Anyone modify a Kooks TD?
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,869
Likes: 99
�� $4k in damage!!, I might just take that **** off! I’m impressed with the clearance of this system but I’m afraid to lower that bar 3/4”. Then my guy tack welded my system last week when he installed it, so when I showed up with these new mufflers he wanted to die! This was supposed to be a budget exhaust now between all the labor and these new mufflers I’m in deep��..... Can I go back with my stock torque arm with these duals.
So there are many parts under these cars that can possibly hit something if we decide to add custom parts while at the same time lowering these cars about an inch and half.
My solution will be to raise the bracket up by modifiying with a flat bar steel piece replacing the 1 inch tubing. Then I won't need the spacers. Even so all of the other parts I pointed out above will still be lower than the BMR bracket.
Lastly, I live in a normal neighborhood with normal driveway inclines. I can't drive my Corvette GS into the garage without scraping the front air dam and valance. It is stock height from the factory.
I don't like it, but it is what it is. Eventually I will replace the valance if it starts to look bad or breaks.
It's a risk we take when we modify our cars or drive cars that don't have a lot of ground clearance.
Perhaps the poster who had $4k of damage will respond telling us what he hit than caused the damage and the parts that were damaged.
I bought my car already lowered and I have no clue how much. I couldn't get a solid answer on stock height when I raised it back up either. The car drove but had tones of issues, so I started with a new motor, trans, driveshaft, and exhaust. Suspension was next. I was just trying to break in my clutch, trans, and breaks. The road I went down two days earlier on normal lanes swapped traffic to construction lanes so I didn't know to avoid it. My driveshaft loop caught on a water pipe sticking up in the middle of the lane over a crest. I was worried as soon as it came out from under the other car, but I couldn't go around it with traffic coming the other way. Ripped off loop, snapped the new drive shaft, bent the BMR torque arm, crushed my custom 4 muffler stainless dual exhaust and bent up the passenger floor. I have raised it with new coilovers, and fixed everything but the exhaust. I'm driving it around with open headers to break it in while I save money to redo the exhaust.
Well my exhaust guy is gonna put some thick washer underneath the bracket and try to get it off the exhaust some. Hopefully that and new magnaflows will help the noise and vibration alot
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,869
Likes: 99
Get longer grade 8 bolts too to account for the extra 1/4 (if you use two washers) on each side.
BTW, the washers were before I made the spacers.
New mufflers installed, and 3 washers took the relocation bracket off of the exhaust system to stop that vibration throughout the car. These mufflers are like night and day, the cabin is almost quieter than my old Hooker cat back system. The note is very tame but strong at idle and aggressive under throttle. I could not be happier because initially this exhaust system droned so much it made me nauseous. Now if someone could tell me if it takes two hours and $200-$250 to set a pinion angle?
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,869
Likes: 99
New mufflers installed, and 3 washers took the relocation bracket off of the exhaust system to stop that vibration throughout the car. These mufflers are like night and day, the cabin is almost quieter than my old Hooker cat back system. The note is very tame but strong at idle and aggressive under throttle. I could not be happier because initially this exhaust system droned so much it made me nauseous. Now if someone could tell me if it takes two hours and $200-$250 to set a pinion angle?
Some of these cars are very critical after doing mods such as adding k members, solid motor mounts, different transmission cross member, the wrong transmission isolater etc. I had a Yank tranmission mount that along with the UMI k member thru my tailshaft off by 3/4 of an inch. So I had to raise the tailshaft by that amount to keep the front u joint from vibrating.
If the front tailshaft is too low even by a 1/2 inch they will vibrate on the front.
So yes, worst case scenario can take some time when adjusting pinion angle to try to get rid of vibration and save your ujoints.
But, you can buy the angle finder at Harbor Freight for less than $10 along with some cheap BA wrenches. An you will need two sets of drive on ramps.
*******************************
Drive the car on ramps, making sure the suspension loaded and NOT unsprung.
You will need four wrenches - two 15/16 inch, one 1 inch, and one 1 1/8 inch if adjusting the BMRTA013.
Follow the BMR TA instructions or the Spohn TA instructions. Find a friend to help you.
I set mine at -1 degree because I don't race or street race.
You can buy all of the stuff above and still save money if the shop charges that much.
Note: some can adjust the car at the track simply by knowing the number of turns on the adjusting nut for each degree of angle they want. So it does't have to be on jack stands or level, etc if you keep track of various angles and the number of turns for street setting vs drag strip setting.
Spohn, BTW, sends along an angle finder with their kit, BMR did not.
Last edited by dlandsvZ28; Nov 30, 2017 at 03:56 PM.
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Verdad Gallardo Find a new shop. The only way it would take two to 2 1/2 hrs is if you adjusted it, set if on the ground, drove it, wasn't right and put it on the hoist again and kept doing that until you get it right.
Some of these cars are very critical after doing mods such as adding k members, solid motor mounts, different transmission cross member, the wrong transmission isolater etc. I had a Yank tranmission mount that along with the UMI k member thru my tailshaft off by 3/4 of an inch. So I had to raise the tailshaft by that amount to keep the front u joint from vibrating.
If the front tailshaft is too low even by a 1/2 inch they will vibrate on the front.
So yes, worst case scenario can take some time when adjusting pinion angle to try to get rid of vibration and save your ujoints.
But, you can buy the angle finder at Harbor Freight for less than $10 along with some cheap BA wrenches. An you will need two sets of drive on ramps.
*******************************
Drive the car on ramps, making sure the suspension loaded and NOT unsprung.
You will need four wrenches - two 15/16 inch, one 1 inch, and one 1 1/8 inch if adjusting the BMRTA013.
Follow the BMR TA instructions or the Spohn TA instructions. Find a friend to help you.
