Just the straps, you have to manipulate it a bit to get it off the mounting tabs. You just gotta mess with it, move the straps side to side ,etc it will come off. I can pm you my cell if you want.
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Thanks for all your helpful advice TT Surgeon. Having exchanged a few messages with someone who was familiar with the process provided some needed insight. I did manage to remove the entire original system. I installed new headers, sport cats, mufflers, and intake. Installing the new cats was more difficult than the originals due to clearance. I ended up cutting a 13 mm wrench down to about 2 inches and then using another wrench in the handle for leverage. I suspect all this would have been easier if I had just removed the bumper.

 

Sears sells a nice , extremely short hand wrench with ratchet action, which is what I use. Doubt removing the bumper would make installing the aftermarket easier (that's usually the easy part), I could see it with removing the stocker(PIA).

 

I did spend a lot of time at Sears and on-line. On my car it was impossible to get a ratchet wrench on the nuts as the studs came out on some of the turbo fasteners causing the wrench to become wedged against the cat body. On the new Fabspeed sport cats there is not enough clearance to get a box end over the top two nuts from below. I tried everything from crowfoot, to open end, to box end, to wobbly sockets. None of it was easy but I finally did find a solution. I do appreciate your help and advice. I am glad I did not remove the bumper but I do think it added some time to the job. I looked at some of the Sharkwerks projects and everything seems to be easily accessible after the bumper, inner fenders, and intercoolers are removed. I will save all that for when I do a turbo upgrade, if I do that. Thanks again!

 

Ahh, the studs backed out, now i see your prob. Congrats on pushing on!

 

Your help and advice was instrumental in my success. I would post some pictures but since I only had the car's wheels sitting on 4x6s there was not much room for an overall view. I did take numerous photos but they are for individual parts with the exception of the intake upgrade. Here is the intake: