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05-12-2016, 11:48 PM #1
Project re-smog legal is done-ish. Mostly just a rant.
Forgive me for how the car looks. It lives outside in the CA desert weather year round. I can't fit it in the garage with my Buick parts everywhere.
Now, on with the boring stuff. I have been driving my Z on and off for the last few years (one year on, one year sitting, and so on) and it's been killing me to see it get so trashed because I can't always find someone who will smog the car for a couple hundred bucks due to the long tubes and no cat. I finally decided that I'm either going to sell it and get hardly anything and take a huge sentimental hit or buy smog legal parts (I.E. shorties and a cat).
So after talking to my wife (she misses riding in it) and fighting with my cheap side I saved up money and came across a deal on here for Edlebrock TES headers that are CARB legal. I swooped them up bought a 3in magnaflow CARB legal cat, a couple 45 bends, and some band clamps. Also bought some straight 3in pipe for after the smog, so I can swap it out and greatly extend the life of the cat.
This last week I put the headers on and started it up with open Ypipe just for fun and to compare the sound and was immediately disappointed. The sound with the long tubes was so mean yet sounded good, the sound with the edelbrocks is like open stock manifolds. So I suck it up and call it a night. Tonight I got my 45 bends and clamps so I can hook it up to my exhaust. I got it all put together with the band clamps, which are amazing btw, and start it up again and now I'm even more disappointed.
To me, it just sounds like a stock car with a muffler instead of a 3in catback with headers. I guess I've just had the long tubes so long I forgot what they did to the sound of the exhaust. I'm hoping after I put the test pipe in place of the cat it will be a little louder. I guess I need to deal with it if I want to drive the car.
Now after driving it, to me the power doesn't feel any different in the butt dyno. So in that aspect I'm satisfied. Reason I say done-ish in the title is because I'm slowly collecting parts for a cam swap. I just bought a set of 1.6 RR off here last week. Was looking at finding a hotcam also but I think I'm going to end up going with an LE custom grind so I can tell him exactly what I want out of it; and if funds are there a set of heads also. We'll see how it goes. I vowed to myself and my wife that I wouldn't take anymore side jobs after the Z is legal again so I can focus on my Buick that I was supposed to have done about 4 years ago.
Enough of my rant, on to the pics of my car that is in sad shape. I'll keep this thread updated as I get the car cleaned up and more presentable. Thanks for reading.
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05-13-2016, 12:29 AM #2Lurker
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- Jan 2014
- Name
- Daniel
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- 1996 Camaro Z28
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- Bay Area California
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- 485
I really hope that's not me in 2 years. I absolutely love the sound of long tubes and true duals. Luckily I have at least 5+ connects to smog. I really don't want to deal with swapping back to stock exhaust so I hope those guys are still around. Best of luck with the cam swap and all that.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkArctic White 1996 Z28. Stock internal LT1, CAI, LM1, MGW Shifter, 3.73's, some suspension junk, and shiny salad shooters (retired). Forgestar F14's 18x10 on all 4. Fun stuff coming soon. Also, Cali smog regulations suck...period. **Insert witty quote here** LT1FTW that is all. Have a nice day.
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05-13-2016, 02:12 AM #3"The Rock"
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- Popo
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- 1996 Impala with the heart of the old camaro. 1993 Corvette..
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If it makes you feel better, as you get older, at some point you will want it quieter (thats where Im at) so think of this as saving some money for then. Lol.
Seriously though I am amazed at the sand and dirt in the motor compartment. U must go through air filters weekly down there.
LTXtech.com IS my drug...
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1996 Camaro Z28: RIP 09/25/2016
1994 Trans Am GT: SOLD 05/2017
1985/1996GS clone: SOLD
1996 Impala SS H/C, LT, with true dual exhaust, 4.10s, lowered, with CPT trans, many cosmetic mods, and a whole lot more to come...
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05-13-2016, 08:36 AM #4LTX Regular
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- Nov 2011
- Name
- Marc
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- 1995 Formula
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Not to hijack your thread BUT...... just out of curiosity what type of Buick are you working on?
1995 FORMULA M6
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05-13-2016, 03:15 PM #5
Thanks man, it honestly wasn't hard at all swapping back to a smog legal header. The Edelbrocks went in easy and everything fit great. The hardest part was getting that AIR tube in. Had to loosen the acc bracket. I also had a ton of people at one point but then they dwindled away as CA got smarter. Last guy I found was $200 and my car is yearly so I bit the bullet and in two years my setup will pay itself back in savings being able to go to any smog shop without worry.
I think I already started to get there. I couldn't stand the short drive with the open Y pipe I did. The long tubes and ory with the magnaflow was still quiet but had a certain tone to it that I really enjoyed. After driving it today and giving it hell on a couple onramps I am satisfied with the WOT sound and it still pops on decel a bit, I always liked that. I'm going to get it cleaned up after work today and do some sound clips this weekend.
No problem, I've been trying to build my 65 Skylark sedan for years but things keep coming up. It's a pro-touring type build, but without all the money some guys have. It's getting a lt1 and t56. It's all in the car just having trouble tying up all the loose ends. I have a build thread here in the swap section but keep forgetting to update it.
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05-13-2016, 03:16 PM #6
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05-13-2016, 03:40 PM #7Lurker
- Status
- Offline
- Join Date
- Jan 2014
- Name
- Daniel
- Vehicle
- 1996 Camaro Z28
- Location
- Bay Area California
- Posts
- 485
Nice job man!
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkArctic White 1996 Z28. Stock internal LT1, CAI, LM1, MGW Shifter, 3.73's, some suspension junk, and shiny salad shooters (retired). Forgestar F14's 18x10 on all 4. Fun stuff coming soon. Also, Cali smog regulations suck...period. **Insert witty quote here** LT1FTW that is all. Have a nice day.
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05-14-2016, 12:53 AM #8"The Rock"
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- Offline
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- Popo
- Vehicle
- 1996 Impala with the heart of the old camaro. 1993 Corvette..
- Location
- Shillington, Pennsylvania, United States
- Posts
- 61,345
Congrats man!
LTXtech.com IS my drug...
OWNER/ADMIN
Our BIG MOMENT @ the 2012 LTXshootout
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=521756391174175
1996 Camaro Z28: RIP 09/25/2016
1994 Trans Am GT: SOLD 05/2017
1985/1996GS clone: SOLD
1996 Impala SS H/C, LT, with true dual exhaust, 4.10s, lowered, with CPT trans, many cosmetic mods, and a whole lot more to come...
2002 Caddilac EscaladeL CAI, lowered, 6.0 , AWD..
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06-08-2016, 11:11 PM #9
So I've been driving the car daily since it passed smog. I swapped out the cat for a test pipe so the cat will last probably longer than the engine in the car. I am highly satisfied with the sound after putting the test pipe in. The steering of the car is slightly better with LS shaft, so I guess my rag joint wasn't too worn out. Next on the list is to rebuild the front end. It has a lot of movement in it when hitting bumps or on rough roads. The control arm bushings are basically non existent and all of the shocks are junk. I have some Eibach pro kit front springs to put on when I get to buying shocks and then I'll do the heater hose in the rear. Pretty much just going to try to make this my daily and save the miles on my truck and hopefully get back to my Buick. All in time though, as of right now I'm just happy to drive it. I made a short video to show how the car sounds. I think it sounds different than other Magnaflow systems I've heard and I think it's because all the ones I see are a crossflow muffler and I used a single in dual out muffler and just had one side swoop back over for the dual tips.
Anyways, here's the video. I'm still getting used to the placement of the gopro as it has such a large viewing angle.
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06-08-2016, 11:12 PM #10
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