Okay, so after buying my downpipe over a month ago, I finally got around to getting it installed. I did not do it myself, for I was not capable of doing so. It is just 4 bolts, 2 up top and 2 at the cat, but my car is 9 years old, over 160,000 miles, and driven in PA during the winter. Therefore all of the nuts were shot, and rusted, and not able to be moved by myself while in a driveway. I had a shop throw it on there for me.

After the install, I made sure to climb under my car with my cell phone and take a couple of pictures for you guys So here are these, just note that my cell phone was held upside down and probably angled, so things will look kind of weird.


This is a shot of the o2 sensor, it does NOT angle at the ground like it looks in the image, it actually sits off to the side. You can kind of see my resonator in this picture and how nasty that pipe looks. This is why I opted for the 304 stainless downpipe. I know how harsh winter is on these pipes.


This picture didn't come out too well... apparently my camera didn't want to use it's flash. It's just a shot of the cat.


Here's a shot of the rest of the cat, and up into the engine bay. You can kind of see the piece of stainless flex.

I didn't think to get a shot while my hood was up and where the dp goes in... oh well. I also took pictures of the stock downpipe (with a real camera) to put in the thread why you should change your 3800 dp. When I get those on my computer I'll update that thread.

Now for some thoughts. As of right now I honestly don't feel a difference. Nor do I hear a difference. After I got the car back, I turned my radio off and drove home with the windows open. Opened it up to 80mph, and I just don't feel anything. Maybe it's so slight I'm not noticing? But I was expecting a little more. OH well, maybe after I do ER Rockers + HV3 + the tune it'll come out some more. As of right now, I'm not disappointed in my purchase, because I know it's a good supporting mod, but it's nothing by itself.

Now for a little fun story while I was on my way back to Philadelphia. I was on I-80, about to pass a car i'm doing 65 in a 50. Some white Pontiac G5 comes flying up the right of me, and squeezes in a space that WAS NOT wide enough and cuts me off to go around the car I was passing. I had to slam my brakes when I saw him coming in the mirror because he was going whether he had the room or not. Brakes + Horn + a middle finger, why not. Then I notice this guy gets back into the right lane, as do I, and he exits on exit 304 onto route 33. What a coincidence, that's the way I'm going. It's a 2-lane on-ramp because it's the highway, but it's a very sharp turn. So I take the turn faster than him, and catch up and sit next to him as the turn finishes, I'm going about 50 in the 55 now.

I look at him, and it's not a nice look because of the cut-off he did, and then I see his car jump as he guns it. Well NOW IT'S ON! I put my foot to the floor, caught him and walked on him, had a bunch of car-lengths easily on him when I saw I hit 105, I let off the gas. He came next to me after a little bit, and when we were both doing about 75 in a 55 he just gave me a thumbs up and kept on his way, this is where I settled down to doing 70, as he kept going at 75-80 and that was the last I saw him.

It sucked that he drove like an idiot, but at least he gave me the thumbs up after I destroyed his car. It kind of made up for it

And then I drove to Philly :P

And so far, no codes thrown on my downpipe. I heard after you fill up your gas tank the first time it may throw the code, and I'm filling it up after work today, so I'll keep informed if I throw the code.

 

you will probably start to notice a difference after the PCM learns to run with the new DP and then i would also be you MPG goes up a little nothing drastic though. (when you get back to driving normally) i know what it is like after getting a new mod you tend to pound on the gas pedal alot.

 

I wasn't really pounding the gas pedal, or driving stupid (minus that story) I was just trying to see if I could notice a difference at any rate, but couldn't.

 

Cool man! Please keep us informed about throwing any codes. I still might be interested in doing a ZZP downpipe instead of just doing the u-bend delete. I can't afford to throw a code cause I can't afford a tuner and the software won't work with a mac.

 

So I just filled my gas tank for the first time since installing the downpipe and still no code.

What kind of mac do you have? If it's an intel based Macbook, you can run windows :P

I know I do for some programs

 

When I installed my DP and hi flo cat it threw a code and kept throwing the code. I ended up having to install a O2 sensor delete and that fixed it.

 

Ya, I know I can buy parallels, but unless it comes with a windows OS system, I'm out of luck. I don't know anyone who has Windows XP - and there is no way in hell I am loading Vista on my Mac!

 

Not every car with throw a code with a high flow cat.

If you only need to have the P0420 code disabled, I would imagine that anyone with a DHP powrtuner would be willing to do it in trade for a six-pack. It's pretty easy and takes all of five minutes with a powrtuner.

-Riggs.

 

Oh right.. the legal ways of doing things :P

There was also boot-camp, which I believe on the newer MacBooks it comes pre-installed and you would just need the XP disc. I know I got the first generation MacBook so boot-camp was still you have to buy it first.

 

Ya, I bought my Mac Book Pro a year ago so it didn't come preloaded with Parallels - I'm going to look into it and find both the OS and Parallels on ebay. I used Parallels in my last job and I really liked it because you can run both OS's at the same time.