Doug Thorley post-cat exhaust installed

[race911]

I spent about 45 minutes popping mine on just now (couple of interruptions). Started it, but haven't driven it, so here's the installation from my perspective. Almost 30 years of pro and amateur wrenching, mainly Porsches, so take that for what it's worth......

Did it on the ground. I've got a dozen vending machines in my "race car" space at the shop, and just did it on the driveway outside one of the doors. Worked out fine.

Make sure car is cold, or hasn't been run recently. All I did was move mine from one place in my parking lot where it sat for the past 30 hours, and things were already toasty (see below).

Disconnect battery? No, not for this.

Tools? Ratcheting wrenches! I just used the 5/16" for the cat heat shield, and 3/8" for the cat/muffler bolts. Basic Torx 25 for the valance, and the SMALL flat blade for the valance pins. And a small, hinged mechanic's mirror might be handy.

So.....follow instructions for removing valance.

Then you get to instruction step #6. Oh, it's missing. Looking at #7, it's pretty obvious you need to peel back the luggage area carpet and the engine "lid" (or whatever it's technically called) and access the heat shield from the top.

Now onto that cat heat shield. The right (as you're looking down on it) and the center are removed from the top. Hope you've got small(ish) hands. Time to call your wife and have a little co-installation fun? Or your kid. Anyway, I used the ratcheting 5/16 and got them off pretty quick. Here's where having the car cooled off pays dividends. Easy to get a burn in various places here.

So back underneath to remove the final heat shield bolt. Push heat shield up slightly; it doesn't move too much.

To actually remove the exhaust, I used the ratcheting 3/8" wrench. Remove bolts, save flange gasket and wrestle the muffler from the rubber hangers.

I lubed up the hangers, positioned the muffler in place, popped the gasket in between the muffler and cat, thread the bolts and tighten.

Now onto reattaching the heat shield. Putting those little bolts back in is twice as fun as removing (for me, anyway). I used the mirror to see that it was positioned correctly over the threads, and ended up reinstalling the middle one first. Then the right one. (As the instructions state, the left one isn't used as it attaches to the stock muffler.)

Follow instructions 13-16, and you're done!

[donnyonee]

its been on for a week now,
feels so powerful!
havent checked my milage yet.
has a much nicer tone.
yes im happy with it.

[bottlerocket]

Where did you guys put your Doug Thorley sticker?

[race911]

OK, so now that I've had it on for a couple of days (about 150 miles).

Cabrio and this exhaust probably are NOT the best match if you're looking for whisper quiet. Doesn't bother me at all, but not everyone here has been messing with race cars for going on 30 years.........

Performance? No way to verify, nor do I care about getting geeky with dyno numbers. What I CAN say is that there's this stretch of freeway (Hwy 13 in Oakland, NB from about Redwood Road to Joaquin Miller) that, stock, the car just can't really do at 65 in 5th. It loses speed or downshifts. Not now. So there's definitely more under the torque curve.

Glad I got it? Yes. Recommended as a must have? Probably not, simply for the noise. But that's not a knock on this exhaust v. any other than stock. There's no free lunch.

In any case, if you're curious and considering one, you can come over and check mine out either in the Concord area at my shop or at home in Oakland.

[rgwellsjr]

It was really pretty straight forward. Would have been a little easier if I had a 5/16 ratchet end box wrench, AND if I had waited for it to cool down a little. If the whole thing took an hour and fifteen minutes, taking out the 3 heat shield bolts must have taken 45 minutes ( I have pretty big hands and no patience, so my forearms are a little tender now) Putting the heat shield back in place was easier because I could do it from under the car as the DT muffler is smaller than stock.

Sounds great Looking forward to seeing how/if it improves the mileage (averaging about 42.5 over the first 2800 miles)

[drew55]

Originally Posted by rgwellsjr

It was really pretty straight forward. Would have been a little easier if I had a 5/16 ratchet end box wrench, AND if I had waited for it to cool down a little. If the whole thing took an hour and fifteen minutes, taking out the 3 heat shield bolts must have taken 45 minutes ( I have pretty big hands and no patience, so my forearms are a little tender now) Putting the heat shield back in place was easier because I could do it from under the car as the DT muffler is smaller than stock.

Sounds great Looking forward to seeing how/if it improves the mileage (averaging about 42.5 over the first 2800 miles)

I did mine in about an hour without taking the heat shield loose.I used a 5/16 ratcheting box wrench to get the one heat shield bolt out. I used a ratcheting 3/8 box wrench to get the bolts out for the muffler. It was an excellent fit-little louder than I like but I think I'll get used to it.

[corydoitch]

thats badass!

[RussBarnes]

Took me an hour and fifteen. Wish it was just a little quieter, but love the added feel and the difference in the reading on scangauge.

[scdaf]

Originally Posted by RussBarnes

Took me an hour and fifteen. Wish it was just a little quieter, but love the added feel and the difference in the reading on scangauge.

Sure would be nice if somebody could be less cryptic about what that difference might be. Have yet to see anybody post acceleration time or fuel economy differences pre and post installation.

C'mon folks, share! Dave

[RussBarnes]

It takes me several weeks to use a tank of fuel since I need to drive my diesel Excursion for work daily - smart is weekend grocery getter. Once I do I will post - promise. And you don't want my accerleration times, I drive for mpg not for qtr mile slips. And I have posted pre-change mpg - I was in the 350 club early on.