ScionFred

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If you like your car sounding louder than a Harley with drag pipes and so much exhaust resonance that body sheet metal vibrates with it, move along, this thread is not for you. This is for the guys who want a low restriction 3" exhaust without drawing the attention of every cop within a mile or ____ing off your neighbors so much they won't speak to you.

The solution is so simple. The CXR 4.5" muffler tip comes with an adjustable silencer in it. Simply adjust the silencer so that all the slots are fully open and then wrap the silencer with some fiberglass insulation or muffler packing and re-install it. It still has a nice deep tone but at an acceptable decibel level.

At first I tested with the silencer installed and the slots open. It sounded great but too loud. Next I removed the silencer and that's when sheet metal started vibrating inside the cabin and I rolled the windows up so no one could see the ricer inside. Then I installed some R13 fiberglass and like Goldilocks testing porridge, it was just right. I never bothered testing it with the silencer slots closed since that would be too restrictive, IMO. The silencer tube is about 1.5" ID and I wouldn't want that bottle-necking my exhaust flow.

AV coming soon, stay tuned...

ScionFred

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d51yrOAIPU

CIONIDE

iTrader: (1)

Sounds F'in great, but I'm still stock N/A, so no 3" for me.

asianorange

This... made my day

Mach-box

HAHA, nice job.

ScionFred

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Thanks guys. Getting rid of that tiny 2" pipe between the scuba and axle-back makes a huge difference. It actualy sounds a little better without the packing but it was too loud for my taste.

Machbox, how the ____ do you stand it with the silencer removed? I had so much resonance in the cabin that body panels were resonating.

Mach-box

Man i told you the other day i like it loud. By the way i should be getting everything back today. the transmission went back together the other night and all i pretty much have to do now is pick up my wheels, pipes and fill the transmission... and hope it starts. i will post a new build thread maybe tomorrow. i should only have to get my wheels remounted and get the car aligned. thumbs crossed. my painter and powder coater both stated they would be done by today. i will give you a call tonight if your around.

Mach-box

...apparently no one is reliable....

ScionFred

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You must really like your exhaust then, it's definitely LOUD. I can't wait to see what you've done with the Mach-Boost-Box. From what you've told me, it's gonna be sick. I'll be working very late tonight but you can probably reach me between 7p and 10p.

Mach-box

Alright champ, i will try and give you a call tonight. Always nice talking to you. Good luck with your exhaust and if you decide to get some nice breaks. Let me know what you go with.

madmarx

I won a box of "damplifier pro" in a raffle, enough to cover most of the cargo area and rear seating area floor. Helped out with the resenance but mostly eliminated road noise. Worth the $100 dollars it would of cost. Eventually I'll do all the doors and side panels. It is a little heavy, but weight isn't much of a problem.

ScionFred

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Too F______ true! The custom exhaust shop (Mandrel Bending Solutions) that installed my CXR exhaust didn't install the hi-flow cat as requested nor did they make any requested fitment adjustments . I discovered today that they don't believe in anti-sieze on O2 threads and that when they say "perfect fit" what they really mean is "the s-pipe is hitting the tranny, the DP to s-pipe connection is off and leaking, the hangars are off and we didn't bother to adjust them but we still charged you $125 for an hour's labor, 3 gaskets and an O2 bung". I'm not complaining about the price but I would have gladly paid them double for a good job. Now I have to waste another day off to have them do what I asked them to do the first time.

They also failed to return my oem s-pipe and some hardware so if I want to go back to stock some day, it will cost me over $200 in lost parts to do so. I also spent 1/2 hour on my back today tying up my UEGO harness one-handed with the car on ramps. Something that they could have done in 1 minute while the car was on a lift. Instead he just left the wires hanging loose. Why not I guess? it wasn't his car...

This is why I do 99% of my own work and inspect the other 1%. I've never even had my tire pressure set correctly, ever. Not once in 30 years. Oil changes are simple, right? Yeah, aside from over-tightened oil filters, under/over filled oil level, stripped drain plugs and oil stains on my seats, I've had few complaints...

OTOH, I should mention that the kid from Safelite who replaced my windshield recently did a great job. This was a first for me so I tipped him $10 for his efforts.

Good to vent...

ScionFred

iTrader: (1)

That sounds too labor intensive to me although I'm sure it's nice after it's done.

Mach-box

Damn Fred, that sucks.
well i finally got my piping back from my painter on Saturday morning. so i managed to get the car back together Saturday. i didn't actually get it started till Sunday. and thankfully it started right up. a little rough idol at first, but came right down. i was a little afraid since i relocated the battery. then i took it for a spin and it ran great. the clutch is a little different and it shifts much nicer. but it was a good ride. i hope to get my wheels back today. the guy i gave my wheels to get sandblasted gave me some story about how he wasn't happy with the finish and had to do them again. so i should see them today. if i do, i will start a new build thread.

FromTheOld

ScionFred, I definitely understand what you're going through. I know plenty of people who always go to shops and stuff for work. It's a total waste. It wastes money, and believe it or not, time. They do a crappy install/fix/whatever then you have to come back later when it needs to be done again. DIY is the way to go, but most people these days are too uninformed or ignorant to do it. That, or they're unable to do the labor (due to age or disability or something).

Hope everything goes well though. This whole project for you has been a pretty huge hassle. I have a feeling you might have been happier a long time ago, without the AEM F/IC, lol

ScionFred

iTrader: (1)

I agree 100%. However every once in a while there is an exception. Today I went back to MBS to have my exhaust modified and a different guy worked on my car. I'll be going back to this guy, he does great work.

