Post by Aurora40 on Nov 21, 2005 13:25:22 GMT -6
Tools needed:
And you'll need your exhaust system. Here is one of the two boxes mine came in:
You can start by laying out all the pieces and making sure they are all there to go together correctly. You can also determine where to cut the stock exhaust this way.
I then jacked up the back end of the car. It's up to you how you want to do this or if you want to do it, or jack the whole thing, or if you can fit under without jacking.
I sort of ghetto jacked it up with a floor jack and the spare tire jack. I did use a jackstand at least, and I was mostly under the back of the car where there's a lot of room. Still probably pretty dumb... Here is the car jacked up, and the stock exhaust:
Remove the O2 sensor that is behind the cat. It comes off with the 7/8" wrench. You can just let it dangle, it will attach to the Corsa pipe.
Measure and mark where to cut the exhaust. I cut the exhaust where Corsa said to, but I should have cut it about 2" longer. I ended up adding in an extra piece to extend the system a little. Keep in mind you can always cut it again shorter, but not longer. Here is where Corsa said to cut it. If I did it again, I'd have added an inch or two instead:
I put a jackstand under the pipe before I cut it, so that it wouldn't fall too far. Then cut it with the exhaust cutter and rest it on the stand. If you let it fall, it will leverage the mufflers and tips up. So only let it go about an inch or so.
Here is what the cat looks like if you are curious. The shield on the right is where the O2 sensor and wiring is:
Then unbolt the mufflers. I resorted to putting them on cases of beer. I ran out of jackstands. But you don't want them to fall too low either, as the intermediate pipe is still connected. You can unbolt the hanger for each muffler with the 15mm socket, and then lower it down. Just be aware that until everything is disconnected, moving one part down will leverage other parts up. Don't mess up your bumper!
Once you have the mufflers unbolted, and the pipe cut, you can slip the resonator hanger off. This one just slides out of the two rubber hangers. Now you can pull the whole cat-back exhaust off the car:
Here's the car with it removed. You can see the two black muffler hangers on the ground. These will be re-used on the Corsa mufflers:
Transfer the muffler hangers to the new Corsa mufflers. Then start hanging the new pieces. You will need to support them with jackstands or beer cases or whatever while you do it. Put the piece over the cat first, with the clamp in place, but don't clamp it. Then work your way back. You can snug up the clamps slightly, but dont' tighten anything down. Make sure you put the mufflers on the right sides. They are marked, and they have weep holes on one side. The weep hole should point down to the ground.
Once you have the whole system in place, you'll need to tweak it around to get the tips lined up nice and everything fitting good. Then you can go and start to tighten up the system.
Torque it all down properly, reinstall the O2 sensor, and you are ready for the test drive!
Start the car up and listen for any leaks. Make sure no water is dripping out anywhere, it should only come out the weep holes in the mufflers. If it's leaking anywhere, turn the car off, make sure there is enough overlap of the pipes, and make sure the bands are tightened properly. Then try it again.
Once it seems leak free and solidly put together, take the car for a spin. Everything should sound good, albeit a little louder than before. Listen for leaks or rattles.
Then when you get back, retorque all the clamps. You will probably want to torque them in a week or two also, as the heat may initially cause them to set and be less tight.
I ultimately had a problem with the pipe over the old cat pipe, it didn't seat well. I took the car to Corsa and they welded it. However it wasn't too bad. And they can also send you a different kind of clamp to use. The problem is mostly that the stock pipe is thin and cheap compared to the Corsa stuff.
The car goes from looking like this:
to looking like this:
A close-up of the tips, where you can see how they are cascaded. I really like that. The inboard tip sticks out further than the outboard tip, so it follows the design of the bumper:
The Corsa tips fit well in the stock cutouts. They do fill them out more than the original tips, but look right at home:
The sound difference is more dramatic than the cosmetic change! One of the coolest things about the Corsas is how you can see right through them. The pipe in them is just 2.5" straight pipe. There is no perforation, bends, or baffling to constrain flow. There is simply a single thin ring cut out of the pipe which is the entry to the resonance chambers. Even the resonator was more open than the stock one, which had a slight shift to it and perforation.
