Ok, I'm a bit perturbed right now.

I recently purchased some used DE ART pipes from a member as well as an XYZ-Pipe with resonator I was going to pair with them.

I was swapping out my Berk HFC's and Hr- Y-pipe. The Art pipes went on ok, but when the XYZ-pipe was fitted up it was so tight to on the right side that it would not clear the center frame brace and would have been rattling like mad..










Installer holding xyz-pipe while it right front connection does not clear Center bracket/brace for transmission:



XYZ-pipe not bolted up due to lack of clearance of bracket:







Instead I had the HR-Ypipe reinstalled and that is even tight to the body, but at least it clears the mid brace. It does rattle and vibrate as well, ultimately id rather not damage the xyz-pipe, until I figure this out..



Is the xyz-pipe universal between HR and DE? I specified the year of my car when ordering. I just don't understand why this is an issue.

 

make sure that the art pipe on that side is loose when fitting the xyz pipe and try that out.

 

I had this issue when I built my custom Y-pipe. I just took a grinder and grinded off the "lip" of the brace. It's not needed at all in any way. Be sure to paint it after so it doesn't rust.

 

Which lip? The two side rails of the bracket? I reinstalled the HR-ypipe and that still vibrates against the frame.

Im going tomorrow morning to see if they can rotate the left art pipe slightly to the left

 

I had this issue with my XYZ pipe. It BARELY cleared. I mean, credit card width clearance. I'm running ART pipes too. In fact, the straight pipe flange on my XYZ was being hit by the driveshaft rotation. I was pretty much SOL with tech support since i bought it used so I had to do some grinding and stuff to help with clearance. Now I'm very concerned on whether or not the rest of the MD shockwave exhaust is going to fit without any issues since I'll be ordering it soon.

 

Hmm, seems odd, i just fitted my ART and XYZ last week, no clearance issues i noted, i did think it was going to be too close to the floor, but once the bolts were tightened to the manifolds, everything straightened right up nicely.

I wonder if the pipe on that side has been bent in anyway when it was previously fitted, like if the car bottomed out at all.
Was there any rotation with the ART pipes connecting to the manifold?


Footballmania32, i think you'll find it will all fit up very well, there is so much adjustment available if it's needed as well. V-bands are very nice and the exhaust is sectional allowing rotation if required.

 

Well, back to another exhaust shop this a.m.

There unfortunately was not room to rotate counter clockwise nor would it matter, i guess.

Solution: Pry bar to gain clearance on the ART pipe and then for the XYZ, he put a Rubber grommet between the frame and the merge part(there is a smaller cross-bar there) and welded stoppers side to side so it is snug. It's kinda of jimmied to fit, but seems to work.

I can say, that without retuning yet I do feel a marked difference in the lower rpms 2500 and then really picks up more so top end, where I thought my car was lacking. I am impressed and really want to re-tune to see the difference.

Soundwise great under accel, However I really miss the gurgle/Meanness on downshift. It is almost non-existant with the Hemoltz side branches and Resonated xyz...

Oh the smell is horrible, i thought I wouldn't mind, but yeah if a cop is in the area not hard to put two and two together and get pulled over for missing cats.. I'm going to have to invest in the HFC module really soon..

 

Yeah, they're great pipes aright, but i know what you mean about wanting more sound

Sounds like the ART pipe was bent

However, the smell will be worse if your car burns oil and/or if it's running too rich, once you have the A/F tuned, it shouldn't smell too bad, it's just burnt gas

The HFC mod is really nice, and so easy to just clip in, i'm assuming you're running the straight pipe module at the moment?

 

nope, resonated XYZ. Just got back from a little cruise, I really do miss the decel eventhough the sound is cleaner on accel.

I am tuned, for HFC's but there must be AFR/change because my gas mileage since is about 3mpg worse. I didn't think swapping a Y-pipe and HFC's would be that big a difference. Curious my actual AFR's now.

 

Well the Y-pipe breathes a *lot* more, i had a very minor leak on mine because i boo-boo'd the install. Corrected it and end up with the idle rising about 250rpm or so. I had to do an idle air re-learn to get it back down.

So yes, something as simple as this can affect it that way. The HFC is a little louder than the resonator, but i've not had chance to test between mine yet, it might give a bit more sound for you.

 

what's your full set up? Be sure to post up vids..

I have to swap the res for the HFC module, i really can't take the fumes. I don't want my car smelling like an old carburated v8

 

I'll be posting up a little review/experience with pics and vids, but i want to grab the vids before i do so.

Weathers a bit carp up here right now, hoping for better at the weekend and maybe get chance to do all the recordings.

Setup is currently MD 5/16th spacer, ART pipes, XYZ with HFC, stock mid and stock rear muffler. Will swap to XYZ with resonator for testing and measure the sound with a db meter.

 

stock mid and rear? thats going to be a bottle neck in the system. I know others have done it, but..

 

It is, but not too much, it's good for up to 400 brake according to a tuner i know, but obviously gains can be had with the real deal.

Still, until i can manage the shockwave system, this will have to do