were tough. Some Ramps or Jacks stands. Grease for getting the hangers off and on. AWD might be a little trickier working around the transfer case. Be safe and good luck!

 

^^^ agreed!!!!!
Those cat bolts are hella tough. I installed mine on my 2012 couple weeks ago. I used ramps and it was quite hard to do. And you'll need someone to help you makes your job a lot easier. The right side install went pretty well for me except for the left side I had to use a couple of gaskets to make it fit better.

 

Get a friend to help, makes life much easier. A breaker bar also helps for the cat bolts. They are a huge pita to remove, I actually broke a socket removing them.

 

you guys weren't kidding about those cat bolts. Used gibbs (comparable to wd-40) and pb blaster, both to no avail - i ended up shearing off one of the bolts. to he exhaust from the cats i ended up having to use some kind of heating coil to heat the nuts so the would give. Due to the rust build up, the socket had to get tapped on with a hammer. but after the cat bolts, the rest was pretty self explanatory. And a second person definitely makes a world of a difference. Overall, happy with the exhaust, sounds greatt.

and just some advice for anyone looking to put an exhaust on in the future, try not to wait 2 years before doing it cause rust sucks lol.