Rebuilt exhaust! Finally, over two years later!

Rush

Member
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91 MX-5, 13 ILX
Okay, so it's not being rebuilt till tomorrow afternoon .. but I'm SO excited that I can't wait anymore to start a thread about it. ;)

Background story:
About two years ago, I went in to an exhaust shop in central Pennsylvania to have an exhaust built. This was at a time when I didn't know how far I was going to be going with this car -- so I was having something built for light to no engine modifications. I walked into the shop with an HKS muffler and a single 2.5" Magnaflow hi-flow cat. My plan was to keep the stock downpipe (both s- and j-pipes), then run the single 2.5" cat, throw on a resonator, and then 2.5" stainless steel piping back to the muffler. I dropped off the car in the morning, and they called me while I was at work that evenng to let me know it was finished. I had prepaid, so I just went and picked up my car after work. Upon actually getting under the car and looking at the exhaust the next morning .. I was stupified to see what the shop had done. They left on the first stock cat (2.25"), then mated up my Magnaflow cat to the stock cat (which expanded to 2.5"), and then just ran NON-stainless piping back to my muffler (which was mounted crooked). There was no resonator. I immediately called up the shop, went in, and told them that what they gave me wasn't anything close to what I wanted, and that I wanted my stock setup put back on. I was FURIOUS. But the shop told me that they 'already got rid of' my stock stuff, so I was stuck with what I had. They refunded a good portion of what I paid -- but still, I was screwed.

Now, two years later, the exhaust is rusting out horribly and it's finally time to put on what my car so desperately needs -- a way to exhale!

Being installed tomorrow is the new Thunder exhaust manifold, a 2.5" Corksport s-pipe (as there's no way in hell I was paying so much $$$ for the GHL for only 0.5"), a single 3" Magnaflow hi-flow cat, a flex pipe, a resonator, and 3" stainless steel piping back to my original HKS muffler. I have all new gaskets and studs for the exhaust manifold and turbo housing -- I even sprung for the APR exhaust manifold studs, since the stock ones just love to snap.

I'm not sure how much HP, if any, I'll gain from this .. but at least now the poor car won't be gagging on it's own fumes. I'm also staying at the shop for the entire time that the work is being done, so I'll do my best to take pics as the work is happening.

So OMFGEXCITEMENT!!! :D :D :D :D :D

*** See post #26 for pics! Wh00t!
 
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Congrats! good to hear that everything is going good for you baby hehe
 
mspHtown said:
just out of curiousity, what are your goals for the car?
I've never had a specific HP goal in mind. I guess my only desire has been to get the car running how I feel it should have been when it was made -- with parts that don't leak, or crack, get heatsoak, fall off, blahblah .. and without the worst tune ever created.

Leavin' for the exhaust shop now!
 
Yippee yahoooooooo!
lol, Congrats! (thumb)

Let us know how it goes...pics and/or possibly a video clip...
 
Rush said:
I've never had a specific HP goal in mind. I guess my only desire has been to get the car running how I feel it should have been when it was made -- with parts that don't leak, or crack, get heatsoak, fall off, blahblah .. and without the worst tune ever created.

Leavin' for the exhaust shop now!

well? it must be done by now??? how'd you make out?
 
Rush said:
Being installed tomorrow is a 2.5" Corksport s-pipe (as there's no way in hell I was paying so much $$$ for the GHL for only 0.5").

Yeah that's good, the GHL starts off at 2.5" at the turbo then flares out after the first bend. I guess to clear the A/C compressor, it's a tight fit. The corksport is 2.4" not that it would make a noticeable difference.
Good to hear that it will be getting done right this time.
 
Okay, so the exhaust shop was only kidding about having the car done today.

But I have to give 'em credit -- they're doing a lot of work, and I didn't realize that the shop closes at 5pm. And cause of classes and traffic, I didn't even get there today till after 2pm. So .. three hours to do ALL that work? Yeah right!

So my MSP is sittin' in their garage, it's exhaust system gutted and in the middle of surgery, haha.

I won't get to the shop (again, beause of classes) till 4:30pm tomorrow. But when I do, I'll have up pics!
 
getting a good and proper exhaust build is for sure one way to liven up a car. such a drag when something isn't done to one's liking even though it has been specified. I can't wait to get mine done.
 
I've got a complete 2.5" turbo back (with no cats) and it's plenty open enough for more than 300HP. You made a good choice! :D
 

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