Cattman YPipe Installed......thoughts.....

*PoLo* · 10-19-2003, 10:46 PM

so yeah, nyc hit 45 degrees tonite. and polo felt that was perfect temperature to install the cattman y. woke up at 9, went to work, till about 4, then treked on home (oh yeah, 1 hour traffic in the city, i hate parades)

so i finally get home around 6 and proceed to install the y pipe.
everything went semi-ok until i stripped my 14mm bit. which is what you NEED!!! to remove the cat bolts, and primary and secondary pipe bolts.

so i finally got the piece and proceeded to continue to proceed to remove the stock pipe. it's a PITA cause 1) it's cold, and 2) the yankee game was on. oh yeah, i'm also on gc's, so even on ramps, it was a tight fit.

putting the cattman pipe was a breeze, or so i thought. very few bolts compared to the stock pipe. the stock pipe has heat shield bolts, etc... so a lot more comes off than goes back on. in either case. the weight difference is unbelieveable. stock weights mid to high 20's where as the cattman weighed in at about 11 pounds.

now for the bad design, which i will talk to cattman about. if you look at this picture...look at the end of the secondary pipe, where the 3 bolt holes are....

now looking at that, look at ONE of the bolt holes. is it me or is the pipe BLOCKING THAT HOLE. yes, it is blocking it. so 2 of the nuts went on easily, #3 , i had to remove the pipe again and then squeeze the nut in JUST to get it on. you'd think i was done, but nope. the bolt that the secondary pipe goes through is rather long, and by being that long, i was unable to tighten the ypipe, everytime i tried to tighten the bolt (with a wrench because the blocking did NOT allow me to use a wratchet) the bolt would hit the pipe. and i was unable to continue. so what did i have to do, yes i had to dremel a bit off the bolt (about 1/4") and then i was able to tighten it. this was after realizing i don't have a dremel, and called my boy to give me a ride to my other friends house, who had a dreme, and then come back home to get back under the car. ok, now that time was about 11:30. i dremeled it off and tightened it....finally, it's installed.

w/out bad mouthing cattman, the rest of the pipe is a perfect fit, nothing was off and everything moutned perfectly. i just think that someone messed up in the bending. or maybe it's just has to be like htat. in either case, that was the one flaw in the design.

now the results:
turned the car on...it has definitely gotten louder, much louder not at all. at idle, again, the car is silent. revving it up, the greddy sounds manlier. i went down the block, and a nice rumble came out, again nothing too ricey but a notch louder than my greddy alone. went to my test block and did my run. overall feel is that power has increased throughout the entire powerband.i only say this cause my acceleration has now vastly increased. first gear does not last long at all, i'm changing into 2nd very quickly, and before i can be in shock, i'm already changing into third. definitely quicker acceleration. that seems to be the major impact on the whole "mod". i had my friend with me, he was my other opinion. his thought as i did a drive by are that the car is heard more, but it still sounds nice. a nice throaty rumble. nothing civic-ly. then he got in, i gave it some gas and took off. he also agreed that it seemed that my acceleration was so much faster and i climbed those rpm's way too fast

final thoughts...i have none....i was in it for 5 minutes....it's 12:45am, and i'm doing laundry and i have to be in the office early, so i won't mess with it anymore. i will do a few more runs tomorow nite throughout the xpressway (have to pick up my new custom grill

) and i will come up with more results. other than the bolt flaw, everything else is given a thumbs up with performance a semi thumbs up until i can really give it some gas and also give the ecu some time to adjust. then again, maybe i'll have the TS ECU before it's even learned the ypipe =)

edit:
notice #1: i was in the lower range of 2nd gear and pressed the gas and the car jumped and started picking up immediately...that got a definite thumbs up and was extremely noticed.

Anuj · 10-19-2003, 10:56 PM

wait so it was a PITA to install but everything worked out fine..eh?

Well, good to see that cattman actually makes a difference!

can't wait to see the grille!

