O2 Housing/Downpipe

So I was graciously given an ATP O2 housing down pipe. This is one part I did not make. The difference between this down pipe compared to the normal down pipe is that this one attaches to the turbo housing, while other ones attach after the O2 housing. The one I received has pluming specifically for the waste gate which is to prevent turbulence to the exhaust flow.

A couple of pics on the O2 housing down pipe.


This is no easy install, took me a total of 5 hours. When first installing the down pipe I had an exhaust leak coming from the band clamp for the waste gate, I removed the band clamp around making sure it is fully wrapped around and had re torque the band clamp. I am also trying to reuse all of the heat shield components, but noticed that some of the threads that hold the heat shield were on the O2 hosing. Because the bolts can not all be installed to hold the shield it is causing a rattling noise, which can be heard inside the cabin. I am currently debating on keeping the heat shield on.

Although the install was a pain, the down pipe does fit in nicely. Power difference is very noticeable, boost comes on stronger, and there is a slight increase in exhaust noise. By the way I must note that I am still running the stock catalytic converter. I am trying to really strive in keep pollution to a minimum. The factory catalytic converter does have a higher load of precious metals compared to any aftermarket catalytic converter and should be able to handle the additional of horsepower which can and will increase the rate of HC, CO and NOx. Maybe especially on NOx you may see a increase since its endothermic due to the increase of boost.

Upper Intercooler Pipe

So the Upper Inter Cooler Pipe (UICP) is a part I wanted to make right when I bought my car. Its fairly simple there is already after market replacement parts readily available. If you don't know what the UICP is here is a picture of it.

The reason why people like to change this particular part is that the rubber pieces would expand like a balloon under boost by changing them to hard pipes throttle response is allot crisper and smoother power response and is known for power gains also.

I must confess to something, when I bought the car I did buy an aftermarket UICP from a manufacturer that allot people seemed to buy from on the evoxforums, the fit was very good, it came w/ nice t-bolt clamps and all the hardware to install. The problem I found was that the gauge of aluminum used to make this pipe was pretty thin and using t-bolt clamps on them you have to be careful and not over torque them otherwise you may end up have oval pipes. Also if you don't tighten them enough you can get boost leak fairly easy. There was such little room for error. Also what I thought was funny is that most aftermarket pieces for this UICP is that they redo a part that is already a hard pipe. To me it seems like a waste of money. Below I point out what I'm talking about.


So instead of redoing the hard pipe piece, I decided just to make the replacement pieces for the rubber parts.


Part started off from 2 pieces of aluminum 2.50" 45deg bends. Cut and bead rolled ends.


Pipe welded up and silicone hoses attached.

I have been asked what the sizes of the hoses are. The one to the left is 1.75" to 2.50" transition piece and the one to the right is a 2.50" straight connect.


Installation of the final work, but plans on getting it painted is soon to come.

Cold Air Intake

I made a Cold Air Intake (CAI). This particular part always seems so debatable for turbo cars. The debate always seems to be that air that is drawn in doesn't need to be cool because the intercooler job is the take out the heat. Others say that CAI have shown horsepower gains. For me, I believe it can't hurt and it would mean less work for the intercooler.

The problem with making a CAI system on newer cars is that they have a Mass Air Flow (MAF) meters and to make a decision of removing the metering housing and replacing it may offset the Air/Fuel (A/F). The MAF has been calibrated for the housing it comes w/. By changing the size or even trying to match the size of the original MAF housing it will throw off the reading and can make the A/F lean.

So I decided to keep the MAF housing stock to keep the A/F in check. The pluming started off as a 3.00" mandrel "U" bend



This is the drawing that I did on Solidworks. This drawing shows what it will look like when its all said and done.



Tack welded the pipe together.


Fully welded and welds grind down.


Bracket welded to the intake.


Painted with wrinkle paint


Product installed and ready to race.


Location of where the filter sits.


No dyno results have been done, but on the freeway it pulls hard. Intake sound has increased in noise. All in all fit and finish has been perfect.

Inlet pipe for the turbo

So I decided to make the suction pipe for the turbo inlet, this particular part is made of hard plastic/rubber and has bellows which is good for twist and motion absorption, but bad on fluid air flow.


This part was no easy task to replicate, w/ help from a member on the evolutionm forums I was able to get the angles of the pipe needed.



The part started off with a 3.00" aluminum "U" bend.


Drawing parts on Solidworks is just awesome, also I must thanks my brother Sam who got me the program Snagit, it sure is helpful for blogging.


Design it on Solidworks I was able to print out 1:1 scale pattern mark my edges so I would have near perfect cuts and angles on my pipe.


This is the mock up of the pieces, so far so good.


After all the welding and grinding this is what I came up w/, I would say its very close to the original. What do you think?


And here is it after its all said and done with paint and all.



I would say I could not make a better inlet pipe, or even buy one. the fit and finish is pretty dang good.

Exhaust time w/ the EVO X

So I have been given a muffler to try out from Flowmaster called the Hushpower dBX. This muffler is different in design compared to allot of mufflers out in the market today. Flowmaster has been around for 25years and has dominated the Muscle car market and never really struck and accord in the import market. So what sets this part apart from other mufflers, is that this muffler has a perforated cone shape tube. When the hot exhaust gas enter into the muffler and expands, the angle (specifically calculated) on the cone disrupts the turbulent gases to control it.

A picture below shows the inside of the muffler and what I'm talking about


So the project started off w/ some building materials: a few mandrel bends, stainless steel 3.00" flanges, some hangers and a 4.00" single wall tip.


So I tried to keep the bends as minimal as possible to not cause much disruption, but honestly we are probably talking only 0.5-1hp loss if I were to use 90deg bends, but luckily I only had 15deg bends to work w/.

Below is a pic of the set up. In the picture I decided not to use a resonator to quite down the sound alittle more.





So I finished mocking up the exhaust and drove it home. The sound of the exhaust is not loud to my ears, although I still have the stock catalytic converter and the stock down pipe which allot of people w/ EVOs seem to replace it w/ higher flowing parts. But the sound is very mellow, the cool part of the muffler is that when you whomp on the throttle the sound it cut where you can barely hear it. It definitely lives up to its name.



To optimize my exhaust system I decided to make this Hushpower more like Stealthpower. So I picked up some VHT Flameproof header paint at a local autoparts store, not only will this make my exhaust more sleeper, but the coating will also help keep the heat within the exhaust system. Keeping the heat within the exhaust helps keep the velocity of the exhaust pulses. I like to used lava as a good example of how keeping the heat will keep the velocity up. When lava is exposed it will travel slowly, but keep lava in a insulated tube it will travel quickly. A simple formula for ideal gas laws pV=nRT. In this equation as Temperature is up so too is the Volume.


The only down side to this paint is that it take 7 days to cure. I also installed a resonator also.

The final complete exhaust system