So to update.
Midpipe was installed after having to buy the front gasket, but managing to find a brand new one my gasket bin (I love having this crap laying around sometimes... that was a $32 gasket!)... and replacing ALL the hardware because it pretty much all broke. The sound is "OK" for now. Simply based on the fact that AP uses thin wall pipe I pretty much knew it would be a bit to "tin" sounding for my taste but it definitely drops some weight and has a good noticeable power gain over 7K RPM. The pipe reminds me of earlier FB cars w/ mindtrain exhausts, lol.
After a while though I was concerned about the heat shielding (lack there of) on the pipe and the sound so I wrapped the pipe about 3/4 of the way down. It has definitely helped drop the under car temps a bit and the sound is more muffled to my liking. Not sure of any performance gains but it does help to keep the car cooler underneath. I know some people have issues w/ exhaust wrap, but personally I've never had rusting/moisture problems and if the pipe DOES crack... I'll just weld it again,lol. Dyno on that to come...
Got the coilovers on about a month ago. Still need to dial everything in, especially the rear... but its a big improvement. I did however manage to break a camber bolt and proceed to cuss and scream profanities until my head turned blue because EVERY bolt on the underside of this car that I seem to touch is a time bomb.. I will NEVER buy a northern car again, lol..
The front is set at midway soft/hard and rear is at full hard right now until I get the alignment where I want it and can do some more adjustments.
Next is still finishing up the coil system. I still get a random misfire code from time to time as well that I'd like to resolve. That should be done in the next few weeks. Once those are on, I plan to join Brian (TTT) at some point at KDR for some dyno testing.
Here's a shot of the car as it sits now.
06-24-2010, 09:21 PM
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