Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Performance Finished Stock Y Pipe mod.

This mod is most definitely not for the faint of heart. It was a real pain and I had some questions on whether or not I was going to be able to get it back together. I finished at one in the morning friday night and I was glad I was done. If anyone else is considering doing this think twice and if you do it don't use a cutting torch to seperate the two pipes. Use a reciprocating saw and save your self alot of trouble. I did finish and everything lined up good with no exhaust leaks. One bolt on the rear flange stripped and that was a pain as well. I had to drill the old one out because the stud was frozen as well. Drilling a hardened bolt without a carbide bit sucks. But the rewards were worth it. The car excellerates much smoother and it did seem to add some low end torque. It is a little louder but it does sound good with the magnaflows I put on last weekend. I also removed the 2" constriction from the cat to the flange of the SVT exhaust. If I had to do it all over again I would but I would just do it differently.

DaveNC

Congrats on a great home made mod! I had mine done at an exhuast shop but they cut and spliced exactly like I asked. They had a lift and used a reciprocating saw and finished the job in about an hour or so. I'm curious how you merged the pipes and hooked up to the cat and other pipes. (Any pics??)

The flash on my camera was broken so I couldn't take any pictures. I sent the camera back for repair. I just finished a step by step howto write up that will be under the performance mod section that explains what I did. I kept the same cat and flange just opened up the the inside of the Y pipe. It was really constricted so I noticed an immediate performance increase. I welded the heat shield back on when I was finished. If you looked under my car you wouldn't be able to tell I modified the Y pipe other than the welds on the heat shield.

Regards,
Dave

T