- Exhaust cutter
- 7/8" open-end or flare-nut wrench
- 13mm socket
- 15mm socket
And you'll need your exhaust system. Here is one of the two boxes mine came in:
You can start by laying out all the pieces and making sure they are all there to go together correctly. You can also determine where to cut the stock exhaust this way.
I then jacked up the back end of the car. It's up to you how you want to do this or if you want to do it, or jack the whole thing, or if you can fit under without jacking.
I sort of ghetto jacked it up with a floor jack and the spare tire jack. I did use a jackstand at least, and I was mostly under the back of the car where there's a lot of room. Still probably pretty dumb... Here is the car jacked up, and the stock exhaust:
Remove the O2 sensor that is behind the cat. It comes off with the 7/8" wrench. You can just let it dangle, it will attach to the Corsa pipe.
Measure and mark where to cut the exhaust. I cut the exhaust where Corsa said to, but I should have cut it about 2" longer. I ended up adding in an extra piece to extend the system a little. Keep in mind you can always cut it again shorter, but not longer. Here is where Corsa said to cut it. If I did it again, I'd have added an inch or two instead:
I put a jackstand under the pipe before I cut it, so that it wouldn't fall too far. Then cut it with the exhaust cutter and rest it on the stand. If you let it fall, it will leverage the mufflers and tips up. So only let it go about an inch or so.
Here is what the cat looks like if you are curious. The shield on the right is where the O2 sensor and wiring is:
Then unbolt the mufflers. I resorted to putting them on cases of beer. I ran out of jackstands. But you don't want them to fall too low either, as the intermediate pipe is still connected. You can unbolt the hanger for each muffler with the 15mm socket, and then lower it down. Just be aware that until everything is disconnected, moving one part down will leverage other parts up. Don't mess up your bumper!
Once you have the mufflers unbolted, and the pipe cut, you can slip the resonator hanger off. This one just slides out of the two rubber hangers. Now you can pull the whole cat-back exhaust off the car:
Here's the car with it removed. You can see the two black muffler hangers on the ground. These will be re-used on the Corsa mufflers:
Transfer the muffler hangers to the new Corsa mufflers. Then start hanging the new pieces. You will need to support them with jackstands or beer cases or whatever while you do it. Put the piece over the cat first, with the clamp in place, but don't clamp it. Then work your way back. You can snug up the clamps slightly, but dont' tighten anything down. Make sure you put the mufflers on the right sides. They are marked, and they have weep holes on one side. The weep hole should point down to the ground.
Once you have the whole system in place, you'll need to tweak it around to get the tips lined up nice and everything fitting good. Then you can go and start to tighten up the system.
Torque it all down properly, reinstall the O2 sensor, and you are ready for the test drive!
Start the car up and listen for any leaks. Make sure no water is dripping out anywhere, it should only come out the weep holes in the mufflers. If it's leaking anywhere, turn the car off, make sure there is enough overlap of the pipes, and make sure the bands are tightened properly. Then try it again.
Once it seems leak free and solidly put together, take the car for a spin. Everything should sound good, albeit a little louder than before. Listen for leaks or rattles.
Then when you get back, retorque all the clamps. You will probably want to torque them in a week or two also, as the heat may initially cause them to set and be less tight.
I ultimately had a problem with the pipe over the old cat pipe, it didn't seat well. I took the car to Corsa and they welded it. However it wasn't too bad. And they can also send you a different kind of clamp to use. The problem is mostly that the stock pipe is thin and cheap compared to the Corsa stuff.
The car goes from looking like this:
to looking like this:
A close-up of the tips, where you can see how they are cascaded. I really like that. The inboard tip sticks out further than the outboard tip, so it follows the design of the bumper:
The Corsa tips fit well in the stock cutouts. They do fill them out more than the original tips, but look right at home:
The sound difference is more dramatic than the cosmetic change! One of the coolest things about the Corsas is how you can see right through them. The pipe in them is just 2.5" straight pipe. There is no perforation, bends, or baffling to constrain flow. There is simply a single thin ring cut out of the pipe which is the entry to the resonance chambers. Even the resonator was more open than the stock one, which had a slight shift to it and perforation.
