H3OIndra

I installed a Gibson cat-back on my '04 X this past weekend. Here are a couple of things I learned that might help the next newb install. I searched when I was having problems and didn't find any info so who knows, maybe I'm the only one that had any problems.

As found in some other posts, the hardest part was getting the old exhaust off. Once that was done the install was a piece of cake. The instructions from Gibson are no help at all for getting the old exhaust off. All they say is to remove the stock exhaust at the rear connector.

- You're going to want an open or box wrench set for the removal, a socket wrench isn't going to fit in some cases for the clamp removal.

- Don't unbolt the rear stock hangers, you're going to use them. Just remove the prong from the rubber connector.

- You may need to wack the rear brack with a hammer or a pipe a few times after it's unbolted to break the seal caused by heat or corrosion.

- Here's the biggest tip that would have saved me a bunch of tugging, hammering, and swearing. Drop the spare tire and get it out of the way so that you have side to side wiggle room to help bring the stock exhaust back and off the connection. There's not enough up/down wiggle room and there's no way I could have gotten it off just pulling straight back. I struggled with getting the stock exhaust off for a couple of hours and was about to give up and pay someone for the install before I figured out I need to get the spare tire out of the way. As soon as I lowered the spare tire out the stock exhaust was off in 5 minutes.

I think that's about it. For those of you who haven't done a cat-back mod yet, I highly recommend it. You should particulalry go for it if you already have an aftermarket air intake installed. The two paired together (I've got the K&N) transform this machine into a very sweet sounding beast. I traded my Mustang GT for this X and as soon as I got it I knew I would miss the grumble of the GT engine so went straight for these mods on my X. Granted, it'll never sound or feel like a GT V8 but it's definitely enough to make me grin. I spent a bunch of time researching online before picking Gibson and am very happy with my choice.