Flyin' Miata exhaust on an NC
I bought a slightly used FM exhaust on here a couple of weeks back and said I would post pictures of it when I put it on.
Here's a before picture.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/PICT0053.jpg
And here's the after.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/PICT0059.jpg
I also took some comparative shots of the two systems.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/PICT0055.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/PICT0057.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/PICT0056.jpg
I did the job with the car on the floor but had to jack up the right rear a bit to make enough room for my impact to remove one of the flange nuts. The ends of the sides that fit through rubber bushings were mushroomed a bit on the stock system. I found prying the hole open a bit with a small screwdriver then spraying WD40 in help loosen them up a bit. Rocking the bushings back and forth then using channel locks mad it much easier to push the mushroom head back into the bushing. Then it was a matter of rocking and pulling it till it came through. This was the longest part of the job and took at least a half hour to free the four bushings.
The FM exhaust has bent bar ends instead of mushroomed ones and went in very easily. Make sure to insert through the thicker bushings first on each side while you still have plenty of side to side play. Then do the thinner ones. Then bolt to the mid pipe using original exhaust gasket.
Took me about an hour for removal and about 15 minutes for install. Overall, the sound is deeper and slightly louder than stock. Sounds best in downshifts. Looks better and is lighter too. I weighed the stock set at 26 lbs. and the FM was 5 lbs. lighter.
::Banana::
Hey - you said you wanted new rims....
