First the Dyno:

Car was 100% stock (2004.5 6mt). Dynapack dynamometer.

Avg. Max. rwhp = 232
Avg. Max. Tourque = 223

each of my 2 rear wheels got 1 chip at 1 of the lug holes. I didn't say anything. But I'm unhappy b/c the wheels were flawless! can I touch it up? Where do I get the paint? Oem 18's. Please help!

Also, a large scrap on one of the side moulding from the lift during cat install. I still havn't inspected the car fully. I'm sure there is more damage.


Crawford Cat install:

I must say it went very bad. It took the guy 3 hours! I'm not kidding. I told him to bend the heat shield if neccesary. Charged me $120. I think this was too much. Any comments?

After complete, I really wanted to get home, so I didn't test drive it. Long ride through detroit during rush hour. An enormous amount of vibration under my feet! from 0 to 3k rpm it was terrible! I'm noticing a major diference in performance and the sound is just what I wanted. I can't comment accurately at this time. I'm not enjoying it at all right now. I took the day off work to get my car damaged and get my cats installed half ***? Moding is starting to ruin me! Really, it is. I'm about to say **** this ****. and sell everything!

I'm not going back to the same place again. It's 40 miles from my house and I have to cross the boarder which is a problem for a young man driving a G. They took me in for questioning on my way over this morning. It took 45 min.

Does the cat have to come off again to fix this? If so, they are for sale!!!!

What a terrible day. Please give me some advise.

 

Darn, I was hoping for before and after dyno numbers....

 

See my post from last week, I feel your pain! I had a similar exp. with a shop. I ended up having to completely remove the heat shield's myself due to the rattles. To answer one question, your cats don't have to come off to remove the shields but it makes it much easier. I replaced them with some stick on heatshield and it seems to be working fine so far.
Like you I have questioned my mods and what little I have gotten from them as well as how much I've spent on them. If I had it to do over I prob, would have gone FI and saved myself the aggrivation of dealing with some of the bolt on issues(only to deal with FI issues)
There should be touch up paint for the wheels. I bought some from Advanced AP for the 05's and it was a perfect match. Do a search on touch up paint/wheels.
One last thing keep in mind your ECU has to adjust to your mods over the next few hundred miles or so and maybe you'll feel a little better. Good luck.

 

sorry to here that bro
but I have no problem with my crawford cats
its nice improvement up the rpms band
good luck

 

Crawford cats here - No issues. Sorry you found a shop that screwed up your car. You should have confronted them. Sounds like you had a gorilla working on your car. Three hours to put on Crawford Hi-Flows is ridiculous. I was in and out of my muffler shop in 45 minutes. There were no issues, the fitment and quality of the product was excellent.

Lou

 

+1.

 

After taking a long nap and spending the night w/ my girlfried, I'm calm now.

I just came back from my test drive!

The Sound:

The sound from the exhaust is awesome now! Louder! but no change from the stock tone. More aggressive. When you rev to high rpm's, you feel that there is a lot less restriction. It's great. A little minor rasp when you gun it. Nothing compared the rasp from an M3. Extremely minor.

The Power:

Honestly, I can't believe the difference in power. I mean its very noticable! And the gain is throughout the power band. I did one run (decent but not great) w/ my G-tech pro, just to see if it picked up a difference. Now! Here were the results:

Highest rwhp reading ever (stock) = 196
1 (decent) run after Crawford Cat install = 208

Min. gain = + 12 rwhp


Highest tourque reading ever (stock) = 205
1 (decent) run after Crawford Cat install = 215

Min. gain = +10 ft-lb.

Best ever 0-60 time (stock) = 6.07 s
1 (decent) run after Crawford Cat install = 6.03 s

If you consider that 6.07 s was the best time ever (stock) and the average is more like 6.4 (stock), 6.03 s w/ just 1 run is incredible.

From what my butt dyno is feeling, I think the above is very accurate.

I may re-dyno on the dynapack. I don't what to damage my wheels any further.

The vibration, isn't as bad as I thought. I feel it under 1.5 k and right at 3k. I guess the heat shield needs to be bend. I will get someone to fix it for me.

In the end the whole Cat install will have cost me:

$500 cats shipped
$120 install
$30 to adjust heat shield (if I'm lucky)

Total $650 (***I would say it was worth the money)

***Now (THE IMPORTANT PART)

One day off work (~$300 for me - ~ $1000 for my company)
Getting questioned at customs and getting my car searched for 45 min.
The 4 hour wait
Getting my wheels chipped and car scratched
Stuck in Detroit traffic for 1.5 hours
The problems and time associated w/ fixing the install problem
Warrenty issues
E-test issues

I learned something today and I will greatly profit from this. Modifying a vehicle is expensive and a pain in the ***. I have no time for this ****, so will not be modifying any further! MORE TIME = MORE $$$

Practical Advise:

Spend your time making money and save it when your young. invest it. buy a better car when it is within your means. Don't modify it too much.

As of today, my money goes into my holding company. When the time is right, I will buy my dream car.

Stay in School! Education should be ongoing. This along w/ some brains will bring you earning power.


If you come from a wealthy family, the above should still apply.

Be aggressive in life! (this is what I tell myself everyday)

Good night.

 

Amen to that Bro'...

 

OEM 18" touch-up paint: Dupli-Color NS00591 Sterling Mist Met (KT3 Nissan color code). You can get Duplicolor at Walmart in the US and CanadianTire in Canada.

 

finally someone as upset with modding as i am, crawford cats were a HUGE pain for me. my greddy evo2 now hangs for some reason and my mid pipe bangs against the undercarriage. someone buy my crawford cats and give me their stock cats. (threw mine out, big mistake)

 

Sounds like an exhaust or installation problem, Not a cat problem. The mid pipe comes off the "Y" Pipe, not the cats. There are adjustments that can be made. Maybe you should have a qualified muffler shop look over your system.

Lou

 

Changing a tire could be a major frustrating problem if you don't have the right tools or don't know what to do.

I'm not saying YOU don't know what you're doing, but maybe the shop you chose to do the job was a total disaster. You have to consider that modding a car with "bolt-ups" in many cases is a "trial-error" process.

The Crawford cats bolt up but you need to remove the heat shield, your greddy is probably missing a hanger or two, and your midpipe is hitting the brace between the 'drive shaft' and the 'midpipe'. You need to bend that brace upwards or the midpipe out of the way. If a shop put the midpipe on for you, they should have checked the clearance before letting you go.

Anyway, I'm sorry you're not having fun modding your G. Fix the small problems you have now and I'm sure you'll feel much better and enjoy the car more.

 

Yes these were my old cats. They had about 100 miles on them. I had no problems and I have the same exhaust. My exhaust was even out back and had no rattles. When I installed mine I bent the heat sheild on the car up and also bent the corner of the driver cat up. Never had any rattles.

 

well this is definately an issue of the length of one of the cats being greater than another. the y pipe is not on hangers if anyone is familiar with the setup of the coupe exhaust. therefore it being connected to the midpipe would drag it down if one or both of the cats were not tightly enough fit