Couldn't find one of these anywhere (probably because it is so simple
) so figured I would write one up since I just did this as part of my HKS Hi-Power Titanium Exhaust install.
Tools Required
14mm socket (9/16" is close enough)
12mm socket (1/2" is close enough)
Ratchet Wrench (I used a 1/2" but 3/8" might work fine)
Penetrating Oil depending on age/miles or strength
Armor-All (you'll see)
Jack and Stands
Step 1
First thing is to get the car on a nice level surface and jack up the rear then support with adequate stands (unless you have a lift handy which would make all of this much easier on you).
Step 2
Next up is to loosen the four 14mm bolts holding the Y-Pipe to the stock cats - these are only torqued to about 40 ft-lbs so it shouldn't take too much effort - if things look bad down there you might try some Liquid Wrench Penetrating Oil or Aerokroil.
Step 3
After that loosen the two 14mm bolts holding the Y-Pipe to the mid-section - this one was a little tight getting the socket in there - I had to use a lower profile socket instead of a deep one or you could fish an extension over the center bracing to reach it if you had to.
Step 4
Then loosen the four 14mm bolts holding the muffler to the mid-section - one side note, I simply can't believe how rusty the flanges are on this: the car is less than a year old and only has 2,800 miles on it - to have that much rust just seems unacceptable.
Once I knew that I had all the bolts loose, I then worked from the muffler forward to take everything off - I read a post on here that said the installer found it easier to actually remove the supporting brackets and then take the rubber braces off rather than try to yank the pieces out while the braces were still on the car - since I was going to be installing a new setup I decided to follow these guidelines because they made the most sense to me.
Step 5
So, first up was to completely remove the 4 bolts holding the muffler to the mid-section that you loosened above in Step 4. Then you need to remove the three 12mm bolts holding the left bracket on, the three 12mm bolts holding the right bracket on, and the one 12mm bolt holding the left-rear section of the muffler. These are all shown in the pics below.
Nothing really just dropped off once things were removed, I had to wiggle the muffler a bit to get it to drop down - this is the heaviest piece of the stock setup but can easily be handled by one person. Should look something like this once you get it off.
I then used Armor-All to spray on the supports to get the rubber to slide right off - great for keeping those pieces in good condition.
Step 6
The mid-section is also supported like the muffler by two brackets held on with 12mm bolts.
Remove these and the 2 bolts loosened above in Step 3 so that you can pull the mid-section out to get this.
Step 7
The Y-Pipe has no such supports so simply remove the 4 bolts loosened before in Step 2 and it should come right off like this.
Summary
That's pretty much it as far as removing the stock CBE - putting on a new one is fairly easy - you just start at the cats and work your way back to the mufflers - I basically installed the new setup with bolts hand-tightened and then gradually tightened each joint to the recommended 40 to 45 ft-lbs. Overall, this was one of the easiest mods I've done myself - none of the bolts are difficult to get to and they are not torqued to Herculean levels.
Hope you found this DIY helpful - please let me know if anything needs clarification or correction. Thanks!