For those that have installed their own downpipes, what's the ease or difficulty level? I was getting my oil changed today and asked if I could look under the car while it was on the lift. Looks like the upper nut on the driver side is a pain to reach (front of downpipe), especially since I'll be using jack stands instead of a lift. Can you reach that top nut from the top or do you need a socket extension and a swivel?

 

TOO easy... all you need is a long ass extension for the bolts on the manifold

no swivel, and it was on jack stands as well...

 

It is really easy especially for just the downpipe! All you need is a good long extention for that top bolt
Here is a how-to i wrote for the header/downpipe. should help ya out a bit
https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/how-guide-43/how-install-header-downpipe-158475/

 

While this is great for the Supercharged or NA people, it doesn't work for the turbo DP

The DP only has one tight area, and that is the top bolt at the cat-back connection. You will need a long, or maybe two extensions with a swivel joint to get to it. Other then that the rest is easy to get to.
I will admit that I have only done this with a lift, ( several times, for R&D )

 

oops my bad, I didn't notice the section

 

I appreciate the link, but that's not for a SS/TC LNF. Our turbo downpipe has 4 holes on the front flange and 3 holes on the rear flange. Looks like the heatshield is in the way on the upper left nut. Oh yeah, the DP heatshield is different on the turbo too.

The rear flange looked super easy to me. It's just the one nut on the top of the front flange that worries me.

 

found an easy way to get to that top bolt at the catback flange

unbolt the dp from the turbo first, and undo the catback rubber mount at the first bend, then the whole works comes down and you can get to that top bolt with just a socket and rachet, as it is now well away from the floor of the car.

just put mine on last week. also used a small pipe wrench on the o2 sensor to break that free before I lowered the dp, i love a small pipe wrench for o2's works so nice

not a bad job at all

 

^^^ that's what i did



as for a swivel, i did not have to use a swivel to get the top bolt off of the manifold, all i used was an extension!

 

Ok, so I guess the downpipe flange at the manifold/turbo must be easier than it looks.

 

when I looked at that write up and saw a header, my mind boggled

it was then I realized it wasn't for a LNF, lol

 

dp flange is not bad at all with a 3/8 ext and a swivel ext from behind the rack

the other three are cake

 

The hardest part of the install is getting the turbo flange bolts loose. Youll need some long 1/2" or 3/8" drive extensions, prefferably with a swivel feature as it is on an angle. I ended up crossthreading one bolt due to the wierd angle its on and had to have the stud replaced. Be careful, but its a very simple mod to perform. Shouldnt take longer than 30 minutes with the right tools

 

I have a 10" extension and a couple of 4" extensions plus a swivel. It always takes me 4 times longer to do stuff on my car than everyone else, so if it took you a 1/2 hour, it'll be 2 hours for me... lol.