Holy Smokescreen, Batman!

[Ad Wizard]

Well, after four hours on my back in the driveway, I finally got my MRT o/r h-pipe on.:rockon: Thank God for my air compressor - I don't know how you guys get those manifold bolts off without one.

Pros:
1) Sounds awesome with my Flows! Not as loud as I was expecting, believe it or not. Good, deep tone, with minimal crackling/popping on decel.

2) Excellent quality - it fit perfectly. My only concern was that where the 'H' is, the two pipes just slide together to make the 'H'. The instructions said that it didn't need an exhaust clamp, but I got one anyway.

3) The adjustable 'H' finally let me get my Flowmasters to fit right without having to remove my dampener.

4) Setting off car alarms in my office parking garage! :thumbsup:

Cons:
1) Upon start up and until the car gets warmed up, I'm blowing lots of blue smoke. We're talking a constant haze following me around for a mile or two. I know taking the cats off would make for more emissions, but jeez! I would prefer to let the car warm up in the driveway to avoid this embarassment, but my neighbors would probably start throwing things at me. Is this to be expected with all o/r pipes?

2) The smell. Even after the car is warm, I am constantly greeted by the smell of unprocessed emissions when the windows are down. Again - is this normal?

3) After the time it took to get it on, there is no way I'm gonna take it off just to get inspected. We don't have sniffer tests here in Texas, but I'm pretty sure it will fail a visual inspection. Any ideas?

4) Can barely here the sweet, sweet sound of my blower whine anymore.

All in all, I'm happy with this mod. Feedback, please!

 

[TrueBlueGT]

What you are smelling is mostly the protective oil they put on the exhaust pipe so they do not tarnish during storage/shipping. That will burn away and you won't have the smell anymore.

Now go get a powerstack K&N filter and open up your air intake....you will definitely hear the blower again.
Or at least take your stock intake apart and give that damn snorkel a toss

 

[RGrossman]

I dont think there should be blue smoke blowing out... Thats not good.

 

[Juiced46]

Originally posted by TrueBlueGT
What you are smelling is mostly the protective oil they put on the exhaust pipe so they do not tarnish during storage/shipping. That will burn away and you won't have the smell anymore.

Now go get a powerstack K&N filter and open up your air intake....you will definitely hear the blower again.
Or at least take your stock intake apart and give that damn snorkel a toss

Exactly what he said. The smell you are smelling is the coating burning off. It will go away in a few days. As far as blue smoke, i dont know if that has to do with the O/R pipe. I have an O/R MRT H and my car doesnt smoke at all. Blue=Oil. Have you been consuming any oil? The cats stopped the smoke before, but you may want to look into that. It may be a potential problem that you didnt know about.

 

[Ad Wizard]

Thanks for the responses, guys.

As for the smell, I hope you are right - when I originally put the Flows on, they smelled terrible for a week or so, then it went away. Hopefully this is the h-pipe doing the same thing.

As for the smoke, maybe it's the protective oil as well? Let's hope so. The car has 4,000 miles on it, and has been running perfectly to date. I've only driven it twice since the install.

TrueBlue, the K&N FIPK was on before the car had 500 miles on it.:coolman: Maybe it's time for a pulley, eh?

 

[Juiced46]

when i switched to the offroad H, i had a pulley CAI and catback and i couldnt hear the blower much. Now that i have an Apten i can hear it loud and clear again

The smoke, i really dont think its the pipe. Check your oil level and see where its at.

 

[BoneCrusher]

Originally posted by Ad Wizard
Thank God for my air compressor - I don't know how you guys get those manifold bolts off without one. [/B]

We were cussing in five different languages trying to get those off, especially the top one where you need a swivel socket and a long extension to get to it. I was calling everyone I knew trying to get an impact wrench, but we had to go w/ good old WD 40 and hand tools.

 

[Juiced46]

Re: Re: Holy Smokescreen, Batman!

Originally posted by BoneCrusher
We were cussing in five different languages trying to get those off, especially the top one where you need a swivel socket and a long extension to get to it. I was calling everyone I knew trying to get an impact wrench, but we had to go w/ good old WD 40 and hand tools.

hehe, the passenger side bolts can be a pain. I use a 3/8 ratchet with a long ass extension and a universal. I then slide a long piece of pipe over the ratchet, comes off very easy like that

Also another trick, tape up the universal, this way it wont flop around on you

 

[Ad Wizard]

Man, how did you have room to get a huge extension under there? I put the rear tires up on ramps, but there wasn't enough working room. So I jacked the front up and put cinder blocks under the front tires. Still pretty tight under there, and the whole time I was having visions of the car falling under me. Talk about paranoid - which is why I definately don't want to have to get under there again.

The tape on the swivel trick is a great idea, though.:beer:

 

[CobraBob]

I'm with Dave (Juiced46). I am betting the smoke you are seeing is the protective oil. It should disappear soon. You only have 4,000 miles on the car so I would doubt you're buring oil. Do though, as Dave suggested, check you oil periodically to be sure. If you see ANY consumption get to your dealer, and do it before you get into the more serious mods like a pulley and tune.

 

[CobraBob]

Originally posted by Ad Wizard
Man, how did you have room to get a huge extension under there? I put the rear tires up on ramps, but there wasn't enough working room. So I jacked the front up and put cinder blocks under the front tires. Still pretty tight under there, and the whole time I was having visions of the car falling under me. Talk about paranoid - which is why I definately don't want to have to get under there again.

You haven't seen Dave at work like I have. I swear his body is made of some elastic material. He can fit into areas that I wouldn't dare to try. One funny story though. He was working on a fuel tank and had his head up into the rear bumber area. Yeah, his head actually did fit. LOL! His buddy started to lower the car and the next thing we know Dave is screaming for him to stop. His head was stuck and the car was pushing it down towards the ground. We laughed, but that could have been serious. Bottom line. Dave is very flexible. So if you need work done where there is very little working room, give him a holler! :lol1:

 

[Juiced46]

Originally posted by CobraBob
You haven't seen Dave at work like I have. I swear his body is made of some elastic material. He can fit into areas that I wouldn't dare to try. One funny story though. He was working on a fuel tank and had his head up into the rear bumber area. Yeah, his head actually did fit. LOL! His buddy started to lower the car and the next thing we know Dave is screaming for him to stop. His head was stuck and the car was pushing it down towards the ground. We laughed, but that could have been serious. Bottom line. Dave is very flexible. So if you need work done where there is very little working room, give him a holler! :lol1:

lol Bob, that was an interesting experience. I guess its good that im little lol.

Ad-Wizard, the long extension works fine for me. It all depends on how you route it up to the bolt. i cant think of exactly how i do it from the top of my head, id have to be under the car. But the extension reaches from the bolt all the way to just under the bottom of the H pipe where it bends. Ive done tons of mid pipes so after a while it becomes easier. I swap them out in 30 mins now on my back myself.

 

[hmwave]

Originally posted by Ad Wizard
Man, how did you have room to get a huge extension under there? I put the rear tires up on ramps, but there wasn't enough working room. So I jacked the front up and put cinder blocks under the front tires. Still pretty tight under there, and the whole time I was having visions of the car falling under me. Talk about paranoid - which is why I definately don't want to have to get under there again.

The tape on the swivel trick is a great idea, though.:beer:

Damn Dude! Get some jack stands, cinder blocks can fail.

I removed my stock H with an air ratchet and release oil.
At first the bolt wouldn't budge so I sprayed it with release oil, waited a few minutes and hit it again with the air gun.
Damn nut immediately spun off and the whole H fell and hit me on the forehead.
Doh!
That thing is heavy!