Any tips on removing stock exhaust?

[PunkChild]

Hey guys I just ordered Borla headers and cat-back exhaust for my 96 sport, I was wondering if you had any tips that would make removing the old exhaust easier. If you have any tips, please share them with me. Thanks a lot.
Jim

 

[Ray Lobato]

Hi Jim,
I would be putting liquid wrench on the bolts right now to get them ready to be taken off when you get your headers. I would also go out and buy some mechanics gloves to save your hands. Have a big breaker bar, your gonna need it. Take your time. It is a pain to get the old manifolds off. Make sure your parents aren't around, because your gonna invent new cuss words by the time your finished. Did I mention about getting some mechanics gloves?

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Happy Wheelin'
Ray L.
97 XLT 4X4 4.0L SOHC
Dead Link Removed

 

[xr600boy]

Suport the truck by the frame so the rear is all the way down. This will give you room to take the pipe out from between the axle and the body. You mite have to cut the stock pipe though. Mine was rusted at the resinator(spelling???) so it allmost fell off. Good luck.

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92EB 2wd with chip and Flowmaster catback system, and open air box.

Jim
"The older I get the faster I was."

 

[PunkChild]

I have worn-out quite a few pairs of Mechanix M-Pact II gloves. We use them on the race team I work for, and let me tell you that they have saved me from a few trips to the hospital (sheet metal cuts skin very easily). Anyone who works on their car should own a pair. Right now I have 46,000 miles on my explorer. It's a 4X4, 4.0L OHV with the 5-speed tranny and stock gears. I have a K&N drop-in filter and I have removed the left hand side of the airbox (as opposed to drilling holes in it). I also have 17x8" American Racing Silver Pythons with Dunlop Sport Rover GTX tires. We don't have a whole lot of places to go offroading where I live so I started making it a street performance machine. I am very happy with the mods so far, I'll get back to you on the headers and exhaust when they get installed. I am not as happy with my gas milage. It usually is anywhere between 9-11 mpg in the city, it mostly comes from a lead foot and the fact that I'm 18. Thanks for the reply, and have fun.
Jim

 

[Dignan]

"Stock gears" doesn't exactly tell us what you have. Look on the vin# sticker on the driver's side door and find the axle ratio code. Then look it up in your owners manuel to find out what gear ratio your explorer has.

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If everybody is different, how can anyone be normal?

91 Explorer XLT
4.0L OHV V6

 

[Harry5150]

I just put the Borla cat back in my 97 sport about a month ago.

I first had to use a cut-off wheel to get the clamp off (even after a drenching w/ liquid wrentch) and the slip fitting still wouldn't budge so I had to take the cut-off wheel again and cut a few inches along the pipe toward the muffler from the flange side and spread ot appart to finally separate it.

I also disconnected the passg. side shock and sway bar after putting it on jack stands to get a little more clearance.

Took a lot longer than expected but was well worth it.

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'97 Sport 2WD
Borla Catback / K&N FIPK

 

[PunkChild]

The sticker said the axle code is 41, I couldn't find what it ment in the owners manuel.

 

[jimiday]

Hey Jim,

I can't help you with any exhaust removal tips, but the Mechanix gloves sound like a good one. I also have a 96 sport, I'm having a Borla Cat-back system installed on Wednesday. I took one look at the bolts on the cat and decided to let someone else handle the chore. Let me know how the header project goes, that's next on my list.

Tell me a little about your explorer, how many miles, what kind of mods have you made and are you happy with them? What kind of gas mileage do you get? What's the gear ratio on your sport? This is my first explorer and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. You can e-mail if that's easier. Thanks

Jimi

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1996 Explorer Sport 4x4
4.0L OHV w/auto & 4.10's

jimiday@aol.com

 

[PunkChild]

I found out what my gears are. The axle code 41 means I have 3.27 gears.