Hi, Everyone!
I would like to make a quick posts about my experience with the Stainless Works DP's. (Cattless)
I got to my friend's shop, I planned on using his lift, only to find that there was a car that was missing most of its suspension on the lift. Life has kicked me a bit lately, and every time I had the extra $$ to throw at DP's, life would come in and say, "NOT YET!". There was no way I was going to let the lack of lift access stop me from putting in my down pipes. I can tell you all that it isn't that bad of a job, if you have the tools. I started with jacking the car up and making sure it was stable. I then sprayed all the bolts that were to be taken out with PB Blaster. I suggest if you are going to do this yourself and the car has a good number of miles on it, has gone through Northern Winters (read rusty bolts here) that you will want an electric impact gun. I was very careful using the impact, but it made getting some of those rusted bolts off a lot easier. It took me about three hours from start to finish. The SW pipes went right in. I didn't have much issue at all with fitment and they slid right in. I did pre-install the O2's as well (except the top one, that one is easy to do from the top.) The one tool that was an absolute SAVIOR was a Crow's Foot O2 Sensor wrench. It made getting the O2's a breeze. Over all, I would say it is a 2/5 difficulty rating for a Weekend Warrior.
Now, I have some questions. I read that people put Downpipes on and they decent improvements. Maybe I was expecting too much, or it could be that I haven't had my tune revised yet, but I am not that impressed with the increase of power. I guess the ET's will be the ultimate decider. I'm going to the track probably next Wednesday for some runs and then again on Saturday for Street Heat. Now, I will say the car seems to pull harder on the top end and it definitely has less lag time if you aren't brake boosting.
My question to those that were running 93 OCT tune and installed DP's, how much did your ET's drop? I've read the estimated HP gains at the wheels in other threads, but those were mostly done with stock tunes. I understand there are other factors at play when it comes to ET's such as DA, Fuel, Tune, etc. I am just curious to other people's results.
Wrapping things up, to anyone that is interested in Downpipes, I say go for it. I can definitely hear my turbo's spool faster! I'm just not sure that they were worth the money at this time. Figured I could feel that 12-18 hp difference, but I can't. Maybe my butt-dyno isn't sensitive enough, LOL! Also, the CEL from not having catts is annoying. I went with Cattless because there aren't emissions in FL and I wanted the extra power.
Finally, anyone that is installing OBX pipes or any pipes that need the O2 sensor extension, I have an extra for a 10-12 SHO. Just PM me your address and I'll send it to you.
Edit: Never mind. I understand now what the pipes do for you. I hadn't run the car in the upper gears much. They really give the car more top end. DEFINITELY worth the $$.
