While I am working on the gauge cluster I started working on the exhaust as well . Right now I am tacking everything together until I can get it to my friends garage . From there I will TIG everything up . One thing I can say is a MIG with stainless wire does greatat welding stainless steel . I was able to tack the V-bands on to the cat. conv. , resonator , and get the piping all the way to the rear axle today . The down pipe and flex pipe have to have a little work done to center them up with the tunnel . Hopefully I will get that taken care of with a 90* which I have cut to form an offset to line everything up . Bad thing is now I have to order another 90* for the rear of the car . To install 3" pipe in a Cavalier I found it necessary to remove the heat shield . I see that the gas tank is pretty close to the new pipe so I will fix that with some header wrap on the rear section .
I will get some photo's of the exhaust out of the car . But I will post those once I get the down pipe finished and have it attached .
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Have you run your car yet?
No that is why I am getting all of this stuff finished . The exhaust and gauge cluster is coming along great . Even with the fact that I have to work on the down pipe . But today I worked on the rear ( muffler , tail pipes ) . I have to run the last few pieces over the rear axle to the muffler and finish the down pipe . Bad news is it has been raining and the groud is soaking wet . So I am not crawling under the car today .
The NOPI show in Bristol is less than a month away . I am working my @ss off to finish it for that weekend . I may be taking some vacation days to finish the exhaust and gauge cluster up . From there I will be able to run the wiring for the gauges when I rewire the car .
The whole exhaust setup uses no gaskets exceot for the exhaust manifold . I can also remove different sections ( cat. conv. , resonator ) and replace them with straight pipe by removing two bands . So when I go to the track I can basically make it a very free flowing exhaust ( not to mention loud ) in about 5 minutes .
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Well the muffler and tail pipes are hanging under the car . It started raining so I stopped working . Now I have to install the exhaust pipe and install the hangers . From there I can finish the final piece on the rear that will connect the muffler to the rest of the exhaust . From there TIG everything up and finish the down pipe after the rest of the exhaust is in the car .
I can say that the V-bands are nice to have when you install an exhaust . If you need to turn the pipe a little just loosen one bolt and turn the pipe then tighten it up again . There are no gaskets to worry about either .
Pic.s will be coming soon , I just want to get the final piece in the rear tacked up and then I will pop a few pic.s of everything .
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Well one thing that made it drag out was working 3rd shift and trying to get time . Another was paying for everything as I went . But everything on thecar that has been put on it is paid for and there are no loans associated with the swap
. Also weather is the main thing that holds me up at times since the car is outside .
Anyway Here are some teaser pic.s of the exhaust . Since I have the muffler hung with tailpipes installed . Yes I know they are not exactly straight but I will be able to fix that after the piece going from the pipe over the axle to the muffler is installed .
Here are the parts for the exhaust . The pipe and other pieces are not pictured .
Here is the exhaust system with the Cat. Conv. and Resonator . I am still working on the down pipe but have the piece going around the gas tank and over the axle done .
Here is another angle of the exhaust system .
Here is a pic of the tail pipes after hanging the muffler . I do have them straight and centered . But they are close to the bumper . I will be able to fix this once the rest of the exhaust is under the car .
Here is an angle shot of the tail pipes . As you can see they are very close .
The things that are not shown are the stainless steel hangers and exhaust bushings . Also when going around the gas tank I will be wrapping that section of pipe with header wrap . I had to remove the heat shields to get the 3" exhaust in the car . But with the resonator the V6 should sound pretty good . This coming week I will finish up the exhaust and welding the hangers onto the other section of exhaust . Then the only thing to do will be finish the down pipe .
I ended up using 3" T304 stainless steel pipe and mandrel bent sections . From the exhaust manifold where I am using a 2.5" to 3" reducer it will go into a 3" flex pipe on to the 3" in / out Cat. Conv. . Through a 36" length 3" in / out resonator which drops down to 2.5" inside the resonator . From there it will go through 3" mandrel bent piping to an 80 series Flow Master which is 3" in / 2.5" out to a set of Tanabe double wall exhaust tips .
