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Monday, April 10th 2006:
I picked up a UPR Catted X-pipe last thursday. It was used, but a great deal. I installed it on Saturday with the help of
a friend. The stock parts came out very easily. I found out I have a set of Magnaflows welded into
the stock muffler location (I had no idea, I'll take the FREEBY!). We got the main piece of the X bolted into the passenger
side header and onto the catback. No problems so far! Then the drivers side header... There are flanges
on the header studs that the exhaust flange hits before the pipe is tight onto the header socket! After some head banging
and a trip to the auto parts store we got it to work. I've since found out that some aftermarket midpipes require the
drivers side header studs to be replaced. I'm still not sure if they are the screw in type or if they are pressed in.
If they are the screw in type I'll pick some up and swap them in so it's done correctly. I don't think the way
it is now will have any problems, but for the price of a couple of studs...The car sounds fine. It's louder than it was, but more high
pitched. It's doesn't sound crappy or raspy or burbly like some other X-pipes I've heard. I Don't expect a huge performance
increase, but a trip to the track will be coming soon to see what happens.
On another subject, I had a tip on a used CAI for a very good price,
but the guy hasn't gotten back to me yet. I'll hold off on buying a new one to see if he comes through.
After the CAI? Gears! I am asking for a set of FRPP 3.73's including install by Lamotta performance. they are one of the best performance shops around, and I
know several people who have had gears installed there without issue.
Thursday, February 2nd 2006:
SCT finally came through. After waiting several months for firmware updates, and some back and forth on their forums,
I've gotten a tune that seems to work pretty well. I've gone with an 87 octane tune for the moment. If it works
well and gets good gas milage, I'll load up with 93 octane and give it a go. Is this the end of the story? Well
maybe the tuner story, but not the mods. I'm looking at the JLT CAI and the De Molet CAI. the De Molet beats the
JLT hands down on price, but the JLT may be the better performer. More research and I'll be ordering soon. I'm
also thinking an X pipe would be nice, more for the roar of the V8 than any performance gains. After the intake upgrade...
Wednesday June 29th:
The tune's all done. The car picked up about 15 HP and 15 torque across the curve. Here are some pictures
of the tuner and the Dyno curve before and after. I'm hoping to get a better dyno sheet soon.
UPDATE: I've taken the tune out of the car for a while. My gas milage fell from about 20-22MPG to about 15-17MPG.
SCT hasn't been alot of help, but I'm still bugging them every few weeks to help me out. Most of the "features" of the
tuner are not available yet either, so I figured it was best to go back to stock until their product was finished.
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