He adjusted the S-pipe so it doesn't hit the tranny, replaced the mid-pipe flange to flange with a 18x7" resonator, centered it (the CXR wasn't) and added 2 more hangars to ensure that it won't hit the heat shields and rattle. I wanted to take some pics but left my phone at home. It looks and sounds great.

In case anyone is wondering, the muffler packing didn't work out too well. The fiberglass blew out in a few days. I considered using better packing but it's restrictive and would still blow out eventually.

I guess I need to make another sound clip.

Oh yeah, the FIC has been a nightmare for me but seems to work pretty well for others. I do wonder though how much of that is different tolerance levels. I had a fellow SL'er stop by yesterday with his turbo TC and FIC. He's had it tuned 4 times now by P-Tuning and he says it runs great. To start his car he cranks it over for 3-4 secs, stops cranking, it backfires loudly and then starts after another 3-4 secs of cranking. Personally, I couldn't live with that.

FromTheOld

Yeah, I noticed you went back to the shop cause that other guy started posting here. Does the CXR S-Pipe by itself actually fit or not? I noticed that they actually sell a CXRacing S-Pipe seperately and I remember reading here that there was fitment issues, or is that because your setup was modified compared to the stock locations? They seem to be hit and miss between people.

Also, I heard you're getting rid of the FIC (meat factory electronics, lol) and getting the Dezod APR unit. That's pretty awesome. Looks like your turbo build was a lot more expensive then it was supposed to be, huh? Haha. Good stuff, and hopefully this engine management is successful.

ScionFred

iTrader: (1)

I wish I could say how well the CXR S-pipe fits but I can't. The one I'm using has already been modified. The guy I bought it from (Mustb3Ds) said that he had to mod it because his Strup header was longer than the oem header. This might work with the much smaller oem s-pipe but caused the CXR pipe to hit somewhere. Machbox had to mod his because he's using a TC downpipe from TT. I can say that my downpipe matches the oem location perfectly and my Strup-modded CXR s-pipe is too close to the tranny case. IMO the CXR s-pipe would fit better than the one modded for the extra long Strup header.

Good riddance to the FIC piggyhack. I am convinced that FIC fans are living with FIC issues that I simply could not. With the Dezod APR-X1, I will have almost $7000 invested in the turbo setup. I should recover roughly $1000 from the sale of extra/unused items.

If I was smarter I might have stuck to my original plan to boost for ~200whp without a piggyhack. I now know exactly how to make that work but I've gone too far past that point now. The CXR kit is actually pretty close but they made two crucial design errors. (1) a T3/T4 turbo is too big and (2) the MAF tube diameter and flow characteristics have to be identical to oem. The CXR MAF tube is 2.60" vs 2.80" oem and throws everything off, requiring a piggy to compensate. Another mistake was my choice of 440cc injectors. Although the ECU can trim them, it isn't happy about it. 410cc would be much better (maybe TRD knew something I didn't? LOL).

Oh well, it is what it is and you can't take it with you...

coryjames

boost is addicting you probably have as much as i do into boost now fred member when i said buy a full kit? lol we all learn from out mistakes we have all made them i mean i popped a motor before i hit boost with bolt ons. cant wait to see you rocking the inline ecu. i might have to try it but for now i work on suspension time to add a osgilken lsd sway bars and clutch then i will check out the ecu but for now i messed with my tune for about a half hour the other day and now cant get it to stumble like it used to have and afrs are spot on im lucky to have had minimal problems with my fic like others are having. i was thinking about rocking the cxr exhaust for a change i like the sound of it over mine its just a little loud for my tastes you maybe i would have to hear it in person cause vid never does exhaust justice.

ScionFred

iTrader: (1)

Hey Cory, my addiction is getting my box to run like a 250whp oem turbo car. Since all the full kits rely on crappy piggyhacks like the FIC, that's not even remotely possible. Thank God I didn't order a kit from TT. I'd probably still be waiting for a small claims award from a bankrupt deadbeat. I could have bought the $6250 (now $4250) kit from Descendant but that would leave me where I'm at now, only poorer with a crack-prone 304 manifold, internal WG, stock exhaust and oem airbox. Treadstone was the only other option at $4500 w/o EM. There really were no good kits available and even now, the only kit worth considering is Descendant's ver. 2 kit with the plug 'n pray FIC.

My biggest mistake was not following through with my initial plan. A small turbo, 6psi, 200whp and no piggyhack on a $2500 budget is the dream setup for the XB2 and very possible. As soon as I passed those limits the cost rose exponentially and is still growing. Too late to turn back now. The APR-X1 is so advanced that I am fully confident it will deliver the seamless oem turbo performance I'm after. As the zen master said: "we'll see"

As for the CXR exhaust, save your money. I wish I had gone custom instead. It fits but not very well. It sounds nice but custom could sound better. The only good thing about the CXR exhaust is the cost, provided that you can live with it's mediocre fitment and overly loud nature. Modding it to match a custom exhaust will end up costing just as much if not more.

I'm glad the FIC is working out for you. I think it probably works much better with a MT than AT as far as fueling. One problem I'm running into is going pig-rich in PT but a little lean at WOT at the same MAP and rpm. Since the FIC is limited to MAP and rpm, I can't fix that. I think that tuning fuel off the TPS might work better for me but I've already given up on the very limited FIC. The oem ECU uses ~17 different engine conditions to tune fuel delivery so it stands to reason that the FIC is a bit limited using only 2, one of which being a cheesy $5 internal MAP sensor that oems only use as a backup to the infinitely more accurate MAF sensor these days.

Anyway, I'll try to provide an honest, accurate assessment of the APR-X1 during my upcoming testing.