Lexmex

This should interest some of you.

Yesterday, I went to Hangar 1, www.hangar1.com.mx, which is a shop that has done the majority of my exhaust work, though my uncle often fixes on the spot issues with leaks or when basic soldering is needed.

Since I have very little doubt this is the first time anyone has done such a modification, I thus have a lot of pictures to share.

Basically, we modified OEM piping that consists of 2.5 inch piping on the areas in front of the main catalytic converter, but not the top manifold, where the two A/F sensors are.

Remember, bad gas destroyed one of my precats and road damaged killed the main cat. I have had countless other bits of damage to the exhaust system from road debris that chip away at the soldering. Mexico ain't easy, but I do like it.

Now, a word about something about the precats. Take a good look at this page on this discussion from our wonderful friends at solaraguy.com with regard to 1MZFE engines.

http://www.solaraguy.org/viewtopic.p...=asc&start=180

Look toward the middle of the pages with the big capital leters.

Apparently, not all 1MZFE engines have precats, but after looking at a discussion in one of my Japanese HyperRev magazines, all 1MZFE Harriers and RX300s have these. However, I have heard from friends in the Middle East that they do not have this type of equipment.

Enough of that.

Does this modification do anything?

I ran this at the track on Saturday night...no real difference in times. In fact for about the past few weeks since my 18.021 second fastest, weather has been warm, track traffic high.

In addition, this afternoon while shopping with my aunt it felt like the vehicle was not getting enough air. I had the same issue during the past week.

However you will all be happy to know not one single CEL in the past 24 hours.

At the end of this discussion, I will go into my reasons for this mod.

Lexmex

Hangar 1 is probably the best exhaust shop you will find in Mexico City. Most of the tuning guys at my track frequent them. I also get some serious discounts.

You know how much all this cost? $1,713 pesos or a little less than $171 USD...that's all.

Lexmex

Well, first thing we do is get it up on the rack at 10 A.M. bright and early.

In this picture, you can also get a good look at this bullhorn air intake mod.

Lexmex

A couple of things about sizes.

On your OEM RX300s, the piece immediately below your exhaust manifolds, i.e., the piping where your precats are is 2 inches in diameter.

In the picture, where the precats were before damage was in the oily area

Now with my new piping, Hangar 1 cannot do any mandrel benting and for the time being can only bend pipe less than 3 inches (though they are fixing that).

Personally, I know there is a performance difference, but for the price...I can't beat it.

Lexmex

Another comparison and the machine they make the piping on is to the left. We will take a look at how they make them in the next few shots.

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The dudes at work.

Here they are examining the rear pipe from behind the engine block. This would be bank 1, sensor 1.

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A rear view of this.

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Let's take a look at the bending of the main piece.

The guy you see in the photo did the previous exhaust work that most of you are familiar with from my car domain site. Another guy did the front portion today, but everyone wanted to assist with this as they thought it was really a unique project given it had never been tried before on an RX300.

Lexmex

Another bending shot.

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And we did a lot of cutting.

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Now with the RX up on the rack, it was time for the install.

I can tell you we had to cut and shape it several times before it was read for install. They had to throw a few pieces out.

Lexmex

Look at this piece of the old pipe. Look how rotted and burned it is.

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Let's start with the rear pipe behind the engine block, then move to the front part and finally to the connection.

Here a picture of the rear manifold and the A/F sensor is clearly in view inside the pipe.

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Another view of the same area. I figure these photos have to be valuable for reference.

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A much wider shot of the area.