93_MaxSpeedMark

Here's my little write-up on the Warpspeed Performance Mandrel-Bent, Aluminized steel Y-pipe, Part no. 100-102.

The Pipe Is really well made, it includes two crush rings and one exhaust gasket. It includes a lined flex section.

To start out with, Jack up the car well. I used two wheel ramps in the front, and a 3 Ton Floor jack with two jackstands in the back. Next , you need to get started removing the stock Y-Pipe and Precats. Start out by removing the heat shield on the catalytic converter. There are four 10mm screws that hold it on. Retain the shield and screws for later use.

Next, spray all the bolts on the y-pipe - there should be 8 14 mm bolts- with WD 40, Liquid wrench, or something to that effect. After it penetrates, you can start unbolting the Y-Pipe.

First, unbolt the Y from the catalytic. The 14mm bolts will be rusted on, but don't be weak-sauce.

Next, hit the front Exhaust Manifold. It should be pretty easy to do, with the right tools. I used a 14mm Deep socket, with a 10"extenion and a breaker bar. The breaker bar gives you the torque needed to cut through the rust.

On the rear manifold, it gets tricky. Two of the bolts are fairly easy to get to, but the last one (The one most towards the driver's side door) is partially hidden by the Y-Pipe. To get it, you need to use a universal pivot joint. Put the 14mm deep socket onto the pivet joint, and hook the 10" extension onto the other end of the pivet joint. Get that stuff onto the last bolt securely, then hook the breaker bar into the extension and heave. It should break the rust.

Next, Disconnect the O2 Sensors. One of them is at the front of the car, between the block and the radiator. The other one is On top of the rear of the intake manifold, about 6 or 8 inches away from the power steering fluid resvoir. Unclip them both, and follow their wires down, unclipping the wire looms as you go. You need a good twelve inches of slack for the O2 sensors.

Now, get back under the car. In between the downpipes, there should be a shiny brass piece with two 12mm bolts in it. This mounts the forward part of the y-pipe to the chasis. Unbolt them both, and watch your head! The forward part of the y-pipe will come down, provided you gave the O2 sensors enough slack.

Two completely free the pipe, you need only lift the rear end (near the cat) upwards, then pull it towards the front of the car. This will release it from the supporting bracket.

Now, get your new y-pipe underneath the car, you'll need it in a second. Get a 22mm open wrench and loosen the O2 sensor plugs. On mine, they were on really, really tight. So I put the wrench onto the plug, and then lightly tapped (Not SLAMMED!) The other end with a hammer until it broke the tension. Then It should be loose enought o remove by hand. Repeat for the other O2 Sensor.

Now, when installing your O2 sensors: It's pretty sraitforward, but I want to give two tips. The first, is to coat the threads with Antisieze. You want those sensors in there good. The next is something I never see on the other write-ups. Before you screw the O2 sensors into the new Y-Pipe, twist the sensor to the LEFT in midair. This will coil the wires to the left. That way, when you install the Plug (By twisting to the RIGHT), the wires will untwist and come out straight.

Now you can discard the old Y-Pipe. I'd recommend keeping it in case you ever decide to sell the car.

Next step. Go to your trunk and get the Emergency jack, We're going to make it useful. Use it to support the New Pipe as you bolt it up. Put your crush rings in now. The exhaust Manifold bolts should be pretty easy to do, but be careful! The two crush rings slip out easily. While installing mine they slipped out, and I had to re-do the bolting-on part. When you get to the Cat, I found that the Y-pipe couldn'y fit through the stock Y-pipe Hanger. I discarded it, but I intend to get some exhaust hangers welded onto the Pipe ASAP. This may or may not be the case with your car. Then just slip in the exhaust gasket (B/w the Cat and the Y-pipe) and bolt up the Cat bolts.

Finishing touches are to re-attach the Heat shield (Real easy) And re-connect the O2 Sensor connectors (Again, real easy.) Also, I recommend spraying the Pipe down with some kind of Anti-rust treatment, just a light coat should do fine. This only applies if you have the Aluminized steel version.

Take the car off the jacks and set her down. Reconnect the battery terminal and all other disconnected things. Take the car into the driveway so you don't build up carbon monoxide in the event of a leak, and then start her up! Let the car idle for a while, maybe 5 minutes, while it acllimates itself to the pipe. Then, Have some fun!

My pipe, in conjuction with my cat-back exhaust and POP intake, makes the car sound like a V8 at Idle. Seriously, it sounds like a beast. If I could describe it, I'd say almost Mustang GT with Flowmasters type of sound. I love it. Also, there is NO Bees in the can sound!

Powerwise? Wow. Your Butt dyno really feels this one. I can't give any exact numbers, cause I'm not gonna pay for a dyno, but It is real nice. It feels like when I had my little 35-shot of nitrous in, so I'm guessing a big gain.