Well, it's been a rough road...a tunnel if you will and as of last night, there is light at the end in sight! The exhaust sounded awesome...I'm very pleased with that, at least at idle/reving it up. I have yet to drive it so we'll see, but I still think it's going to sound great!

As of today, I'm scheduled to get the car tuned on Friday afternoon by TRT . I have a couple of problems I wanted to run by y'all.

I have exhaust leaks in multiple areas...specifically where the I-pipe meets the Y-pipe and then on the I-pipe at the over-the-axle section. Also, since I have a different I-pipe than stock (shorter to help with ground clearance), it's leaking at the "header style" flange that connects the i-pipe to the exhaust housing. I have a gasket in there, but I'm guessing it's just not tight enough so we'll see...

I don't want to get it welded just because all the crap from the welds will then be in my exhaust system, which means metal shards and shavings tearing my turbo apart. I have u-bolt clamps right now but I thinking that if I get those a little tighter in conjunction with some JB Weld around the seals, the exhaust will stop leaking. Other than being ghetto, is there a problem with that? I would love to buy some band-clamps, but ordering them from summitt could take a few days and that's technically something I don't have.

Another thing, the wires/hoses that come up from the back are too close to the manifolds IMO. I have put insulated/reflective heat tape around them, but who knows how long that will last... For those of you that have experience with running any lines close to the headers, how close can they be before there is an issue? I'm going to take the A.I.R. fitting off tonight and try to zip tie those things further away, but at best, I have maybe an 1-2 inches of clearance. On the bright side, there are other lines running in the same location so I'm going to try to piggy-back off those and thus far, there have been no issues with those melting or anything.

I'm getting my custom FMIC piping welded up today, then I'll clean them up, paint them and bolt them up to the system...I'll include pics once that's done for all you DIY guys. In the end, this was one of the hardest parts to do...FYI.

The oil pump is exceptionally loud IMO, but from what I've read, that's just the way it is. It got a lot better though once oil was flowing through it at a constant rate.

Other than that, I'm basically done! It will be a struggle to get it done by Friday, but I'll no more if that's an issue or not depending on what happens today and tomorrow.

 

Congrats on the STS kit! Did you have any pic of it installed. Once you get it tuned and dynoed keep us informed on the numbers you put down

 

You need to address the exhaust leaks. They will caused inceased spool time and will probably limit overall boost production. You can always unbolt the tirbo from the flange, weld, blow the residue out, and then reinstall the turbine to the exhaust inlet.

Wiring, I ran mine up the top of the trans. No header clearance issues with that. Still running my AIR too. (More out of laziness than anything, but it isn't in the way, so....why bother ditching it.)

Congrats on getting it installed.

 

Well, I was just going to take off the A.I.R. so I could get my hand down there to tie up the wire...not permanently remove it...although I'd like to...stupid emissions crap! Yes, I can unbolt the turbo and such..but I don't want to!! That will be like the 12th time I've done it and I'm sick of it!! Plus, by myself, it's near to impossible to do it...better to have another hand in the mix.

I read about routing it up over the tranny but I didn't really see that happening so maybe I should have looked more. I think I just need to adjust the wires where they're at now to get them away from the manifolds...then I'll check them from time to time to make sur they're not melting or anything!

 

you wont even notice the oil pump after driving a few days... the first time i drove the car untuned, the oil pump was hella loud!! but now, i'm used to it... the exhaust kind of drowns it out.... congrats on your new sts kit!! i'm sure it will be fun!

 

congrats on getting her running, have fun while in BOOOST

+2 on that. thats some hella tq. thats awesome......