Hi folks, I posted this a while back on the LGT forums and figured you guys might enjoy it. This is straight copy/paste, I'll try to skim it in case there are some forum-specific wtf's in there. Anywho, here goes: How Ben (PHATSuby) and First Gear Garage came together to save a challenging TBE install or "Surly expresses his intentions to have BMC/FirstGear manbabies" A while back Ben approached me about using my legacy to test fit his now-highly-vaunted 3" bellmouth down pipe. He was very patient with me (I'm still a total n00b and was unsure what path I wanted to go down) but in the end I hummed and hawed a little to long and he tracked down someone else to get the job done. I stayed in contact with him and eventually pulled the trigger on having him fabricate a catless DP for me (read: begged and pleaded). He was pretty busy so it took a little bit, but it was worth the wait. I wasn't in a gigantic hurry anyway since just an OTS cobb map was holding me over pretty well. Then a $550 Magnaflow deal came along on the LGT forums. So I ended up with a pile of pipes looking roughly like this: Ben was kind enough to offer install service along with the custom fabrication. We met up at First Gear Garage in Eden Prairie, MN after a MN C&C show. The install started a little rough. First Gear is a 1st-come-1st-serve affair so if you show up and there isn't a lift, you just have to wait. Unfortunately for us, we managed to find ourselves queue'd up behind an apparently epic 3.5 hour brake job. I thought for sure that meant the end of my install day. To my surprise, Ben was willing to hang out and wait for a lift to open. That was awesomesauce instance #1. I will hereafter refer to clear instances of awesomesauce with this handy "spin" emoticon: :run: While we were waiting, I cracked the trunk and lined up my shiny new Magnaflow 3" CBE next to Ben's DP (pictured above). Somehow we both managed to overlook the fact that even though Magnaflow (correctly) states all the piping is 3", if it's designed to mate to the stock mid pipe then it HAS to be a 2.5" -> 3". Oops. Ben took a close look at the flange and decided he was not comfortable with the idea of just bolting it up. Not enough surface area to ensure a good seal. For the second time of the day I was certain my install was dead in the water. Not so...
Ben threw out a couple options that I could pursue to make the install happen :run:. While mulling things over I tapped some First Gear staff (Travis) to see if they were willing to lend their expertise and give us some advice on what they might do. We ultimately decided on cutting off the 2.5" flange and piping on the Magnaflow and welding on a new 3" section with a proper 3" flat flange (both of which Ben just happened to have handy :run. Almost without hesitation, Travis started laying out a mock up process and figuring out what kind of gear he'd need to fabricate his way through the challenge :run:. Realizing he'd need a chop saw and First Gear didn't happen to have one in the shop, Travis prompty jumped in his truck to grab one from home :run::run:. A lift FINALLY opened up and were at long last able to get the car in the air to get started on tear down. We hit another snag trying to get the stock downpipe off. Turns out it's incredibly annoying to find enough clearance to get sufficient torque on the bolts for the stock DP. Once again we turned to the First Gear staff to see if they could help us out. Travis came to the rescue again, stitching together a few random extensions and adapters that I've never seen before, coupled with some PB Blaster, a BFH and the Gentle Persuader® and we were off to the races again. :run: While Ben was wrestling with the DP tear down and install up front, my brother in law (also Ben) took care of the rear. Many folks who have started playing with the 5th generation legacy have been saying the stock cans are extremely restrictive, here is why: They're f'n huge. Seriously, I'm surprised they didn't have to cut out sections of the trunk to make them fit. I never would have guessed how far up those suckers actually go... Anyway, we managed to wrestle them off and get the Magnaflows in place: Ben managed to wrangle the DP in place and we were once again left in a holding pattern. It was surprise custom fabrication time!
Travis and Ben worked together to plan exactly what had to be done and mocked up exactly where the Magnaflow had to be cut and at what angle. :run: It was time to hack up a shiny new Magnaflow pipe: Next came a flurry of grinding, polishing, cutting and welding that I still don't fully understand, but I'm glad they did :run::run:: They got it done. If I was smart I would have taken a shot of the 3" section and flange they welded on. But I'm not so I didn't. Anyway, this was the end result:
tl;dr: I can't fabricate my way out of a wet paper bag, ran into trouble with a 2.5->3" adapter due to a common sense oversight. After waiting through an annoying scheduling SNAFU, Ben and First Gear bailed my ass out. Very pleased. I would not hesitate for a second to recommend either Ben or First Gear to anyone in a position to use their services. Thanks guys! Post Install Impressions: The idle when cold is hilarious. I knew I did it right the first time my four year old jumped in the back. As soon as I turned it over I hear, "WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!". Other than that it's actually pretty reasonable as far as full 3" exhausts are concerned. It's very mellow compared to the 3.5"? custom P&L I had on the 07 STi. I can get around town without pissing too many people off and I can snap heads when I'm feeling festive... From what I can gather based on videos of other cars on the LGT.com forums, the biggest difference is hearing the turbo spooling down. It's a little odd. I will say it's just a touch "bright". Not raspy, but a little more mid and high than I'd like. I'm hoping it mellows a little as I break it in. I'm pleased with the sound overall. I'm absolutely thrilled with the additional feedback and throttle response. That's what you're really getting for your money with a down pipe on this particular car IMO. Stage 1 is for the numbers. Stage 2 is for the feel. I haven't felt this connected to a car since my 87 Mitsubishi Cordia (drivetrain wise anyway, chassis is still horrid). Thankfully, this time around I don't feel like I'm firmly connected to a slightly insane midget with a lazy left eye and a nasty low grade pcp habit. Unfortunately, this new feedback has revealed that I am nowhere near as tidy with my footwork as I thought I was. I'll stop short of saying it feels like a new car, more like it finally found it's voice such that I can hear what it's trying to tell me. That kind and quality of feedback is worth the price of admission IMO. Based on what I"m hearing from others, I'm leaving a fair bit of low end torque on the table with the OTS Cobb tune I'm currently running, on top of just being rich. Looking forward to finishing things up but I have at least one other toy to throw on before I go in for a tune.
The tips lined up great in the bumper cut outs. Looks good. Maybe I'll get a chance to hear it sometime.
I tried to get a before and after clip but they both managed to wash out my phone. That's what I get for not checking to make sure it sounded ok before ripping stuff apart. Oh well... guess someone will just have to record it at a tues/fri meet.
Haha awesome thread, and well done! I love the way the setup looks, I'm also looking forward to hearing a sound clip or two
Love how the exhaust looks on LGT. The pictures remind me of the good times we had back when Nate had his install days at his Meineke shop.
Don't be surprised if you see a GI thread for an MNS install day at First Gear in the near future. I really like those guys. If nothing else it's 1st come 1st serve, so we could just descend on the place without warning... :munching:
