So as you can see, it is a beautiful day.
We've been having a bunch of rain for the past few days.
It is a Friday, and that just makes it all the more exciting for me 'cause I'm gonna go
install something on the car.
It's gonna be my first install on the car since I got it.
I've had it about a week now.
So back here we have the Dinan mid-pipe.
I'm gonna go ahead and install that.
It does require you to cut the exhaust though.
That would be my first time doing such a modification like that but it seems pretty straight forward.
So the reason I went with the Dinan mid-pipe is because I figured it's probably the easiest
exhaust mod to do.
From what I've read, it doesn't seem like a muffler delete would be the way to go if
you want a sound improvement.
Again, sound is very subjective though.
Some people like it; some people dont.
Ok, let's get this show on the road!
[Music]
[Car stars up]
Almost.
Now!
You have to wait for this to cool down right?
The exhaust?
Yeah.
So I'm here in the garage.
We have rolled the car onto ramps and I'm having issues actually jacking up the car.
I didn't realize how tight it was under there.
So I'm trying to figure out how to get under the car first.
And I still haven't figured it out.
But I know step 1 is I have to change.
So I'm gonna go ahead and change first.
I guess once I figure it out, I'll get back to it.
I don't know if I can even reach it.
Oh, that's hot!
This is doable..
OK.
This is the clearance I have.
I don't know if I'm showing this properly.. but I can pretty much just touch the top and
bottom.
Ahh!
Oh, man.
This is a difficult job.
I should have given myself a whole day for this.
So this is the tool I'm gonna need.
It's a T55 bit.
This is to remove the cross-member.
This is the hardest part.
So I'm cutting it right at the dimple.
Here we go.
You don't wanna push too hard.
You wanna still be able to turn it.
This will probably take a few hours.
Have I made any pro- yeah I have.
How much progress have I made?
Nice!
Less than a millimetre.
How thick is this pipe?!
But my clamp is getting tighter.
I don't know if it's showing, but I am pretty much maxed out on the tightness of the clamp.
Have to go to the next step on the saw.
[sawing]
So we're going to Rona because that piece of [bleep] doesn't work.
We're gonna get a reciprocating saw, so..
Let's go!
Alright, so I finally got it off.
Now it's in two bits over there.
It was hard, man.
It's been probably 2 hours or so to get this off?
And I used this.
So, it works!
The problem is it wasn't making the cut right at the top.
Everything was cut at the bottom and I ended up scratching a little bit of the pipe but
finally it's off and the exhaust is hanging more freely now.
So, next step is to remove the mid-pipe all the way in there.
So I'm gonna get some lighting under there and see if I can get it removed.
So the next thing I'm gonna wanna do is take a 14mm socket and remove these 2 here.
Ohh that exhaust is falling on me.
The resonator is resting on my chest right now.
They're loose enough to take off by hand.
Gotta remember where these go.
Just remember them for when I install everything back on.
Once I have that loosened, it should come off.
Next thing you wanna do is remove the cross-member.
And to do that, you need the T45 bit (the star or the hex star one).
Remove 6 of these.
Ugh, it's kinda tight though.
Nah, it's OK.
Before removing all the T45 screws you're gonna wanna remove the T55 ones here.
There's 2 of them in the back closer to the rear of the car.
I got the bits luckily.
So I'm gonna be removing this as well.
This one is a little tighter, it feels like.
[clanging]
I just got it off!
This is the OEM pipe.
This is hard without a hoist!
It's been several hours and my hands are dirty.
At least they're not bleeding.
That's probably what I don't want.
Ahh!
It's so far!
I was gonna pull it out but I can probably pull it from the front.
No, I'll pull it from the side.
Scrape because low.
Here's the OEM piping.
I'm gonna put it right here.
That's the whole part that has to come out.
Now, you can see the resonator.
One of them gone.
And the other resonator as well: gone.
So that's what this pipe achieves.
this is the Dinan mid-pipe alongside the OEM one.
And you can see both are gone.
It should increase the volume.
It should change the tone.