*PoLo* · 10-19-2003, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GLE02NJ

wait so it was a PITA to install but everything worked out fine..eh?

Well, good to see that cattman actually makes a difference!

can't wait to see the grille!

i say PITA because of the bumps i ran into, but at the end it was installed, so in that sense i call it a sucess. i did not expect this problem with the bolt, and i'm quite surprised cattman let this go by w/out at least mentioning it....the bolt itself is like the CAT bolt's. all one long tread, so by raising it, the bolt itself doesn't go so low, but to get into the manifold and twist that thing, i might have more fun installing headers. dremeling it off seemed a lot easier.

so yeah, PITA and a success. kinda like when you do an intake and you realize that the hose will JUST not fit into that MAF adapter, but when it does, you're happy.

*DonGfun* · 10-19-2003, 11:29 PM

Great write up !!!
I'm getting 1 from an ORG member in a few days

*ToYLeT902* · 10-19-2003, 11:30 PM

Good Job, Now install my horns

JTMAX03 · 10-19-2003, 11:43 PM

kool I would like to be in it whenever u have a chance.

WILLSE · 10-19-2003, 11:47 PM

do u plan to dyno?

will

*ToYLeT902* · 10-19-2003, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JTMAX03

kool I would like to be in it whenever u have a chance.

20 bucks a ride.

maximilion · 10-20-2003, 01:01 AM

let is know what cattman says when you talk to them about that third bolt.

JTMAX03 · 10-20-2003, 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToYLeT902

20 bucks a ride.

sure buddy what about yours how much should I pay u.

lol

*Playero* · 10-20-2003, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToYLeT902

Good Job, Now install my horns

and mines too!!!!

Prometes y no cumples guevon! Tengo 3 Cds de reggaeton que tienen tu nombre!!

Deja la pereza y ayudame

*PoLo* · 10-20-2003, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Playero

and mines too!!!!
Prometes y no cumples guevon! Tengo 3 Cds de reggaeton que tienen tu nombre!!
Deja la pereza y ayudame

how about this.
i'm taking friday off of work to setup my new suspension. john, jairo, if you wanna come over, i'll do your horns. you up for this? eric is gonna be there too, so he'll prolly do the horns while i'm taking apart my ground controls.

let's not stear off topic though. i emailed brian about this bolt issue, and awaiting his answer.
as for updates on the car, i haven't driven it yet...tonite 'll be driving throughout the city, into brooklyn, so i'll have a couple straight aways to test out my top speed. i know my top speeds in certain areas so if i reach them faster/easier, then that tells me this mod is showing a difference.

*2k2kev* · 10-20-2003, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PoLo

as for updates on the car, i haven't driven it yet...tonite 'll be driving throughout the city, into brooklyn, so i'll have a couple straight aways to test out my top speed. i know my top speeds in certain areas so if i reach them faster/easier, then that tells me this mod is showing a difference.

update your sig... it's not "Soon - Cattman Y" any more

and let us know how the test ride goes and about his reply to the bolt issue

*03BlkSETE* · 10-20-2003, 08:17 AM

Nice writeup. I'm debating between this and the headers. I wish I could see a dyno on this to help me decide.

*PoLo* · 10-20-2003, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 03BlkSETE

Nice writeup. I'm debating between this and the headers. I wish I could see a dyno on this to help me decide.

well let me say this, with the y-pipe, this is still not loud. i'm still pretty quiet compared to some cars i've heard. i can imagine the headers are so much louder than the ypipe, especially with the precat removals. that alone is what pushed me to the ypipe. i'd like to keep it semiquiet, although now it's not so quiet anymore. i will be doing a few videos tonite. in the car, on the expressway, normal driving, WOT, then a few outside vid clips, drive by, etc....

*Playero* · 10-20-2003, 11:01 AM

Yes Sir!! will be there!

