Well, I got done mounting the Corsa's I bought from ZIP on the GP just now and of course screwed something up.
The system mounted just fine, it is a little jacking around since it comes in so many individual parts and I was by myself. I could't quite figure out which way those TORCA clamps are supposed to mount. Read thru the manual point by point, but missed the picture ont he front of the manual showing how they are supposed to be installed. So now I need to rotate them by 90 degrees since the bolt is supposed to be 90 degrees from the slot in the pipe. The bad part about that is that I can't just losen and rotate them because the bolt would be in a place where I can't get a wrench on it. So I need to pull all clamps off again, which is basically taking all the piping apart again to slip them off and rotate them :banghead: :mad :banghead: :mad

It just seems that there is always something going wrong when I install a part and I have to re-do it again......otherwise they sound fine and there was no problem.

Something interesting I noticed, When the system heats up, the tips stick quite a bit more out the back than when it is cold. Stainless steel expands quite a bit more than regular steel. Coming from the interstate after test drive, the tips are about 1/2 inch farther out than when the system cools back down ....... watch yours, it'll do it too ...


[Modified by Alex D, 5:54 PM 10/25/2003]

 

How does the system sound?
Are you happy with it. I just love my FlowMaster's.
Good Luck
tony
:flag

 

They are even quieter than I had anticipated, but being a new system that may change yet. Nice and quiet inside too, actually quieter than the stock system inside the car above 70 mph.
Nice howl when you're wide open.

The Flowmaster Force II was my other consideration. And at $534 at Jeg's and Summit they are a steal. I love the sound of those too, but they are not stainless steel and I just hate the tailpipe design. Additionally because the tailpipes are not exactly parallel, you can't even cut them off and fit tips over the round part of the pipe to make them look halfway decent. Anyway the Corsas will be fine for me.

Thinkin' about a set for my wife's T/A now ;)




[Modified by Alex D, 6:38 PM 10/25/2003]

 

Congrats on a job well done Alex. Sorry for the mishap. Live and learn I guess. How long did it take you? Is the old system all one piece? How hard was it to get off? Thanks Guy

 

Ohh I guess you can get it done in about three hours all by yourself if you keep at it adn on your first try. I spent a lot of time thinking before unbolting how I was going to do it best and took my time. It really helps if you have a buddy helping with it, especially when lifting the center muffler in there and when aligning the entire system. It is just so many parts all clamped together. A lot of wrenching. Those TORCA clamps take quite a bit to toghten down. But I have several floor jacks, so I had the car on two and had another two for moving thys sytem in there.

The old system came out all in one piece and was much easier than I thought it would be. Took me about an hour being very careful. I was most concerned about the slip-fit passenger side to be a problem, but it pulled right apart. You MUST put a jack under the system to support it. Best place is right behind the resonator with a 2x4 in between. This way the system will not slip off when you pull it out. The slip fit is tight and you have to pull it all the way backuntil the bend in the header pipe on the passenger side hits the tunnel/passenger footwell, then lower the system farther until the bend clears the tunnel and it will come right off.
Getting the front driver side flange bolts out is tricky on the upper bolt, you need a deep well socket (All metrics, so be prepared) and a ton of extensions and a flex joint to get the ratchet positioned where the VSS is in the tranny. All bolts on my system came lose realtively easy with the help of a little WD40.
The O2 sensor was another little ordeal. No way to get the connector apart without lowering the system since it has a safety pin and you can't get your hands in there. I also doubt that you can easily remove the old system with the sensor in there as the instructions say because mine is an automatic and the sgear selector lever will be somewhat in the way since it is right behind the o2 sensor when in park. I just losened mine and the wires are long enough to wind up since it is only a couple of turns. I just left it hanging in there and when I screwed it into the new header pipe the wires unwound again. Perfecto.
If I wouldn't have installed the clamps wrong it would have been a perfect install. :flag


[Modified by Alex D, 10:07 PM 10/25/2003]

 

Thanks Alex, as I am looking at replacing my cat back on my 96 LT4 so I am looking for a 2 3/4 inch system. My wife too has my old 94 TA that I made look like a 96 WS6 clone. I changed the stock cat on the TA with a CarSound cat and the stock exhaust is louder and has a deeper tone and it passed the Texas smoog test. :chevy :thumbs:

 

Hi Alex D, On behalf of all of us soon to be Corsa Cat back owners, It would be very nice of you to post a "Tech Tip" article in our tools>tech tips>C4 area.
All of your comments so far are extremely helpful to us. Thanks Bud :cheers:

 

Good idea!!
I wrote a tech tip article that has all my hints in there. Now its up to the moderators to get it posted. Bug 'em so they get it done....it has good hints that will make it easier for all first timers. :yesnod:


[Modified by Alex D, 1:43 PM 10/26/2003]

 

Noticed the same thing on my '96. I just thought that the vette was sportin' wood after I take it out for a romp. :lol:


[Modified by Midgetfist, 9:59 PM 10/26/2003]