DM,
Its really not a huge job.
Things you'll need:
- Sawzall with 9" demolition blade
- Porta power with duckbill is nice but not mandatory
- Jack
- Jackstands
- If no portapower, long prybar and block of wood
- one good friend
- at least a 12 pack
Jack the truck up and get it up on jackstands, its just easier to work under there with the extra room (youll need it later on). Unbolt the cat and get it out of there (place in trash if possible). Next, remove the insulation from the old DP (save for later) and remove the Tranny Dipstick tube, its bolted to the back of the head and is kind of a bearcat. Now take the sawzall and reach up (from below the truck) as high as you can and make a cut through the old DP. This can be a *****. Be careful not to cut into tranny (ask me how I know
) Once the cut is made you can remove the lower half of the DP, go under hood and unbolt the clamp that holds the DP to the turbo, pull remaining half out through hood area. Now if you have the porta power you can begin "modifying" the fire wall. Just have your buddy place the bill where it needs to expand and pump it up, do this in several locations and try to slide the new DP in and go by trial and error. If you dont have the porta power this is where the short 2x4 and pry bar come in to play. Lay the 2x4 on the upper bell housing/back of head area and put the pry bar on it and bend the pinch weld out of the way, I actually trimmed the pinch weld with the sawzall and used the prybar to make enough room for the new DP. Once you have made enough room (at least 1/4 inch between DP and firewall) then slide the new DP in for its final resting place. Install the turbo clamp, hook up your tail pipe assy, get the trans dipstick back in, let her down off the jack stands and go for a test drive to make sure the DP isnt contacting the firewall when the motor rolls over (you'll know if it is by the unnerving growl through the floorboards). Go back to the garage and commence to finishing off the 12 pack that was part of the original "must have" list.
I re-used a piece of the original insulation from the factory DP and trimmed it and wrapped it around the new DP where it goes by the tranny. Most say this isnt needed but I did it. You can see my DP install pics in "MY PICS" in my sig.
Good luck and dont hesitate to ask if you need more info.
Mike
