Corksport Downpipe and Mid-Pipe Installed!

[aaronc7]

Had a bolt holding on a heatshield that WOULD NOT come off. Finally took it to an auto place and they played around with it for about half hour and finally got it off. Other than that things went pretty smooth. O2 removal was easy following Corksport's instructions (sprayed it down with PB Blaster...let it set. Then pulled it out a few turns, sprayed some more, screwed it back in, then pulled it all the way out). Some of the bolts are tricky to get to, but with a decent set of tools and patience it can be done. I'm really not that great with cars, I've just been kinda teaching myself along the way. This is by far the most difficult/involved thing I've ever done, surprised I didn't mess something up, LOL. But, in the end makes me feel good, like I accomplished something (and saved money vs someone else doing it!). Still, I really hope I don't have to put the stock one back on for a loooooong time (or ever).

Had a problem with the supplied bolts not being long enough. My gut feeling is the bolts/hardware was designed for use with the stock mid pipe (flanges are a lot "thinner"). Sent Corksport an email to let them know or for them to tell me I'm just an idiot. Went to Home Depot and got some 10mm - 1.25 x 80mm bolts with corresponding nuts and it fits and works great now. I used the stock bolts for the Mid-pipe to CBE connections.

Boost gauge hasn't been giving me totally consistent results, but there's def a 1-2psi boost increase from all of this, especially in 5th and 6th. 2nd is about 15-16psi and 3rd and 4th are at about 17psi. 5th and 6th are around 19psi. The car stuttered/popped in 5th gear at about 5500rpms on the first hard run...I think it may be due to the cold weather....lack of fuel? After it warmed up a bit I haven't been able to replicate it. Overall the butt dyno is happy and I feel there is a definite increase in power. There's a stretch of road I always go to once I put new mods on and I definitely was accelerating faster than I was used to. I had a custom midpipe before going to the full downpipe/midpipe combo.

Still have the stock CBE....fits well with it thanks to the donut gaskets. The sound is about the same, not any louder at idle or startup. When accelerating it just sounds like it has a lot more balls, overall a bit louder/more aggressive when driving. Can't wait to get the Corksport Cat-back!

Being catless smells a little bit....I have a high-flow cat sitting here waiting to get installed. Will probably get that welded in once my cat-back comes in, so I can get my stock exhaust cut and cat welded in at the same time at the muffler shop.

If anyone has any install questions or any other questions just let me know!

Here's some pics

Video Revving and driving away: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dENyHzlgwbw

Just to compare to what it sounded like with just mid-pipe cat removed on same camera/location:

Rev: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOgdesR-42w

Drive by: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flEBZ2GDN48

 

[aaronc7]

To answer your question ericrapp from the other thread...took me about 6 hours for the whole thing. But, I really took my time and like I said I'm pretty much a noob at stuff like this. I also took several breaks to just relax/check email.

 

[Tagkat]

Would you remember how to put it all back to stock if you had too?

 

[aaronc7]

Yeah it's not....complicated to think about it. It's just some bolts etc are tricky to get to. You basically just remove the heatshields and there's 5 bolts on the downpipe. And taking off the O2 sensors (from the downpipe and unclipping the other end)

 

[RXMmazdaspeed]

s*** my PG test pipe didn't come with those exhaust hangers... wish i had them now.

 

[Tagkat]

Yeah my RP doesn't have hangers either. But either does turboxs wonder how much of a difference it makes.

 

[aaronc7]

s*** my PG test pipe didn't come with those exhaust hangers... wish i had them now.

I really think it just helps to make it easier to install. I put it in the hangars first and it just hung there, so it was easy to fiddle around with the the various bolts and stuff. It also saved me from having to run open DP to home depot, lol that would have been interesting.

 

[ericrapp]

Hey found you aaron. nother question, the mating surface at the down pipes flange on mine warped a bit from the weldment'turbo side' this really concerns me and I've thought about two gaskets or re machining . it would be abitch to clamp for milling though . People have talked about exhaust leaks and it sure looks like there is a possibility here . any thoughts

 

[aaronc7]

The donut gasket is jacked up? How bad? Got a pic? Do you have the mid pipe that you could "hold up against it" and see if there might be potential problems?

 

[ZooZoom]

maybe a dumb question, but did you need to purchase a new stock DP housing gasket (OEM) or did the DP come with a new one?

also, the DP flange thickness appears a good bit smaller in certain areas than the OEM unit. makes me wonder if exhaust leaks could become an issue over time?

lastly, did you use any copper gasket goo? or it is a dry fit gasket?

 

[aaronc7]

Not expert but, I've never read anything about needing anything special prior to doing this, and there was nothing mentioned in the (very detailed) install guide from corksport. It just said inspect the oem one and replace if needed. I just reused it, it looked fine to me?

As far as leaks, I hope not! But I dunno if it should really be a concern or not.

 

[Jesse MS3GT]

I thought we had two cats... Did you have the cat removed from your mid pipe?

 

[bykeryder4life]

yeah we do have two cats, on the 2nd pic down you see his stock midpipe next to the testpipe, and you can see where the cat was cut out and str8 piping was welded in

 

[Tagkat]

The stock downpipe gasket is reusable.

 

[Tagkat]

Any special tools you used?

 

[driver311]

You would have felt more gains if you didnt already have a testpipe. I felt a bigger difference doing my midpipe than dp and catback together. Weird but thats just what my butt dyno was telling me. We will see what the real dyno has to say soon.

 

[dkswim]

just ordered DP back over the weekend. hopefully ill get it soon and be able to get it installed before it gets to hot out

 

[aaronc7]

No special tools really. Just what the instructions said. I just used PB blaster instead of WD40. Having different length extensions and a swivel socket helped in some cases.

 

[aaronc7]

One specific little thing I did that I think was a pretty idea was to install the O2 extension and 2nd O2 sensor before putting it up onto the car (corksport DP)

 

[mazdaspeedjay]

Nice i'm looking at getting corkpsorts DP i already have turbo x's test pipe but i really like corksports design and most people don't realize that keeping the gases seperate and having them com together further down is a better design then the funnel method of CP-e and turbo x's. I installed a full turbo x's DP on my friends car. this was at my shop i work for mazda with a lift and all and all from start to having the car running took me two hours total. but i'm by no means new to this i've been in it for 9 years now but 6 hours for someone like you isn't bad at all so for a newb or first timer thats very good plus not having a lift to use i give you props cause i hate working without one on the ground. the O2 sensors took more time to remove then everything but if anyone is interested i did a how to post on how to remove them it's in the how to section. PLEASE KEEP US updated on if you throw any CELS or DTC's for cat converter. my friends car throws them constantly with turbo xs DP evern though X's extended the second bung.