Changing exhaust is it worth the hassle?

[TERRIBLEHONDO]

Looking for advice from people who have changed there exhaust. Is it worth the risk to break studs to change out the exhaust? Is it better to try it with the engine in the car or out?

[mb911]

iy depend what year car and what you mean by "exhaust" do you mean heat exchangers or muffler?? I am sure some will pipe uo shortly

[fastfredracing]

No need to pull the motor. If the nuts on the studs look very rusty, definately use an oxy/acet. torch. heat the nuts untill they glow, and they will walk right off. This method has always worked for me

[TERRIBLEHONDO]

Sorry about that I was talking about the exchangers. It is a 1978sc the exhaust studs look rusty. Are the hex nuts easy to strip?

[Zef]

No hassles...no gains.

[mb911]

Originally posted by TERRIBLEHONDO
Sorry about that I was talking about the exchangers. It is a 1978sc the exhaust studs look rusty. Are the hex nuts easy to strip?

On an SC there is a huge gain and yes potential for problems. But well worth it. if you have the oxy torch you are miles ahead. I am doing a change over friday morning for a customer and expect it to take 2-3 hours max on an 82 SC

[fastfredracing]

If you lack access to a oxy/acet torch, map gas is about the next thing, although takes a lot longer to heat, and may not produce enough heat to get the really nast ones off. I have several that looked absoultely frightning, and acutally came apart fairly easy with heat. A good set of swivel sockets are priceless in this area. For the nuts that are rusted so badly that they are no longer their original diameter, you may have to pound a smaller socket on them, like 12mm, 7/16", or maybe even 11mm. I think the last set of SSI's I bought came with a bent wrench, and this was also very helpful. I also agree that a set of SSI's and good sport muffler is a great modification for the SC. it really wakes them up, and they get that great old school 911 sound.
Good luck wrenching, may the porsche gods be good to you!

[coloradoporsche]

FWIW, the studs on my 79SC held up fine when I changed my exhaust.

[Scott R]

This may be a "Colorado" thing but I removed mine a month ago to tear my engine down and every nut came right off no problems at all. I did purchase the Pelican tool for getting to the nuts through the exchanger holes and it worked great! Out of car on my stand it was a 10 min job.

[Rick V]

If you are just swapping the HE's for the sound and a little performance, you can just swap out the cat and muffler. That is a breeze and you can taylor the sound you want. I love mine. Stock HE's and the Bursch bypass and muffler.

[jabb]

Heat is your friend

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Replacing the stock SC exhausst with headers and a free-flow muffler produces probably the simplest moderate power increase you can get, and the work is all external.

[schoward]

Question - on 911SC -- Does changing exhausts require a reset of CO. mixture, timing, etc?? Any issues with idling? cold startup, etc?

[m21sniper]

Changing exhaust is it worth the hassle?

On virtually every street car ever sold, yes.