The Installation

Finally, I scheduled the installation for the next day.  At the appointment, the mechanic at the service facility drove the car in between the arms of the lift and then slid them under the car.   With the car up in the air, the factory catback exhaust came off in a matter of minutes by removing a few bolts.

The JIC catback system was ready for installation.

We fitted up the resonated mid-pipe section first and followed up with the installation of the muffler.  The muffler hung in place until we joined the canister to the resonated mid-pipe section.  We quickly discovered that loosening all the straps helped maneuver the exhaust system to achieve the perfect fit advertised by the manufacturer.  With the alignment straight, we tightened up all the bolts.

This exhaust did come into minor contact with the rear muffler heatshield at the most rear portion of the car (but this never came close to making contact with the bumper).  I would not be surprised if this was simply due to production variances in the vehicles.  Rather than bending the heatshield away from the exhaust, I decided to remove it (for a little bit of extra weight loss).  The new exhaust canister was much smaller and was far from the undercarriage of the car, so there did not appear to be any risk in removing the heatshield.