After almost a week after having my Brullen Y-pipe installed,
I'd like to relate my experiences,opinions,etc.
1) Power gains - The butt meter definitely registers an increase in torque throughout the rev range. The pipe is definitely well worth it for this reason in my opinion.
2) Sound - For me I experience some rasp when the car is first started and goes away within a couple of seconds. Definitely no drone at highway speeds. From the outside, the exhaust sounds slightly deeper to me. Besides the Y-pipe, my exhaust is stock.
3) Fit - the guy that installed mine had problems getting the pipe to line up correctly with the precats. We actually had to use a big pry bar to get things lined up so we could install the bolts. Although SVTCuervo's fit fine, I'm glad I didn't try to install it myself without a lift. To me it was well worth the $55 I paid to have it installed. Another issue was the nuts and bolts supplied with the pipe. While nice that they were stainless steel, the nuts wouldn't tighten very far on the bolts, even with airtools so we had to use another set.
4) Finish - I was not expecting the pipe to come painted and I was pleasantly suprised by the flat black color. We'll see how long it takes before things start getting rusty.
5) Misc comment - For a while, I would get the smell of burning plastic coming from underneath the car and at one point, I thought I saw smoke. I didn't know if maybe the slack in the O2 sensor wire had come loose and was touching the Y-pipe or if the smell was coming from the heating of the paint. After talking to SVTCuervo, he assured me that the smell was coming from the gaskets for the cat. Sure enough, the smell is going away over time to the point that I have to look under the car to smell it.
All in all, this was definitely a good mod and I put it up there with the Pro-M 75mm MAF as far as gains.
Once again, thanks SVTCuervo for putting this group buy together.
