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The CSX: September 17, 2006

by on Sep.17, 2006, under CSX

Well, the strut is still on there.  Turns out that the strut rod nut was loose and was somehow pushing the center part of the strut mount up.  Once it was tightened, everything moved back to where it should be.  The strut is shot though and the other front strut isn’t fairing much better.  I am going to try to warranty them.  I did fix the passenger side window and both have stayed fixed for now.  The car developed an annoying missfire/breakup above 3000rpm above 15psi of boost.  I fiddled with a few things and finally replaced the plugs with some new AutoLite 63s, as the AutoLite 64s that were in there had about 35k on them and were really worn.  That seemed to help, but it is still not as strong as it was before.

The 7-year-old exhaust, an original “Jessie Buhr” aluminized 2.5″ system with a Dynomax Super Turbo muffler, has been falling apart for about a year now.  I’ve been patching it as it broke but had ordered a full 3″ stainless system from FWD Performance in the meantime.  Finally the twice-patched muffler simply disintegrated last week, so I decided to install the new system this weekend.

Man, what a chore.  It is by no means a drop-in kit.  Quite a bit of cutting and welding was required, especially in the area around the axle.  My goal was to make a stock-looking exhaust at the tail pipes, so I picked up a Dynomax Super Turbo muffer that has a 3″ inlet and a pair of 2.5″ outlets (p/n 17674).  A pair of stainless 2.25″ 45-degree bends from ATP Turbo serve as the tail pipes (using a couple of 2.5″-2.25″ bushings).  I was quickly reminded that the early 2.25″ swing valve housing on the turbo will not accept the 3″ downpipe donut, so I dug an old 2.5″ downpipe out of the spiderwebs in the corner and happened to have a 2.5″ ID – 3″ OD adapter.  I spent all day Saturday cutting and fitting while trying to clear the spring, fuel tank, and axle.  You can see my beautiful welding technique.  The setup currently has no cat and man is it loud.  I might as well have no muffler at all.  I’m going to have to add a straight-through muffer in the cat’s position to quiet it down (I have a Dymomax Ultra Flo p/n 17296 sitting here).



I also added an additional mount on the brake line bracket, which should keep the exhaust from swaying back and forth and hitting the fuel tank and spring.  It’s a tight fit back there.

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