I posted on another thread about this and got some good ideas, I just thought I'd broadcast one more time: got the exhaust in this week and will be installing it tomorrow. I know the 3" dp is a very tight fit and was wondering if y'all got any recommendations or tips on how to do this easily? Or is 'easy' just not the right word to use!? Should I worry about shielding the dp from the body? Any ideas or tips would be appreciated, thanks

-Erik

 

It's really not bad at all. What worked for me was cutting into the seam where the firewall meets the floorboard every half inch or so, then beating the seam flat with a BFH. Once the seam is flat you'll have to pound it a little bit more to make room but not that much. I had heard for several years how difficult it was but it's quite easy with the right tools. I cut the seam with a 4.5in angle and 3in air grinder, whichever gave me the best working angle as I moved along the seam. Kinda tough to get a sawzall in there. You can also use a long prybar or crowbar to push the seam back, but be careful what you use as a fulcrum point. And I didn't bother heat wrapping the dp. It could be a place for moisture to be trapped.

 

Mine was a snap... $75 to the guy at the muff shop.

 

rirwin I like that method! Sounds good, my college has a pretty good shop so I'll be going over there in a little bit. I borrowed a 6 foot crowbar from the wind tunnel lab I use so that should come in handy...do y'all think using the bell housing as the fulcrum is a bad idea? I'm pretty sure it's steel, not aluminum, but I should check first I suppose. That sounds like a good method, cutting that seam. I was thinking the same thing about trapping moisture with the heat shield, I'll probably leave that alone as well.

 

Check this link.

http://www.drivetrain.com/downpipeinstinstr.html

 

I used the bell housing and a piece of 2x4 with a small scissor jack. Just be gentle opening it up and yup will have plenty of room. I tried prying with a crowbar and some pipe lengths, but after a couple of slips I was scared i was going to break stuff.

 

Alright, after many hours of pain, I got the new exhaust in. However, the hardest part, by far, was removing the stock dp. That thing was hell. I broke a sawzall in half, sent an angle grinder into my valve cover, and burnt a hole in the firewall insulation in the process. I ended up have to torch the top part off so i could pull a portion of the pancake section down and out. Then all I did to get the new dp in there was stick a 6 foot long crowbar in from the topside of the engine and just jump on it a few times and eventually the 3" dp slipped right in. I don't know what Ford was thinking when they designed that. Really stupid. But I definitely noticed a difference in power, especially at lower RPM's because the turbo really seemed to wind up sooner. I also gutted the cat in the process, a really messy job but worth it; make sure to wear a mask if y'all do it.

I just did a 20K mod too, and I think it's doing something screwy: my gas gauge needle is all of a sudden jittery, moving all over the place. Could putting that resistor in have screwed with that? I'm about to just rip it out, because when I get that DP tuner chip, I doubt they'd want that resistor in there anyway. Pretty cool though how that single resistor can make such a difference in throttle response.