Davan
11-29-2002, 11:07 AM
Installation:
First thing I have to say is, straight bolt-on bolt-off my ASS! The old system unbolts from the cat in 3 bolts. Very rusted old bolts. A bitch to get off. Once those were off, there is a mount in front of the rear drivers side wheel. That comes off easy. And a mount on the muffler. No problem there. HOWEVER. The old system is one entire peice, from the cat to the tip. And there's no damn way it can all be fed through between the axle and the frame to get it off. We had to cut. It would have been nice if it where bolted to the muffler, instead of welded. But that wasn't the case. So Max broke out the grinder.
Once getting the old system off, we easily bolted the mid-section to the cat. Using the gasket provided, plus a little of our own liquid gasket. No sweat.
Again, HOWEVER. The muffler and piping that is to be hung above the axle... NO FREAKING WAY! We could not feed it through between the axle and frame of the car. So what did we have to do? We pushed the car off the ramps, and jacked it up. Put it on jack stands. Figuring we take the load off the wheels it will clear some room. Well it did clear some room. BUT NOT ENOUGH! So what did we do next? We had to completely unbolt the axle to let it drop. THEN there was enough room to feed the pipe through. HOWEVER. We soon found that my sway bar mount on the axle was in the way. So we had to re-position one of the mounts, moving it closer to the center of the car.
The rest was a matter of connecting all the peices, tightening the pipe clamps, and voila! All done!
Fit and Finish:
The piping doesn't fit as snug up against the frame as the original system did. But it's not too bad. My main beef is with the straight tail pipe. It fits too snug up against my bumper. It's melting it a bit. And the pipe clamp at the mount in front of the rear tire, it sits kinda low to the ground, I know I'll scrape it on something...
Sound:
This mutherfucker is loud! Damn! I have no tip yet, so I'm just running with the straight pipe tail. Freakin loud first thing in the morning. I like it. We'll see what the local law officials have to say. I'm going to Canadian Tire at lunch today to buy one of those cheesy bolt-on 5 dollar tips... just so it doesn't attract as much attention. I'll be buying a real tip soon, and get it welded on.
Performance:
When vtec kicks in around 4000 rpms, I can really feel it give the car a kick. Hahahah just kiddin! :D
Really though, I don't know. There could be a difference. It's so hard to tell 5 horsepower... The car may feel stronger, but who knows, my car feels different every day anyways, depending on conditions, temperature, my mood, my car's mood. ;) I guess we'll see at the track and the dyno.
And if you read all that. I commend you. :D
Here's the pics!
http://www.teamimpulse.ca/photos/112802-exhaust
First thing I have to say is, straight bolt-on bolt-off my ASS! The old system unbolts from the cat in 3 bolts. Very rusted old bolts. A bitch to get off. Once those were off, there is a mount in front of the rear drivers side wheel. That comes off easy. And a mount on the muffler. No problem there. HOWEVER. The old system is one entire peice, from the cat to the tip. And there's no damn way it can all be fed through between the axle and the frame to get it off. We had to cut. It would have been nice if it where bolted to the muffler, instead of welded. But that wasn't the case. So Max broke out the grinder.
Once getting the old system off, we easily bolted the mid-section to the cat. Using the gasket provided, plus a little of our own liquid gasket. No sweat.
Again, HOWEVER. The muffler and piping that is to be hung above the axle... NO FREAKING WAY! We could not feed it through between the axle and frame of the car. So what did we have to do? We pushed the car off the ramps, and jacked it up. Put it on jack stands. Figuring we take the load off the wheels it will clear some room. Well it did clear some room. BUT NOT ENOUGH! So what did we do next? We had to completely unbolt the axle to let it drop. THEN there was enough room to feed the pipe through. HOWEVER. We soon found that my sway bar mount on the axle was in the way. So we had to re-position one of the mounts, moving it closer to the center of the car.
The rest was a matter of connecting all the peices, tightening the pipe clamps, and voila! All done!
Fit and Finish:
The piping doesn't fit as snug up against the frame as the original system did. But it's not too bad. My main beef is with the straight tail pipe. It fits too snug up against my bumper. It's melting it a bit. And the pipe clamp at the mount in front of the rear tire, it sits kinda low to the ground, I know I'll scrape it on something...
Sound:
This mutherfucker is loud! Damn! I have no tip yet, so I'm just running with the straight pipe tail. Freakin loud first thing in the morning. I like it. We'll see what the local law officials have to say. I'm going to Canadian Tire at lunch today to buy one of those cheesy bolt-on 5 dollar tips... just so it doesn't attract as much attention. I'll be buying a real tip soon, and get it welded on.
Performance:
When vtec kicks in around 4000 rpms, I can really feel it give the car a kick. Hahahah just kiddin! :D
Really though, I don't know. There could be a difference. It's so hard to tell 5 horsepower... The car may feel stronger, but who knows, my car feels different every day anyways, depending on conditions, temperature, my mood, my car's mood. ;) I guess we'll see at the track and the dyno.
And if you read all that. I commend you. :D
Here's the pics!
http://www.teamimpulse.ca/photos/112802-exhaust