I set mine at -1 degree because I don't race or street race.
You can buy all of the stuff above and still save money if the shop charges that much.
Note: some can adjust the car at the track simply by knowing the number of turns on the adjusting nut for each degree of angle they want. So it does't have to be on jack stands or level, etc if you keep track of various angles and the number of turns for street setting vs drag strip setting.
Spohn, BTW, sends along an angle finder with their kit, BMR did not.
Some of these cars are very critical after doing mods such as adding k members, solid motor mounts, different transmission cross member, the wrong transmission isolater etc. I had a Yank tranmission mount that along with the UMI k member thru my tailshaft off by 3/4 of an inch. So I had to raise the tailshaft by that amount to keep the front u joint from vibrating.
If the front tailshaft is too low even by a 1/2 inch they will vibrate on the front.
So yes, worst case scenario can take some time when adjusting pinion angle to try to get rid of vibration and save your ujoints.
But, you can buy the angle finder at Harbor Freight for less than $10 along with some cheap BA wrenches. An you will need two sets of drive on ramps.
*******************************
Drive the car on ramps, making sure the suspension loaded and NOT unsprung.
You will need four wrenches - two 15/16 inch, one 1 inch, and one 1 1/8 inch if adjusting the BMRTA013.
Follow the BMR TA instructions or the Spohn TA instructions. Find a friend to help you.
I set mine at -1 degree because I don't race or street race.
You can buy all of the stuff above and still save money if the shop charges that much.
Note: some can adjust the car at the track simply by knowing the number of turns on the adjusting nut for each degree of angle they want. So it does't have to be on jack stands or level, etc if you keep track of various angles and the number of turns for street setting vs drag strip setting.
Spohn, BTW, sends along an angle finder with their kit, BMR did not.
TECH Junkie
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 3,051
Likes: 716
From: Poplarville, MS
New mufflers installed, and 3 washers took the relocation bracket off of the exhaust system to stop that vibration throughout the car. These mufflers are like night and day, the cabin is almost quieter than my old Hooker cat back system. The note is very tame but strong at idle and aggressive under throttle. I could not be happier because initially this exhaust system droned so much it made me nauseous. Now if someone could tell me if it takes two hours and $200-$250 to set a pinion angle?
Sure thing.........NitrOmm posted his experiences with various mufflers on page 3 post #50, and sound clips of the Magnaflow 12219 in post #52 and #55. This made me go with Magnaflow 12219, I replaced the SE bullets with them and I am extremely satisfied.
TECH Junkie
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 3,051
Likes: 716
From: Poplarville, MS
New mufflers installed, and 3 washers took the relocation bracket off of the exhaust system to stop that vibration throughout the car. These mufflers are like night and day, the cabin is almost quieter than my old Hooker cat back system. The note is very tame but strong at idle and aggressive under throttle. I could not be happier because initially this exhaust system droned so much it made me nauseous.
Where did you get your mufflers installed at? I got a pair of Magnaflow 12219 and took them to a few muffler shops in Gulfport, MS. And they all said that they could not install those mufflers in place of the SE bullets. New Orleans is not that far. I would be willing to run over there if you feel like the shop that did yours did a good job.
Last edited by bbond105; Feb 9, 2018 at 01:42 PM.
TECH Junkie
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 3,051
Likes: 716
From: Poplarville, MS
After going to several exhaust shops I my area and having them tell that the Magnaflow 12219 mufflers would not fit on my Speed Engineering TD kit, I decided to try to install them myself. I will say that this is not as simple as cutting the Speed Engineering mufflers off and bolting the Magnaflows on. The case of these mufflers are 14” long and the Speed Engineering mufflers are a little less than 12” long. I had to cut almost all of the inlet and out let pipes off of the Magnaflow mufflers to get them to fit and weld them in place. I am not a professional welder and having basic cutting and welding tools, this took me around 6 hours to complete, but it was well worth the hassle. I finally have the sound that I have been looking for. The Magnaflows gave the exhaust a nice deeper tone and you can now have a conversation in the car without having to raise you voice. There is no rasp or drone at any RPM or speed. I am sure that these mufflers would have the same effect on the Kooks or TSP TD exhaust kits.
After going to several exhaust shops I my area and having them tell that the Magnaflow 12219 mufflers would not fit on my Speed Engineering TD kit, I decided to try to install them myself. I will say that this is not as simple as cutting the Speed Engineering mufflers off and bolting the Magnaflows on. The case of these mufflers are 14” long and the Speed Engineering mufflers are a little less than 12” long. I had to cut almost all of the inlet and out let pipes off of the Magnaflow mufflers to get them to fit and weld them in place. I am not a professional welder and having basic cutting and welding tools, this took me around 6 hours to complete, but it was well worth the hassle. I finally have the sound that I have been looking for. The Magnaflows gave the exhaust a nice deeper tone and you can now have a conversation in the car without having to raise you voice. There is no rasp or drone at any RPM or speed. I am sure that these mufflers would have the same effect on the Kooks or TSP TD exhaust kits.
I read all the posts in here lots of good info. I have the TSP true duals and just ordered the magnaflows. I want to try and figure out a way to be able to install these with the ability to switch back and forth with the bullets that came with it. Oddly enough fresh after my install the drone was holy ****, but the more I drive it the less there is, maybe it is just me. I went from an adjustable borla system which wide open was decent, fully closed it was to quiet and raspy. Bought the borla when the car had stock cubes and it was amazing, but behind the 408 stroker it lost that amazing sound. Trying to find that balance with a true dual setup is a pain in the *** on these cars.
Teching In
Joined: Jul 2018
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From: Maryland
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Joined: Oct 2008
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From: Anaheim Ca.