Installed all of my goodies!!
06-16-2009, 11:39 AM
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Installed all of my goodies!! So, I had headers, gutted y-pipe, hooker aerochamber, and a racetronix fuel pump sitting around for quite sometime. I finally got the chance to put everything on but not all at once... My headers and the y-pipe were the first to go on. Major PITA but only because when we removed the dipstick tube, we forgot to look to see which hole it was bolted onto in the cylinder head 
So after a few hours of cursing, bending the tube, and some more cursing, (headers and y-pipe were already on) we realized that we were trying to bolt the tube in the wrong place!!! But, by then, it was too late. The tube ended up breaking so we had to fill the whole were it went into the oil pan with a bolt and some silicone sealant lol. Now that that was sorta finished, we moved on to connecting the y-pipe to the I-pipe. It ended up not fitting because it was too short, so we decided to take the cat-back off. Well, whoever had the car before me thought it would be a good idea to weld a freakin flowmaster in place of the old muffler and not put a flange before the axle. So, after taking off all the hangers and what-not, we realized we couldn't get the damn thing off without cutting it. We cut it off and that was done with but I had to drive the thing for a week with open headers... Pretty loud at first, but surprisingly, I got used to it and also didnt get pulled over at all. Finally I was able to take the car to the shop to get the rest finished which ran me about 200 bucks but that was my own fault for not looking into more before I got started. Anyways, started it up and sounded pretty good but sadly its too quiet. Drove it home and noticed it would hunt up and down at idle which I knew had to be the fuel pump because of the horrible grinding death noise it made when being primed. The car was still drivable without many problems until I went on a cruise with a few buddies this past Sunday, where it would hesitate badly and almost die after driving around in stop and go traffic. Limped the car back home to my buddy Kevin's house where we decided to just cut a hole and replace the pump. Luckily this took a lot less time than the headers and was a hell of a lot easier too. FINALLY THE CAR RUNS LIKE A CHAMP!!! Definately can tell a difference with the headers and catback now vs. when it was stock. Now I'm just waiting to get it tuned tomorrow at Rapid Motorsports to see what it will roll out on the dyno. I've had it dynoed before when it was stock with just the flowmaster, and it put down only 286RWHP and 301RWTQ and that was also with old plugs and wires. Can't wait to see what I gained after the mods.
So this ends my rant but anyone who is looking to install headers in the future, just don't make the same mistake I did and not look into everything before you get started.
Oh, btw, I did get a new dipstick tube installed for anyone wondering lol.
So after a few hours of cursing, bending the tube, and some more cursing, (headers and y-pipe were already on) we realized that we were trying to bolt the tube in the wrong place!!! But, by then, it was too late. The tube ended up breaking so we had to fill the whole were it went into the oil pan with a bolt and some silicone sealant lol. Now that that was sorta finished, we moved on to connecting the y-pipe to the I-pipe. It ended up not fitting because it was too short, so we decided to take the cat-back off. Well, whoever had the car before me thought it would be a good idea to weld a freakin flowmaster in place of the old muffler and not put a flange before the axle. So, after taking off all the hangers and what-not, we realized we couldn't get the damn thing off without cutting it. We cut it off and that was done with but I had to drive the thing for a week with open headers... Pretty loud at first, but surprisingly, I got used to it and also didnt get pulled over at all. Finally I was able to take the car to the shop to get the rest finished which ran me about 200 bucks but that was my own fault for not looking into more before I got started. Anyways, started it up and sounded pretty good but sadly its too quiet. Drove it home and noticed it would hunt up and down at idle which I knew had to be the fuel pump because of the horrible grinding death noise it made when being primed. The car was still drivable without many problems until I went on a cruise with a few buddies this past Sunday, where it would hesitate badly and almost die after driving around in stop and go traffic. Limped the car back home to my buddy Kevin's house where we decided to just cut a hole and replace the pump. Luckily this took a lot less time than the headers and was a hell of a lot easier too. FINALLY THE CAR RUNS LIKE A CHAMP!!! Definately can tell a difference with the headers and catback now vs. when it was stock. Now I'm just waiting to get it tuned tomorrow at Rapid Motorsports to see what it will roll out on the dyno. I've had it dynoed before when it was stock with just the flowmaster, and it put down only 286RWHP and 301RWTQ and that was also with old plugs and wires. Can't wait to see what I gained after the mods.So this ends my rant but anyone who is looking to install headers in the future, just don't make the same mistake I did and not look into everything before you get started.
Oh, btw, I did get a new dipstick tube installed for anyone wondering lol.
06-16-2009, 11:51 AM
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ha, seems like fun when you think about all the parts going on at once.....but it turns out to be a bitch...i did FULL bolt ons all at once... slp flo pack-headers-exhaust-sfc-lca-phb-underdrive pullys-wires-plugs pro 5.0 and spec 3...it sucked and took three days. yea same dipstick problem too lol. Now the next step is installing my cam intake nitrous racetronix new clutch tick master gears n other **** i know im 4-gettin...lol that will take a month...
06-16-2009, 06:00 PM
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Congrats man. On my header and motor mount day, the dipstick tube was probably the biggest pain in the ***. You really have to bend that thing up to fit around the tubes.
06-16-2009, 09:55 PM
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Yeah it was a pain but once I got the new dipstick tube, I didn't have to bend anything. It went straight in easily since I knew where it came out of.
06-17-2009, 05:43 PM
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Well, the car was dynoed and tuned today by Mike from Rapid Motorsports (sponsor) and it put down 323RWHP and 336RWTQ. Thats SAE and after tuning. Before tuning, it made 311RWHP and 329RWTQ. It's a 99 A4 with 3.23 gears. I'd say its a pretty nice jump from what it was stock - 286/301.
