Cascade Crew

DBL_TKE · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 4:57 pm Post subject: Another big brown box arrived...

And it has my name on it too! Twisted Evil

flea · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 5:32 pm Post subject:

What kind of manly box admits to being heavy?

DBL_TKE · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:27 pm Post subject:

Lol, I had a feeling that the Manley packing tape would throw somebody off. This package happens to be from "Dyno Don" Lorentzen. I ordered a set of custom ceramic coated headers and down pipes from him several weeks ago and they just arrived.

flea · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 8:16 pm Post subject:

Those do look nice
Smile

iansane · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:59 pm Post subject:

MMmm.. I like shiny...

izcain · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 8:35 am Post subject:

Nice and shiny!

I always love shiny parts but then it never fails Ill have a valve cover leak or something develope that leaks all over them lol

DBL_TKE · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 12:31 pm Post subject:

Well I figured I should update this as it is now 4 months later and I've finally got these installed. The install was fairly straightforward, thankfully I had no issues removing the old manifolds. Well, except for breaking my Hypertech fan switch. Duh

I removed the AIR box and associated tubing and tucked away the wiring. I left the pump in there for now until I either get a delete pulley or figure out how to reroute the belt. It's nice to be able to see the passenger side valve cover for once! Eventually I want to relocate the diverter valve and coolant hose to an out-of-sight location to try and simplify the look even more.

The passenger side was a bit tricky to get in there. I ended up being able to slide it in from the top but I had to remove the spark plugs, dip stick tube, unbolt the little bracket that holds the coolant hard line to the frame rail so I could bend it out of the way, and I had to stress the A/C box just enough to slide the header in there.

The drivers side was much easier. After removing the manifold, I unbolted the steering shaft and rerouted the brake lines to the outside, as close the the strut tower as possible. The stock O2 sensor wire worked just fine, I just had to reroute that portion of the harness too and slthrough connector for the CTS through the gap between the motor mount and block, that way it can't come anywhere near the primary tubes. I also routed all my spark plug wires under the headers tight against the block and used some protection sleeves. I like the fact that they're hidden and out of the way.

As you can see I was able to retain the alternator brace. I simply used the stock manifold bolt and cut down a spacer to the right length. I will do the same for the A/C brace on the other side but it'll take some grinding on that brace as will interfere with the #4 primary.

Underneath I was able to tuck up the down pipes to gain better than stock ground clearance Very Happy

. I'm pretty excited about this because with my ride height I need all I can get. It was half the reason why I went with the dual cat down pipes rather than the single pipe. The other reason is because it will make it a lot easier for me to convert to true duals down the road. Wink

I also wrapped the down pipe where it crosses under the oil pan to try and reduce oil temperature.

I used Mr Gasket header bolts, and I really like them. They are both an Allen head and hex head all in one, which means I was able to fit an 11mm socket on all the accessible ones and a wrench or Allen socket on the rest.

For gaskets I used Percy's dead soft aluminum stackable gaskets. No review on those yet but they seem nice and I've only heard good things about them, plus they were pretty cheap in comparison to the competition. $30 off the shelf at my local Autozone.

Today I'm getting the 2-1 merge made and the Y-pipe welded up, so hopefully my exhaust will be done by the end of the night ::fingers crossed:: I'm getting sick of these open down pipes already.

redlava · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:24 pm Post subject:

Those pipes look awesome, especially the ground clearance. How were you planning on running duels? Are you going to run a relocated panhard bar to get over the axle? Where would you put both of the mufflers?

Twilightoptics · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:45 pm Post subject:

Looks just like Schultzy's duals. You should run dual with an H in there.

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:55 pm Post subject:

any of those pieces I gave ya end up working out for ya?

DBL_TKE · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 5:45 am Post subject:

Almost finished! It was a lot of work with plenty of cutting and rewelding yesterday. We had to call it a night before we were 100% done. All we have left to do is actually put the final welds on the pipes but the piping is all fitted and hanging correctly. I'm very pleased with the merge that this guy made. I just might come back to him with a few more projects. Here's a teaser.

Just to clarify I am running a single 3" for now. I imagine that in a year or so I will switch to true duals. They will follow the stock routing and be under the drive shaft. I may actually end up running the tail pipes under the axle. Once I get my ride height dialed in there literally isn't enough room for pipes over the axle. The axle tubes hit the exhaust under the slightest compression.

Schultzy89GTA · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 11:43 am Post subject:

Looking good man. Good luck on the rest of the install.

-Schultzy

Al Hasse · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 1:02 pm Post subject:

Looking good, work looks nice.

Be careful with the wrap. Stan, at Stan's Headers, showed the damage to a set of headers that were wrapped. They only had about 1500 miles on them, yet they were rotted through where they were wrapped. The exposed parts still looked brand new.

Twilightoptics · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 1:18 pm Post subject:

Yep. Wrap is ideal for turbos because of the excess heat. NA not needed.

DBL_TKE · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 2:03 pm Post subject:

I've had wrap under each of my band clamps this whole winter and the piping underneath isn't even showing signs of rust. Have you ever splashed water/liquid on hot exhaust before? It evaporates instantly. After talking to a number of racers at the track about exhaust wrap, I'm not that worried. I think itd be more of an issue if the exhaust doesn't get hot enough, like on a drag car.

iansane · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 2:22 pm Post subject:

Or if you didn't DD the car.

IROCDave · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 6:32 pm Post subject:

Man those look nice! Who made the Y pipe and what was the cost for the headers / Y pipe? Any contact with the floor pan / sub frame issues after it warms up and or while driving?

DBL_TKE · Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:58 pm Post subject:

Dyno Don's headers and Y-pipe were just around $700. A friend of a friend did the welding and made the 2-1 merge for me. I paid $100 for him to do his stuff. Clearance is pretty tight around the front right corner of the subframe by the RF tire, the pipe has about .75" of clearance to the subframe, but there is no contact and no rattling/vibration. There's still plenty of space above the pipes to the floor. Enough room to have SFC's, yet they still tuck up higher than the subframe. The lowest part of my exhaust is now my muffler in front of the axle.

DBL_TKE · Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 6:18 pm Post subject:

The ground clearance is awesome Smile

you can barely even see the pipes under the car

Twilightoptics · Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:01 pm Post subject:

Looks good. The only thing I did differently, was the drivers side pipe was run on the passenger side. It worked out really slick, then when you made the run in the back after the over axle, the passenger side header actually let out on the drivers side making it closer to equal length.

Should sound pretty good! So no muffler, just the resonator?