It BEGINS!
10:30 am, I creak out of bed... What seemed like something really cool to do.. Suddenly withered with the idea of me on my back for hours.. Of course looking of the 15mm socket that has rolled away to Florida.. Ah the joys of;
ZZP Exhaust. Polished stainless front to back with excellent fabrication. Yea... it's half the price of the other guys.. Good lord Magnaflow.. those drugs must be GREAT.
Word to the wise.. my 1.4 had the resonator. This may be for those super rich LTZ people?? Figure that station #6 had it in the box... it went on. Whats in the box, goes on the car. (Assemb. Line joke).
This had to be CUT OUT on the last bend near the Muffler. Its one piece cat to muffler, so unless you drop the rear axle, you gotta cut it.
Got everything lined up ok. Spent a few hours pulling, bending, and pushing for clearance. No matter what I did, couldn't get the rear pipe tip to line up center in the little cut out in the bumper... Meh. No biggie, but i gave it a go.
Onto the blue hoses. Listen to me carefully. I'm dead serious here... Modern coolant systems are almost all plastic. You MUST USE EXTREME CARE when removing old hoses. I'm lucky because this car is literally right off the truck. If it's a year old, you gotta take it easy , and use something tiny to shove between the hose ends, and the brittle plastic.. break it free best you can before yanking on it.. well at least radiators are cheap these days.
I let it sit for an hour, and it's not allot of fluid. Screen it, and reuse.
Cold air: Huston, we got a problem!!
Wrong coupler. I called DDM, and they have a replacement on the way. Not wanting to re-install the stock, I took some rubber gas hose stock, and rung it around the inlet. It took some.. "Negotiations", but it worked like a charm.
It started to rain when I finished, so I couldn't run around... its only three days old.. Letting this one into the world s l o w l y... LOL
Observations:
ZZP. I got the cat back WITH second cat AND muffler. If you want it right, you gotta work it like clay until satisfied. With band clamps, IT WILL LEAK. BUT, do NOT fear. Run it around for a couple days, then jack it up and re trq EVERYTHING, and it will be leak free.
Blue Hoses: One I sorely didn't want to do, only because a caviler I've been working on was for coolant problems. Easy as cake. Just be careful. The little bleed line from the top of the tank, runs to a multi-fitting tree next to the oil filter. Get the part number now for that fitting, and have one in the glove box. You will thank me some day. Most likely in winter. In the middle of the night. Hundreds of miles from home.
Cold Intake: DDM is nice, but I don't want
their name all over
my motor. Hate that.. A big thank you for the replacement on the way, and having removable vinyl tags.
Next up: Stock mud flaps.. oh hell.. I mean "Splash Shields". I forgot to order them with the car, and the coolest dealer ever is hooking me up with them "super cheap".. less then 40 for the whole set.
At that moment, this car will be completed.
opcorn:
