No bottoming (you sure you put those bump stops in? ) and no issue with rubbing on the fronts even with it down almost an inch. I did freak out for about 1/2 a minute when I first dropped the rear end and saw there was a gap of like a foot between the tires and the body. Then I realized I needed to drop the front.

The ride was pretty rough but that's probably got more to do with the street I was on, my alignment being off, and going from my butt being 3 feet off the ground to only being 1 foot off the ground. Stupid SUV driving habits.

Looks good too. Seems to have really closed the gap on the front.

 

The extension hook is about 3/4" off from what he said. He said that would rotate that pipe around and bring the bend further up under the car causing the end to rotate downward. By the extension coming lower the muffler would rotate towards the front causing the tips to come up. I don't know how that would work since the hanger is a hanger and is going to hold the exhaust in a certain position. Like Brian said...I think he was just bitching because he didn't get to charge me a crapton.

I expect that we can get something worked out. I do solve problems for a living...I am sure I can find a solution to this one. Brian if you don't plan on coming up I will just get the shroud from Westside and throw it in the trunk. We can fiddle with it all and then once we know we are clear then I can just replace it. I can deal with a little melting, but it is starting to show on either side of the exhaust. On top of that it does stick out a little funny because of the broken clips which is why I am going to replace it. I do need to know when you plan on stopping by though so I don't go drive the car.

 

Ryan: Glad everything is working out and the preloading thing worked. Good work Doc for telling us about that. Oh, and I have your bump stops in my trunk, I figured you didn't need them

John: You are going up to the dealer on Thursday correct? Why don't we plan on Thursday night to work on the car then (if that's cool) I can shoot straight up after work and be there around 6:30ish. let me know if that works. That way we can fudge with the exhaust and put the new shrouds in as well.

 

My appointment is at Westside at 11AM Thurs. Then I am heading over to see the Watchman in Solon with a buddy at 4. If Westside can get me done in under 4 hours I will throw my car in the garage and we will be good. If not, we will have to go grab some grub while the exhaust cools. Another buddy is going to come over and give us a hand but if anyone else wants to stop up you are more than welcome. I will also grab some more exhaust hangers so we can work less.

 

Wow... just thinking about how far the exhaust would have to sag for it to hang HIGH in the back, but cause the tips to LOWER downwards.
That would be some flimsy pipe material to create that effect.
That pipe is stiff and the angle at the rear is determined by the hangers (which is why people have installed clamps to compress the grommets and raise the angle at the rear).
Since the rear cat-back section uses 4 hangers, even if the FRONT of the the cat-back (just after the cat) was raised, those four hangers in the rear would keep it pretty much level or else you'll see the very end of the tips hit the shrouds first, NOT the rear of the tips (rear of the tips meaning the part of the tips closer to the mufflers).

Ummm... what?
This guy is obviously trying to find stupid reasons for you to let him work on the car, accomplish nothing, and rape you in labor costs.


But your rotation is limited by the hangers (mostly), which aren't adjustable (without bending them).

 

Getting windows tinted tomorrow at Gordy's. Will post pics after.

 

He said all of that after he said he wouldn't touch my car with a 10' pole. Which was minutes before he burned his finger on the exhaust. And I agree 100% with everything you said. His thought about the front hanger being off causing the pipe to be rotated makes a little sense in the fact that it isn't all the way in and it would rotate the exhaust a little...but the fact that the bolts all line up ok makes it sound like the hanger is just off on an angle instead of it being a problem. The exhaust does hang lower than anything else under the car which is a concern for me so I want to look at that at least and see if maybe he does have half a clue somewhere. Im also going to go pick up 3 more exhaust hanger clamp thingies to be sure we don't need any more.

Also he said that the exhaust is touching the "K member"...whatever that is. I was talking to one of the guys at work and we think he meant the rear cross member. I don't know how that all plays into this but whatever.

Tim...your buddies shop around here somewhere? Think we might use his lift on Thurs?

 

Do this... when you get under there, take that center grommet off and rotate the pipe by hand.
Then tell me if the pipe stays rotated or comes back to where it was.
I bet you all it does is lower the center slightly.

Which isn't unusual with some aftermarket setups.
I'll take a pic of my cat-back when I get home and you can judge if your cat-back is lower than mine.