Darth Vader · 10-20-2003, 11:56 AM

Mr. Polo,

Did you have any issues removing and re inserting the 02 sensor. My biggest fear is that I will foul the sensor and blow an SES code. How did you make out with that. Thanks

*PoLo* · 10-20-2003, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Vader

Mr. Polo,

Did you have any issues removing and re inserting the 02 sensor. My biggest fear is that I will foul the sensor and blow an SES code. How did you make out with that. Thanks

of all the bolts, the O2 surprisingly was the easiest to remove. a a little tug, but it loosened up rather quickly.
my only problem, which wasn't really a problem, is that the o2 sensor wires are connected to certain areas of the underbody by way of cable ties (or some variation of it.)
because of the wires being clipped, the o2 sensor wouldn't reach it's location. i cut the 2 clips and the sensor extended and reached the new ypipe's location. to be sure thati didn't get an error, i also disconnected the battery ground so as the ecu wouldn't realize that i unplugged something.

Darth Vader · 10-20-2003, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PoLo

of all the bolts, the O2 surprisingly was the easiest to remove. a a little tug, but it loosened up rather quickly.
my only problem, which wasn't really a problem, is that the o2 sensor wires are connected to certain areas of the underbody by way of cable ties (or some variation of it.)
because of the wires being clipped, the o2 sensor wouldn't reach it's location. i cut the 2 clips and the sensor extended and reached the new ypipe's location. to be sure thati didn't get an error, i also disconnected the battery ground so as the ecu wouldn't realize that i unplugged something.

Great, this sounds like something for me. Do you still feel your particular Y was bent or you think they are all that way. Either way you have provided an excellent heads up for me. Thanks again.

*PoLo* · 10-20-2003, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Vader

Great, this sounds like something for me. Do you still feel your particular Y was bent or you think they are all that way. Either way you have provided an excellent heads up for me. Thanks again.

if it were bent, i think something else would have simply not alligned, whethr it be the cat bolts, the primary bolts, or even the secondary bolts. everything lined up PERFECTLY, so i feel all of them are designed this way.
after dremeling it, i took a closer look and noticed that these bolts are like the cat bolts. if you look at the cat bolts, they're all one big tread, with no end. technically speaking, if you screwed the cat bolts all the way through, they would screw until it popped out the other side. the secondary pipe bolts look exactly the same. one long tread. but again, try reaching your hand up there, it's impossible. so turning the bolt from up top is harder. i GUESS you could turn it from teh bottom, but with all the oxidation that those bolts have already gone through, turning it would be rather hard.
overall, i'm very happy with the quality of the product. this bolt thing just has me confused. i'm not mad at all, simply stumped as to why t his was overlooked. my assumption is that the 2k2 they tested it on had shorter bolts, or the builder turned the bolt so that i didn't bulge out that much. if that is the case, then it makes sense as to why it was hitting up against the pipe.
as far as worrying with dremeling. i wsn't scared at all....i did a nice clean cut, so i can just as easily remove the pipe and put it back on with no problems.

an added note...the stock ypipe...man that thing is twisted in so many different ways. i need to take a picture of it for comparison. if i can, i will also take some pictures of the bolt that was dremeled. this may calm some of you that are worried of dremeling. hell, bring it to me and i'll dremel it off. i'll even install the pipe for you......for $50...

*2k2kev* · 10-20-2003, 12:30 PM

a pic of the stock pipe would be excellent, please!

