Bad times at the ol' exhaust shop

[Goldmember]

I don't have a car until Monday, possibly longer.

Took my Pypes stuff down to be installed today and all went well until one of the studs on the passenger-side exhaust manifold snapped. What happened was, the car had a shitty BBK X and seriously hacked-in Flowmaster 40's when I got it, and whoever put the BBK unit in didn't want to deal with the stock Ford studs (which are a size and design all to themselves) and so they rigged it with some shitty standard stud. Cross-threaded it in the manifold and gave up when it felt like it was tightened all the way- which it wasn't- this explains both my leak and the broken gasket at the manifold.

It's no fault of the shop I took it to- I just want to make that clear- the stud would have snapped regardless of who was working on it.

The good news is that there's still a good amount of stud left in the manifold- it wasn't a "clean break"- the bad news is that the mechanic busted the stud puller last week on another 'Stang (LOL) so he has to get the tool fixed Mon before he can finish the job.

Hopefully I get it back Monday... in exchange for a much, much lighter wallet but it has to be done.

 

[Petek]

argghh i seriously hate when people rig shit up :lame:, my Supra was rigged to hell, it was absolutly rediculous. glad your getting it all fixed though.

 

[Goldmember]

Gonna call him up tomorrow and see what the deal is- two things could screw me at the moment:

1. The Snap-On vendor does not have the equipment to fix his stud puller tomorrow.
2. The manifold itself breaks, or the stud snaps off in the manifold. (With a torch and an air hammer, not likely, but possible) What sucks about this is that the shop I took it to specializes in exhaust only- they can't pull motors- and I'd have to get it taken elsewhere, at a clost of ~$1K, to get that manifold replaced)

Luckily, my brother is letting me use his car to get to work. I'll be tooling around in a '98 Camry for a few days but to thank him I washed it and filled the tank.

 

[94darkhorse]

Sorry to hear about that, some people don't want to do things the right way cause it takes time.

 

[Goldmember]

UPDATE

and the news is all GOOD!!!

Stud was successfully removed from the manifold. Still waiting on parts but I should be back in action tomorrow... that's the only think cblocking the works.

 

[Petek]

Good stuff glad to hear the removal was smooth, hopefully thats all of the suprises ull find with your car O0

 

[Red96GT]

I know that suspense of whether or not you can get that nut off cleanly. When I put took my midpipe off I had a socket, swival, extension, and a ratchet with a 4 foot pipe on the end of it. :hammer: Somehow it came off clean.

Glad everything worked out!

 

[Goldmember]

GOOD NEWS/UPDATE

Car is home.

The shop did a kick-ass job getting it back together- but a word to the group here: PYPES SUCKS for assembly- the X-pipe comes in about 10 pieces and has to be assembled- Pypes gives you crappy band clamps but the shop welded it instead. This led to pipes barely fitting/pieces having to be made to get things to fit right/etc (the band clamp was supposed to compensate for the length difference). Also, the tailpipes barely fit into the mufflers, and the hangers were all in the wrong locations. The hangers for the X-pipe near the trans just weren't there with the kit- so spend the money and get one that comes in one piece.

The sound is good though- Dad followed me home, said it sounded great from behind- it's fairly quiet in the car though. No drone either- both of these are good things to me. I used the Race Pro mufflers.

All's well that ends well, and I'm pleased with the outcome. I just won't buy Pypes again. The prices are decent but you can do much better for another $50-100.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Thanks for the head's up on that! Glad you're back on the road :thumb:

 

[Goldmember]

Yeah man, believe me I'm glad to have my ride back.

The shop did a great job with it, the welds are all very high-quality and he took the time to cut/relocate the hangers as necessary. Pain in the ass for sure but it's done right and that's what I'm concerned with the most.

 

[Red96GT]

You have an auto then right? I had no problems with Pypes with my 5 speed. :dunno:

 

[Goldmember]

Nope I have a 5-speed

 

[Jrgunn5150]

When I went to get my Super 40's welded in the white guy wanted to charge 240 per muffler, just for the muffler's. The Mexican who didn't really speak english did the whole shebang for 260, and did good work too. Irony huh?

 

[Goldmember]

LOL 240 per muffler? Damn!!!

To have my entire manifolds-back system installed, including the fact it was at the shop for several days bc of that stud, it was 320 and the welds are so nice it seriously looks like a damn robot did it.

Amazing how ppl can try to rip you off.

BTW whatever happened with that white Terminator you were eyeing?

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Cops got it impounded right now, as far as I know. The dealer and my house are in an area affected by the wildfires here, so I'm going to check with the on Monday if everything settles down.

 

[Petek]

the welds are so nice it seriously looks like a damn robot did it.

as it should, Stainless is easy weld .
good to hear you got your car back and everything is okay.

 

[916_5.0]

Damn that hella sucks just buy headers lol. Thats cool it can be fixed hopefully it doesnt lighten your wallet too much.

 

[Win]

Gald to hear you got it back yeah i usually always do the work myself on my car i never let anyone touch it. I was looking into buying a welder It's alot easier then most people think it just takes practice. For 300 bucks you can get a nice small Lincoln welder. I am looking into a full bassani shorties and x for now with the stock mufflers.

 

[FUK_N_JUNK]

If you guys were closer I could have helped ya out..... I didnt take 4 years of welding to get my ICAA/LOcal 155 cert for nothing!!

 

[Goldmember]

Gald to hear you got it back yeah i usually always do the work myself on my car i never let anyone touch it. I was looking into buying a welder It's alot easier then most people think it just takes practice. For 300 bucks you can get a nice small Lincoln welder. I am looking into a full bassani shorties and x for now with the stock mufflers.

Haven't welded since high school but I remember MIG welding being pretty easy. TIG on the other hand... lol.

Like you I generally do as much as I can myself or with the help of my dad- but if that stud snapped on me in the driveway I would have been screwed! It was fixed right and at a pretty fair price- can't beat that!