Not a bad idea.

This is what he is talking about:

Which is possible... but I didn't see it when Steve and I were under there checking for leaks.
Plus, we would have heard that thing rattle against it.
If it is touching, you can loosen the clamp connecting the pipes and slide the middle pipe towards the front (easier said than done) and then reclamp it.

 

So according to the dude...the hanger at position blue is not on correctly. This caused the bend at position red to be at the wrong angle raising the front of the mufflers into the car at position green.

 

I'm not saying its impossible John... but if that hanger was off completely, it still shouldn't have sagged THAT much to cause those kinds of angles to be noticeable.
Remember, the cat also has a hanger which is keeping that middle section up too.
After Steve got the middle pipe connected to the cat, he only needed to raise the pipe about 1" to get it onto that hanger (at least that is what it looked like from my viewing angle).
The available play by not having that one hanger just doesn't add to the angles described.

But that is why you should just go under there, verify everything, and make any tweaks/adjustments that you see fit.

 

I agree...which is why Im getting more of those hanger clamp things.

 

Have you heard rattles coming from the rear?
If it is touching/banging against that "K Member" you really should adjust that.

 

The only rattles I hear now are from the passenger front...probably the A pillar.

 

Hey RK and Jon. Let me know what you guys come up with for AP tuners.
I'm curious what is the advantage of paying $300 to the custom AP tuners for a stock setup, over the maps posted on the Cobb Forum? The car is an 04 MT N/A stock exhaust and setup. Are there any major gains to be had by paying the extra money for the custom tune?

I'm having some personality problems with Jeff at MM. I've never gotten the custom tune that was supposed to be included, but that's partly my fault. Perhaps we can come to an agreement.

 

Since you aren't running any "HP performance mods" Doc I wouldn't worry too much about it.
But if you can still get your free tunes, then go for it.
Always nice to dial in everything so that your car is running well (and I'm not just talking about getting the most HP gains as possible).

Tuning an engine is more than just HP gains, its also engine longevity.
But most people only care to push their motor as hard as it can go and tune it ridiculously.
Jeff's custom map is created with engine longevity in mind and not so much "how much more can I push out of this engine?"
That's why I trust him to do my maps. I know he'll do it right!

 

Unfortunately, I waited so long, he wants to charge me another $300 to get the tune. That's unacceptable. He and I got off to a bad start when I bought the AP (the instructions in the box had a misprint) and he's been downright rude. He's got a monopoly on here and if you get on his bad side, he's just not gonna help you.

 

Yeah... that kinda sucks Doc.
Unfortunately, Jeff's site does say that the custom tunes are for 6 months.

Its like trying to return an item after 2 months, and find out it has a 14 day return policy.
Even though you never used it, policy is policy no matter how much it sucks.

BUT... you would also hope Jeff would be more understanding and give you the 6 months from the time you send your first data.
*sigh*... it sucks either way.

 

I agree and I understand. I also think there's room for compromise. Another $300 is out of the question. We'll see what he does. If he's not willing to compromise, I need to come up with an alternative.

 

Good idea... lets see what Jeff's next move is and go from there.

 

Since I'm not working tonight, I think I'll pull out my starter and check a few things.
It would be awesome if the only problem with our starter is the brushes!
I would gladly pay $15 for brushes versus paying for a new starter.
But knowing my luck, this issue will be shorts in the coils and would require a new starter anyway.

 

Jon...doesn't Jeff mail out the tune and you install it on the AP yourself via USB? If so...wouldn't your first tune from Jeff be workable for Doc?

 

You download Jeff's base map, then he tunes from there.
You could just stay on Jeff's base map like Doc is on now.
And if Doc can't work anything out with Jeff, then I feel Doc should just stay on that map until an alternative comes up.
I've been running fine on the MM base map.

 

gotchya

 

Sorry so late for the update. I dont think the port is sticking as I reset the ECM and took it out and it ran great! Is a frigging blast. There are a ton of twisty roads between here and C-hoga Falls and took her down some. So I turned her off and came back out and drove her to the E-Check the next day and no troubles! Looks like it may have been a quick stick when the car had been first driven after sitting for 4 months.

 

Great news Noel