Darth Vader · 10-20-2003, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PoLo

if it were bent, i think something else would have simply not alligned, whethr it be the cat bolts, the primary bolts, or even the secondary bolts. everything lined up PERFECTLY, so i feel all of them are designed this way.
after dremeling it, i took a closer look and noticed that these bolts are like the cat bolts. if you look at the cat bolts, they're all one big tread, with no end. technically speaking, if you screwed the cat bolts all the way through, they would screw until it popped out the other side. the secondary pipe bolts look exactly the same. one long tread. but again, try reaching your hand up there, it's impossible. so turning the bolt from up top is harder. i GUESS you could turn it from teh bottom, but with all the oxidation that those bolts have already gone through, turning it would be rather hard.
overall, i'm very happy with the quality of the product. this bolt thing just has me confused. i'm not mad at all, simply stumped as to why t his was overlooked. my assumption is that the 2k2 they tested it on had shorter bolts, or the builder turned the bolt so that i didn't bulge out that much. if that is the case, then it makes sense as to why it was hitting up against the pipe.
as far as worrying with dremeling. i wsn't scared at all....i did a nice clean cut, so i can just as easily remove the pipe and put it back on with no problems.

an added note...the stock ypipe...man that thing is twisted in so many different ways. i need to take a picture of it for comparison. if i can, i will also take some pictures of the bolt that was dremeled. this may calm some of you that are worried of dremeling. hell, bring it to me and i'll dremel it off. i'll even install the pipe for you......for $50...

Hmmmmm. I am about 65 miles north of NYC. It will be worth it for 50.00, are you serious about the offer.

Anuj · 10-20-2003, 12:41 PM

ha marco polo would do these installs for me for free, right?

*PoLo* · 10-20-2003, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Vader

Hmmmmm. I am about 65 miles north of NYC. It will be worth it for 50.00, are you serious about the offer.

yeah, i'm serious
i just did this last nite, and although it took me a total of 5 hours (it was dark, it was 45 degrees, and the yankee game was on man...hideki matsui owns you!!!!) now that i did it once, i can knock it out all over again and easily be able to do it in half the time. i'd say 2 hours, with most of the time saturating the bolts in lubricant to loosen them up.
you can entertain yourself, play with the gamecube in the car, watch a movie (i have a wide selection) or you can just watch me b!tch and moan if i hurt my finger

email me if you want.

maximilion · 10-20-2003, 02:30 PM

willing to fly to Hawaii to do it............. for $50? haha

HKMax · 10-20-2003, 03:21 PM

Hi Marco

How's Cattman compared to budget? That is if you have seen hte buget Y-Pipe.

***Cattman*** · 10-20-2003, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PoLo

so yeah, nyc hit 45 degrees tonite. and polo felt that was perfect temperature to install the cattman y. woke up at 9, went to work, till about 4, then treked on home (oh yeah, 1 hour traffic in the city, i hate parades)

so i finally get home around 6 and proceed to install the y pipe.
everything went semi-ok until i stripped my 14mm bit. which is what you NEED!!! to remove the cat bolts, and primary and secondary pipe bolts.

so i finally got the piece and proceeded to continue to proceed to remove the stock pipe. it's a PITA cause 1) it's cold, and 2) the yankee game was on. oh yeah, i'm also on gc's, so even on ramps, it was a tight fit.

putting the cattman pipe was a breeze, or so i thought. very few bolts compared to the stock pipe. the stock pipe has heat shield bolts, etc... so a lot more comes off than goes back on. in either case. the weight difference is unbelieveable. stock weights mid to high 20's where as the cattman weighed in at about 11 pounds.

now for the bad design, which i will talk to cattman about. if you look at this picture...look at the end of the secondary pipe, where the 3 bolt holes are....

now looking at that, look at ONE of the bolt holes. is it me or is the pipe BLOCKING THAT HOLE. yes, it is blocking it. so 2 of the nuts went on easily, #3 , i had to remove the pipe again and then squeeze the nut in JUST to get it on. you'd think i was done, but nope. the bolt that the secondary pipe goes through is rather long, and by being that long, i was unable to tighten the ypipe, everytime i tried to tighten the bolt (with a wrench because the blocking did NOT allow me to use a wratchet) the bolt would hit the pipe. and i was unable to continue. so what did i have to do, yes i had to dremel a bit off the bolt (about 1/4") and then i was able to tighten it. this was after realizing i do