When I was fabricating the new exhaust together I actually used the stock exhaust as a template . Thank God the new exhaust was able to set on top of the old one . I was able line everything up and cut the pipe to length and also get the curves right . The only hard part so far is the down pipe . I had to cut on of the 90*'s to make an offset to make the exhaust pipe run down the center of the tunnel . Which I will be working on this week .
Then it is on to the electrical and hopefully tuning the computer .
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the body kits got to come off this beast... make it a sleaper man...
chris
'02 Z-24 Supercharged
13.7 @102.45 MPH Third Place, 2007 GMSC Bash SOLD AS OF 01MAR08
NO keep the body kit and I'm glad to see you are almost done
Well as of today the only things left on the exhaust are the down pipe and fully welding the pipe up . I now have the Pipe run from the firewall to the rear end . 3" is a little tight under there but it does fit . I have already started on the down pipe but I think I may have to order another 45* to use on the down pipe . When I was running the pipe from the axle to the muffler I had to use my last 45* to put enough of a bend in the pipe for everything to line up . Oh well , right now I am further ahead than I was figuring I would be .
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Today I have been working on the down pipe ( that is until it started raining here ) . But as in an earlier post I had to use one of my 90*'s . So now I have to order another 90* and use it at the bottom going into the Cat. Conv. . I am glad that I tacked everything together , I had to cut the tacks loose a couple of times to get the right abgle and cut some of the bends to center everything up . But everything is going smoothly now . I have had to remove the Cat. and Resonator because I am going to cut some of the extaensions off to make more room for the other 90* coming down from the exhaust flange .
The rest of the exhaust from the gas tank back is ready for welding now and by Friday I will have the rest of the exhaust ready for welding . Saturday is Super Chevy so I will be in Bristol for that , so not much will get done over the weekend .
Anyway I have to check on somethings for the electrical and will start on it by next week .
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Well the down pipe fits and is centered up . The only thing left is to order the 45* I need to connect it to the Cat. Conv. . That will be ordered this Friday and will see if I can have it shipped 2 day mail .
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Been a little while and since I am off for the 4th of July weekend . I have been busy working on my car . Not just this weekend but everyday After I get off of work .
Well the down pipe was finished after getting the last bend in . I have as of today finished welding up everything . I also have the wrap on the exhaust , Just to clarify why I am using header wrap on the exhaust . It is not for peformance increases but to be used as a heat shield . I sort of removed the factory heat shields to install the new exhaust . Everything is sitting in my Fiero right now until tomorrow morning when I continue on the electrical .
The new factory harness showed up yesterday ( Friday ) , and I stuck it in the car and started removing the old PCM wiring from it . Today after getting back from my friends shop I finished the clean up of the harness and have ran the TEC3 harness through the firewall also . I have also made a new mag snsor mount for the ne trigger wheel . The new trigger wheel is installed and now everything is really coming together . The only problem I have ran into is when it rains That is when I have to pack everything up and call it a day .
Oh yeah I also have the piping for the intake and need to pick up the battery relocation stuff to mount the battery in the trunk . The new intake and filter take up the whole drivers side of the compartment . While I am getting the stuff to relocate the battery I need to pick up a grommet to install the IAT sensor into this intake .
I will get some pic.s of the entire exhaust ( from the down pipe to the tail pipes ) while it is out of the car and in one piece .
Well until next time this is all the updates I can think of .
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may i ask what kinda tips those are and where u got them... they look hot
How much has this all cost you so far...? After seeing how well yours is coming along I'm actually considering a V6 for my 03 Sunfire.
Evil Serpent wrote:How much has this all cost you so far...? After seeing how well yours is coming along I'm actually considering a V6 for my 03 Sunfire.
Another question I have is can someone list all changes that would be needed when swapping for a V6?
