Well I am back from my road trip from Omaha, NE --> Phoenix, AZ --> Los Angeles, CA --> and back to Omaha, NE. I had my PPE headers installed while I was in Arizona visiting a few friends.

Almost 4500 miles in two weeks Most miles my car will ever see in any year to come. Have not had any codes for the last 2200 miles and am happy with how the car is performing.

Thanks to both Paul and Eric from the planning, to the install, and getting everything sorted out from the code that popped up after the install.

I will have to add a video here pretty soon with current set up. It sounds a little raspy from the 2000 to 3500 rpm section and I think it is due to no cats and stock axleback. Absolutely no drone at any speed above 50 mph and my friend says you can still hear the deep tone from back side of car. May be a while before I can get good videos up and will have a follow up video after the stock axleback is modified.

I am running the PPE Headers, HKS mid-pipe, stock axle back, and to be installed this afternoon is my Takeda Intake with modified stock axleback.

Pics below on taping job prior to start of road trip and what we came up with as an amusing tape job prior to leaving to California.




We removed the tape and washed the car in Arizona. Just before leaving we re-taped the car and decided to add a little more personality to the car. Everyone found it amusing on the road and gas stations. Had to slowly remove the face as it was getting lifted throughout the California/Nebraska section

 

Sounds like a great trip. There are a lot of people that don't understand the tape as they see it going down the road. I have the clear bra which does a nice job. How long did the install take?

 

Congrats I had a CEL issue after my install it turns out that the instructions were wrong so my shop rewired the o2 conditioner since then no CEL. I am running no cats as well, it is raspy and drony around 2000rpm, after it's all fine. I'm sure if I install high flow cats the raspiness will go away. Looking foward to any videos and/or dyno runs.

 

Congrats on the header and i like the face lolz.

 

I'm so glad everything worked out for you

Lou

 

Taping the car took forever but was well worth it. I actually found that a lot of people in Arizona and some sections of the Cali area knew exactly what the tape was for and in most cases asked me if I was autocrossing the car as a lot of people in that area take the time to tape their cars up for that use.

There were a ton more people in Arizona that knew about the "F" than in Nebraska. Aside from that the reactions to the face on second half of the trip were great.

Install put up a record time for their shop for the install. If I am not mistaken it took under 8 hrs to do the whole install. Just that afterward they found a code and took a while to trace what the source was. Everything worked out in the end though.

I wont be able to dyno unless there is a local dyno event as the local Omaha area is very limited on dyno's. But if there is an event I will try it out and post the results. Will be trying to shoot a video once I get a chance to.

 

Cool story

Do you know what code popped up? And what they did to resolve it?
Thx

 

P0118 - Engine Coolant Temperature Circuit High Input, turned out that when the ground was spliced into the harness it tugged the prong just enough for it to not ground 100%

They allowed the dealer to run full diagnostics on the car just to make sure it wasnt a very technical issue. Dealer denied to mess with the car while in Arizona due to it not being OEM which is understandable but didnt help the situation. Dealer then supplied their 40 pg diagnostic test to allow PPE to trace what the error was.

We took car back to PPE where voltage was tested from sensor to the harness which checked out 100% when touching the pins. So they purchased a new ECT sensor which we installed that Friday afternoon and code didnt disappear. The next day on a Saturday they paid for a tech specialist they know to come by which does their high end diagnostics work to come down and help them trace where the source was as it was hard to pin point exactly where the source was and all that needed to be done is push/pull the pin down in order to make full contact.

Paul or Eric can jump in at any time in case I miss worded what happened. All I know is that they were running around everywhere trying to make sure the job turned out to be a success and I am fully satisfied with the work they did. I even received a few extra goodies while I was around.

 

Additional picture while out in Arizona. Turned out really nice. My friend added some extra effects to the picture when it was uploaded online. I still like it though.




Videos posted below for Youtube uploads. Parts - PPE Headers, HKS catless Mid-Pipe, Takeda Intake, and stock axleback.

Links provided by Youtube from the upload screen. If you would prefer me to provided the link which looks like a "youtube.com//related......" let me know and I will change it. You can also find these videos by searching - slboso41

These are my only 3 uploads on Youtube so far

http://youtu.be/aOj_cij4Q08

http://youtu.be/tD7QT-8od_4

http://youtu.be/xXWNKJzI6G0


Plans are to modify axleback similar to what Lou did with the extra welded pipe. I will also be changing out the Y pipe section in order to open it up a little bit more with a different non-cruppled pipe. Have a Magnaflow Y-Pipe 3 in and 3 out which I will change it out with and potentially change the stock axleback piping to 3 in. Havent made up my mind yet but want to keep the stock mufflers.

Potentially will be buying the HKS rear section later so if anyone in US has one and wants to part with it let me know.

 

i dont know if you guys have ever used "Plasti Dip" but it's awesome. I have used it on all parts of other cars and my roommates Ford Raptor when ever we take it off road. It looks like spray paint while going on but then dries to a plastic residue. It prevents from any rock chips or scratches. When your done with it it just peels off. Great product! especially for track days!

http://www.plastidip.com/

the other great alternative with no maintnance is wrapping the front end with a complete clear auto bra. I did the entire fromt end for $1300. Full hood, full fenders, mirrors, full bumper, headlights, and fog lights for full protection!

this is where I got it done for you SoCal guys

http://www.clear-pro.com/

Good to hear your headers came out well!

 

Thanks for the heads up on the options. I didnt know that plasti-dip came off so easy. I thought it was more of a permanent option. I was going to go with the clear bra option but didnt have money for the quoted price of $1100 due to the headers, mid-pipe, intake, gas, and road trip costs I took on. Little hard to take on at 22 yrs old with car loan and all the other fun stuff life gives you as an adult.

Trip was well worth it and should be done paying trip off by August and be able to start looking into my next project in 2013 for a front lip, CF wald spoiler, and CF rear diffuser.