HFC......To install or not to install
Note that many of the people that are telling you how super easy it is or to DIY are also saying that they dealt with the broken or stripped studs, sensors, and nuts, but once you get past that it's a piece if cake if you have the strength of He-Man and the patience of a saint. They're better mechanics than me because IMO those are the very reasons I said it's not so easy. Keep that in mind when determining if it's a job you want to undertake.
Let us know how smooth it goes for you if you do it.
Let us know how smooth it goes for you if you do it.
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From: New Jersey
i did mine. took two attempts. The first one i broke the top bolt through the engine bay right off (stud and all) and stipped the other bolt. Bought a stripped bolt extractor, got it within an hour. Its very easy with the right tools and if your carful. Be carful with the o2's as they are sensitive. otherwise bring a partner to push on your breaker bar and your good. everyone makes it seem harder than it is. always do that hardest part first (the bolts in the engine bay). the worst that can happen is you break one, and cant get the other. then go to a shop knowing you atleast tried your best!
Doing it yourself will cost too much. What happens when you get halfway through and encounter a big problem, like damaging an expensive O2 sensor, breaking a stud off in the manifold, rounding off a bolt, etc? You will have downtime trying to fix the screw up. And in the end you'll likely have to pay someone to fix it anyway. Save your time and money and pay a competent shop to do it so that they are on the hook to fix any screw ups, not you. This is one specific thing where I advise owners not to DIY.
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Joined: Jan 2008
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From: Murrieta CA
The first time around it took me around 6 hours to complete the job. (Almost stripped a bolt from the manifold, had to hammer the socket in a few times before trying to loosen it again).
A few weeks into driving with the Invidia hfc on, I didn't like the sound of the air coming from the bottom of the car leading into the cabin and the raspy sound from the exhaust. So I took it off and replaced my stock ones back on, this time around it took less than 3 hours to complete. So that's the good thing about if you can do it yourself, you always can put it back. I'm sure replacing the stock cats back on is a bit easier because all the nuts and bolts have been un-frozen from the first install.
Kinda ironic is that I'm kindda intimidated to take remove the front bumper, but didn't even hesitated on the hfc install.
A few weeks into driving with the Invidia hfc on, I didn't like the sound of the air coming from the bottom of the car leading into the cabin and the raspy sound from the exhaust. So I took it off and replaced my stock ones back on, this time around it took less than 3 hours to complete. So that's the good thing about if you can do it yourself, you always can put it back. I'm sure replacing the stock cats back on is a bit easier because all the nuts and bolts have been un-frozen from the first install.
Kinda ironic is that I'm kindda intimidated to take remove the front bumper, but didn't even hesitated on the hfc install.
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From: New Jersey
easy easy to take those bolts off.
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WillCo1
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