Well, the sun came out today, so I backed Muirne out of the garage for the first time in nearly three weeks, called my daughter's boyfriend (a mechanic!), and we installed the ClearImage shorty headers and hi-flow cat.
Because the temperature was still in the low 40's, we worked as fast as was practical and so did not take pictures during the installation.
I will take "after" pics tomorrow or Friday and stick them up here.
The installation went fairly easily, particularly since I realized about half-way through that this was the first time I had ever done engine work on a car that was running when I started.
My helper stood at the ready, and allowed me to work at my own (slow and measured
) pace. The disassembly went quickly until I tried to loosen the catalytic converter backet bolt, which would NOT yield to my kind ministrations.
Brian shimmied under the car and got it loose, and I was then able to get the header and converter out from the top as a unit.
Installing the headers is so easy even a Chemist can do it!
It slid onto the studs perfectly and bolted up easily. The converter went just as well, the aluminum gasket being particularly nice! All in all, we took about 2 1/2 hours, but as I said, I went slowly. As both 82-T/A and 1KulSol posted, the time consuming part of the cat install is removing the donut gasket from the OEM converter. I ran a putty knife all the way around the base to get it started, then used it and a small screwdriver to nudge the gasket off, again simply working my way around the gasket until it (finally) slid off. It did show a surface crack or two, but sealed up quite nicely in the end.
After the installation, we jumped in and took turns driving for about 10 miles. The exhaust note (I already had the Flowmaster 40 muffler in place) is a bit louder and a bit higher in pitch compared to the stock, but quite nice, IMO. As before, at a good highway cruising RPM (2500-3000), it is sweet and low!
I'll post more extensive performance impressions after the weekend, when I can get it out of town and let it loose!
The short drive this afternoon did leave me with one sure conclusion: this mod really lets the engine get to 4000-5000 rpm MUCH more easily. I accelerated from a traffic light and was at 4700 rpm before I knew it.
I apologize for the rather rambling discourse. My bottom line: these headers and cat are easily installed by an amatuer, seem to allow the engine to rev much more easily, and I recommend them to you highly!
Thanks, Dan, Todd, and Brandon (?) at Clear Image for a pair of beautifully executed products for our Solstices.
