e-man

Well, I guess you could say that the mod bug finally bit me. Well, maybe it didn't bite me so much as it just nibbled at me a little bit. Unless you consider repainting the rear bumper, cleaning the throttle body or polishing the headlights "mods", this would officially constitute my first real mod. I'm like a proud new father.

So, without further adieu, here we go (please give me 10 minutes to upload the pictures before anyone responds):

Before:

e-man

I really, really tried to do this job myself, but I just couldn’t. I sprayed those bolts with WD-40 every other night for a week, and no matter how hard I tugged on them, they just wouldn’t budge. I watched the entire install, and while using the impact wrench to break loose the bolts, 3 of the 4 literally exploded in sparks and shot across the shop floor. There is no way that hand tools would have been able to loosen these things (at least not the tools I was using). Here’s a picture of the actual install.

e-man

And here’s a helpful tip for all of you DIY’ers out there. I think someone mentioned this in the “Who purchased L-tuned exhaust” thread, but it’s worth repeating. I highly recommend you cover the exhaust tips with something soft. Right before we began to break loose the bolts, I suggested that we cover the exhaust tips with an old pair of socks that I had in the trunk. So, just to be safe, I slid a sock over each tip. He first removed the bolts on the left side, but because they both broke off, he just left that side in its original position and went to work on the right side. As he was working on the right side, the left side gave way, and the exhaust pipe dropped down (as did my heart into my stomach). Of course, when the exhaust pipe dropped down, the exhaust tip popped right up into the bumper. Thankfully, the sock prevented the exhaust tip from scratching the paint.

e-man

And here’s an after picture. It’s a little blurry, but you get the idea. I think it’s absolutely silly that all of us are having problems with the exhaust tips being straight. In my case, whereas the right side is near perfect, the left side is significantly lower and offset to the left. This shouldn’t be like this, especially with a product that’s basically manufactured by Toyota. Has anyone determined a fix for this yet? I was thinking of using some heavy duty double-sided mounting tape on the right side of the hook that’s mounted to the underside of the car in order to raise the hanger (which would, in turn, raise the muffler), but I’m not sure how I would go about wedging that in there. Does anyone have any ideas?

e-man

And here is a picture of the remnants of 3 of the 4 bolts. As you can see, one is completely intact, and the caps of the other 2 have sheared off.

e-man

Lastly, here is a picture of one of the old pipes. Can someone tell me how in the heck I am supposed to get that rusty old bolt/nut out of there (remember, the nut is spot welded to the flange)?

e-man

Now for my observations. They sound nice. They are definitely not too loud for anyone who’s concerned about that. The difference is most noticeable at start up and between idle and about 2000 RPM. The sound is a little deeper and throatier. I know some have said there is a break-in period, so I’ll post up more observations in a few weeks after I’ve had them for a little while. I like the way the look much better than stock (provided I can get them to line up).

Kharizma

iTrader: (6)

nice mod where did the bolts come from? were they the bolts that held the Y pipe to the cat? or the ends of the Y pipe to the mufflers?

cliffud

iTrader: (3)

hey Eric... looks great! but - yeah, your mufflers look like mine... kinda lazy eyed...

i've been thinking about adding a rubber piece to the inside section of the hook on the left muffler. this will effectively raise the muffler and thus the tip. What do you think?

c.

e-man

Hey Clifford. Yes, exactly, you would need to add something to the inside section of the upper hook on the left muffler, would would raise the tip up and to the right. I looked under the car tonight when I got home, and the problem is I'm not sure how you can wedge something in there. When you lift the muffler, there still isn't enough room to get anything between the hook and the hanger. I suppose if you had an extra set of hands holding up the muffler it could be done. My only concern about adding a piece of rubber would be that it might fall out. As I said above, I was thinking that you could wrap the inside section of the upper hook with some heavy duty thick double sided tape. If you build up the inside section of the hook, the inside hanger will sit higher, which will raise up the tip and move it to the right.

And, Kharizma, the bolts are from the flange where the muffler pipe meets the main exhaust pipe.

GWELEX

Nice upgrade, not sure how to correct the difference. Still waiting for mine to be delivered. If I have lop sided tips I will respond as to how I may correct the issue.

LEXUS_KID

iTrader: (4)

Is that in Westmont or downtown Chicago E

e-man

I guess the t-shirt gave it away, huh? It's Westmont.

gs4bkny

how did you polish he headlights and what effect did it have??

chuckb

congrats e! good luck getting them even. maybe another member has fixed it somehow before. I would think an exhaust shop could fix that somehow too.