[chief2001]

Making a custom exhaust from headers back.

just a quick pic of what I’ve received so far. Picture is shortened to fit everything but it’s polished 304 stainless steel mandrel bent.

 

[chief2001]

Mostly done mocking up the exhaust. Just a few more bits but here’s what I’m going with. top is my decat oem mid pipe. middle is a high flow catylitic converter. bottom is a decat with a resonator in place of the catylitic converter. will be easy to swap out with the v-clamps im using. still working on the rest, but all the cuts have been made. everything still needs welding.

 

[chief2001]

New parts for the white baleno. New rear brake lines for both. The blue balenos will break when I attempt to remove so will be replaced. The white baleno lines will be replaced only if they break but seems unlikely.

 

[chief2001]

After a full day with my my fathers help got the entire front end sorted including my braided lines that require some modifications. I tried two different mods the later working best and will say I hated cutting metal on my car then realized wasn’t necessary. :/. Anyways update pics. Braided lines will be secured with a bracket not shown once I test drive it.

 

[chief2001]

Small update on on the brake upgrade. After two track days months of autox and some normal city driving. I’ve come up with a ratio of about 3 pad changes per rotor set. I’m installing my 3rd set and the EBC kit with the brake caliper upgrade seems very much worth it even just for the longevity you’re sure to get if not using the car in high performance scenarios. Even when the pads are pretty much in need of replacement they stop the car well. It’s a bit pricy, but the benifits will offset it. If the full upgrade (calipers and brake kit) is too much for you I would still recommend the ebc green stuff pads for your OE calipers.

 

[chief2001]

The 2.3L is now in. I lost a bolt though for the right side mount, don’t ask how I managed that. Hopefully can start it up by next weekend. Got a lot of cables and hoses to attach and still need to install the starter.

Hopefully my clutch installation was done well.

 

[chief2001]

So the last version of the j23 is a little bit different. the J18 oil pan will undergo some modification with a high precision hammer.

J18 oil pan on the left J23 on the right

this is also different

J18

 

[chief2001]

Hoping I can run the old fuel out but added a second temporary inline filter. That’s some pretty old fuel. just need to add fluids. Not adding the radiator yet. It’s just to make sure everything is running correctly before I test drive it. Still needs the exhaust finished. I have a hard deadline to meet, so expect more regular updates this month.

Aiming for its first breath of life tomorrow.

 

[chief2001]

She lives once more

 

[chief2001]

brand new parts for mostly the white baleno.

left and right sunvisors

washer tank caps

rear view mirror

MT front mount

Gas tank hose

 

[chief2001]

For those of you not checking my ig basically welding up a full custom stainless steel system with easily swappable sections.

 

[chief2001]

If you’re interested in the cost of this exhaust system it’s roughly costing me about 1100 USD to make myself including all the tools. Biggest cost was the ceramic coated headers I bought over 12 years ago. They needed some tweaking unfortunately to fit correctly, despite the changes I made, it just BARELY clears my oilpan. “Clears” meaning it’s touching. I’ll need to add some heat reflecting tape to the oilpan to keep some heat away. Only plus is that since there’s no catylitic converter there anymore, is technically cooler but still gonna be pretty hot.

 

[MidknightCowboy]

If you’re interested in the cost of this exhaust system it’s roughly costing me about 1100 USD to make myself including all the tools. Biggest cost was the ceramic coated headers I bought over 12 years ago. They needed some tweaking unfortunately to fit correctly, despite the changes I made, it just BARELY clears my oilpan. “Clears” meaning it’s touching. I’ll need to add some heat reflecting tape to the oilpan to keep some heat away. Only plus is that since there’s no catylitic converter there anymore, is technically cooler but still gonna be pretty hot.

Is this the Road Race or something like that header?

 

[chief2001]

Okay, think the exhaust is finally ready to get put in for real. I’ll hopefully have it finished tomorrow, but it’s actually quieter than the blue baleno at idle…..I don’t know how though, other than I just made the best combo possible. I’ll try and get a small audio clip/video tomorrow. Sounds good, think a rasp when giving throttle is a loose bolt/flange as it goes away randomly. It actually is positioned to stick out enough past the bumper now. It used to be tucked in further before. Some pics until I get it finished.

 

[chief2001]

I finished the rear half of the exhaust however the front half from the header section has a leak so it needs to be patched up before I can say it’s actually finished. But here is a picture showing the rear half as it will be put in the car. The welds aren’t pretty but they’re not actually bad so I’m pretty happy with them as it’s the first time I’ve taken on a project this big.

Because there is still an exhaust leak in the front I won’t upload a sound clip of the exhaust until it’s patched up but it sounds really nice at idle. And by nice I mean you almost can’t even hear that the car is on if you want to listen to it you can check out my Instagram if you just can’t wait.

 

[chief2001]

So I kind of messed up and somehow I made the timing on the engine get messed up because my timing chain slipped I believe when I tried clutch starting the car since the battery was dead I know that’s not the best way to do it but was easier for me to do that at the time but it’s biting me in the butt now it looks like I’m going to have to redo the timing chain and all the other parts related to it in order to fix that issue because the engine is running horribly now and I did check the master link on the timing chain and it is off on the intake side and I was able to pull out a piece of broken plastic that looks like it went to the tensioner for the timing chain so something definitely is out of whack now

 

[2013GV]

How many bent valves?

 

[chief2001]

How many bent valves?

I don’t think any, I’m gonna check compression again but was seeing 185 and 17X in another. Just prior was reading 0 all the way across but removed a broken piece of chain tensioner and got those readings on two of them and the car was running again.the day before was running the same and on the third time running was back to normal as if nothing was wrong. So I’m totally confused.Going to do a compression test again later. See what I’m seeing on all 4 again. Cause the symptoms make zero sense and if the car runs normally again today, I’m going to be totally lost. lol

 

[chief2001]

Haven’t gotten to the engine yet, but full polyurethane bushings are now installed all around on the white Baleno.

 

[chief2001]

Starting the pain in the butt process of checking the timing correctly but small steps.