So I'm gonna go ahead and install these now.
It's just a matter of putting them all back.
This will be a lot easier just because it's not one long pipe.
I didn't even have to remove the cross-member because of there's the T55 screws and I couldn't do it.
I don't have enough torque.
I don't have a breaker bar for that size.
I'm gonna install the Dinan mid-pipe now.
The kit comes with three 80mm clamps.
Here they are.
First one is gonna go at the front right beside the "cat".
Obviously, I'm gonna wanna loosen this first.
OK, for reference this is not 14mm.
I never use 15mm, this is 15mm!
Before you install it, you're gonna wanna put it here.
Get a shot of this actually. It says 80mm, yeah?
Is it clear?
Mhm.
Good.
Just put it on loosely for now.
So, the nice thing about the Dinan mid-pipe is that it keeps the stock diameter of 3 inches
or 80mm.
OK, so we're good to go.
I'm going back under the car to install this.
This should be a lot easier because it is 2 pieces rather than one long one with many
bends, with 2 resonators.
So when you get under here, the mid-pipe is gonna slide right onto the catalytic converter
pipe.
It's gonna slide right on without a struggle.
Make sure it's in as much as possible, kind of a cover.
There's little dots on this thing.
They weren't exposed before when I removed the OEM one.
So maybe push it in as far as it can go and also keep an eye on this screw here as well.
Once you do that, you're probably gonna wanna secure it with this one first just so it's
in there for kind of a reference point.
Then you're gonna want this bolt facing downwards right at the tip here.
It's gonna be right about here when you start tightening it.
I'm gonna tighten the 14mm one first because this one will provide me support for when
I adjust the pipe.
Now that you got the mid-pipe installed you're gonna wanna put the T45 bolts back on.
Here they are.
I actually put already 3 of them just to help myself out.
Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to do this with one hand.
Sorry if this is upside down because I am upside down right now.
Now you're gonna torque these down.
I do not know the torque specs off the top of my head so I'm gonna have to look it up
later and revisit this when I get a chance.
Alright, so the next thing you wanna do is have this section here.
Install both of the clamps before installing it onto the car.
Just enough to get it on the pipe and do the other side.
If I have 'em in the wrong direction I'm just gonna reinstall them anyway.
We'll see how it looks.
So we're installing the last section of the pipe here.
We have both clamps already on it.
Now we're just gonna slip in the exhaust.
After we're done this part, the last part to do is just gonna be the adjustments.
We want it sit like this by the end of it roughly.
I can't see it, but yeah.
This is what it looks like.
You can control how much sag there is on the tips just by turning this clockwise or counter-clockwise
at the elbow of the pipe.
So watch.
If I turn it clockwise, it'll sag.
So the solution is to turn it counter-clockwise as per the instructions by Dinan.
How's it look?
Is it touching the bumper?
It's very close.
Pull down a bit.
It's easily adjustable.
This looks about right.
What do you think?
Yeah.
You also wanna adjust how far they stick out, so that is adjusted by this pipe here.
You want it to stick out equally because they might not by the end of this.
You wanna adjust the whole axle.
This should be good.
I'm happy with this fitment almost.
It's currently 9:33PM.
It has taken me- well not that long because I got off work at 4:30PM.
I probably got started here around 5:30-6:00.
It's been about 3-3.5 hours but I'm done.
I'm gonna start the car for the first time - give it a cold start.
I hope everything is done.
If not, then I'm gonna adjust it.
Let's take a look at the tips actually before we start the car.
It's really easy to adjust the tips.
Just rotate the last section of the pipe and it should adjust as much as you want.
[Engine starts up]
So this is the cold start.
I'm gonna give it a couple of revs in Comfort Mode then I'm gonna switch to Sport Mode.
That should open up the exhaust valve on the left side.
[Revving engine]
So, that's it!
That's the Dinan mid-pipe.
This was a fun install - kind of, not really.
The next time around will get easier.
Again, this is my first time doing something like this.. cutting the exhaust.
Umm, yeah!
[Music]