Can't wait until you have this running.
FU Tuning
The tips are Magnaflow Tanabe's . You will find them in the double wall stainless tip section of their website .
Was going to shot some photo's of the whole exhaust today but got tied up working on the harness . A small set back is I need a crimper that will do weatherpack connectors and I don't have one . But I have found several places that sell them , and I am waiting on a price quote . After that I will get them to overnight it to me .
The price for this swap is a little more than it could actually be done for . I have a TEC3 standalone engine management system , full stainless exhaust , reground cam , reworked intake for an LS1 T/B , 27LB injectors ( from a WS6 ) , under drive pulley , SPEC stage 2 clutch , and a full compliment of Autometer Lunar gauges replacing the factory gauge cluster . I have had to pay for everything as I went and some of the stuff was pricey but it is paid for . Not to mention some of the parts I needed had to be fabricated . The Dogbone , hoses , and the exhaust flange .
Out of the whole exhaust I would have to say that the downpipe is the crowning achievement of the exhaust . It took more time to fabricate this 36" piece of pipe than the rest of the exhaust ( tack it together , test fit , remove , cut the tack welds and reweld or cut the pipe , test fit , remove and doit all over again ) but it fits perfect .
For those wondering if the exhaust is under the car now . It is'nt in fact it is setting in the passenger side of my Fiero . Yes the exhaust can be broke down to fit in a small car and still have plenty of room for other junk . LOL
Anyway the harness is getting ran and I have everything seperated and going where it needs to go . The factory harness I am using is from a 2002 ECOTEC . What a surprise Carparts.com said it would work with my car ???? It has the unused wiring removed now and I have started routing the wires around the engine compartment .
Future plans at this time will be P/P the extra intake and heads I have , nitrous , and turbo for this engine . I plan on making more power and possibly upgrading the clutch soon after .
This week will be very busy with the gauge cluster panel being finished , wiring the car , installing the exhaust ( 30 minutes at most ) , and tuning the computer ( hopefully ) .
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How much horsepower do you estimate to have on this car once you've completed this project?
More than 180 HP , I am hoping to get somwhere around 220 HP while being N/A . But I am not going to really be sure until it is put on a dyno .
I will see some very big increases after the turbo is installed .
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Is a V6 the biggest you can fit in a Sunfire or Cavy? Would it be possible to somehow fit a V8 out of a Firebird or a Vette engine in there?
<---- I'm a new so I'm just trying to learn a little. Best way to do that is by askin' questions, lol. You're V6 swap is so bad ass it's inspiring lol.
What are we calling expensive? I'd love to see a 3rd gen Sunfire with a V6 or V8 in it.
Weather pack crimper came in today , and we have what is left from a tropical storm dumping rain down on Virginia right now . Anyway I have already tried the crimpers out on some extra wire and a few weatherpack terminals I had laying around . It does a sweet job crimping . The rain should be gone by tomorrow ( Friday ) so I can finish wet sanding the gauge panel and starting the electrical tomorrow .
This weekend I will get the exhaust out of the passenger side of the Fiero and get some pic.s to post . It will be the downpipe to the tail pipes with the header wrap on it .
I already know I am going to be asked why the header wrap is on it . But I will wait until then to say anything .
Oh one gripe about the company I ordered the filter from . I ordered the filter on 6/30 and they finall shipped the filter out on 7/05 . This is almost a week after being paid for . Why did it take them so long to drop a filter and prefilter in the mail ??? I ordered the weather pack crimper on 7/4 and recieved it on 7/7 . The filter is'nt scheduled to arrive until the 12th . That is 15 days of waiting for something that I could have ordered from someone else and gotten quickier . If you order from www.4filters.com be prepared for a place that will takes its time .
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You need to come to Texas to work on your car, seems everytime you work on it it rains. We've had about two inches total the past two months where I live. Bring some rain here!
I would have wrote you a poem, but I couldn't find anything that rhymed with F@#K OFF!
