To those with Momentum headers, exhaust fitment question

[chrischhorn]

To the guys out there with Momentum headers, just wondering how everyone elses exhaust fitment is. My Y-pipe fitment is pretty damn tight and its causing it to not line up correctly with my test pipes. I'm just trying to figure out whether this is a test pipe fitment issue, exhaust fitment issue, or just something that comes along with the Momentum headers. I've had them on for a good while now and when I had my CNT exhaust, wasn't that big of a deal as it had a 2 piece H-pipe which helped with fitment. With the LiteSpeed exhaust, its a single piece Y-pipe so I cant adjust it that way. Basically, just wondering if the test pipes to Y/H-pipe is a tight squeeze for anyone else with the Momentum headers.

[MJB]

Chris, so far I've had an Ark DT-S and Litespeed exhaust with Z1 test pipes and AAM HFC's paired with my Momentum headers with little to no issues. I do remember that the Litespeed was tough to get it lined up with the test pipes, but it can be lined up just right with some work.

[chrischhorn]

thanks MJB. I have a feeling that the TopSpeed pipes may cause a little bit of a fitment issue also. I ordered some Z1 pipes to try so we'll see. I was just wondering if any one else had to massage it to make it fit. How did you go about doing it? I thought about assembling the entire exhaust WITH test pipes and then bolting the test pipes to the headers. My biggest issue right now is the kink from test pipes to Y-pipe. It took me a lot of force to even get it to bolt up.

[MJB]

Chris, what I did was snugged down the bolts to one side of the test pipe to y pipe, then I moved over to the other side and used a jack to force the y pipe to line up with the test pipes. Then I tightened that side down all the way, moved back to the other side that was snug, and tightened all the way. Like you said, you just have to massage it a little to get everything to work out. The Litespeed exhaust is definitely not the best fitting exhaust I've come across. We've already discussed the tail pipe issue...

[chrischhorn]

Originally Posted by MJB

Chris, what I did was snugged down the bolts to one side of the test pipe to y pipe, then I moved over to the other side and used a jack to force the y pipe to line up with the test pipes. Then I tightened that side down all the way, moved back to the other side that was snug, and tightened all the way. Like you said, you just have to massage it a little to get everything to work out. The Litespeed exhaust is definitely not the best fitting exhaust I've come across. We've already discussed the tail pipe issue...

If I snug down one side, I have to move the opposite side over almost a full inch to get the other bolts to line up on the other side. If my Z1 pipes show up by Thursday, I'm going to try to tackle this again.

My main concern is that with the kink in the exhaust I'm losing power. A LOT of power on the top end. 15whp to be exact since I use to make power all the way up to 8k and now my powerband plateaus at 6.8k. I went to get a retune after I swapped from CNT exhaust to litespeed and I highly doubt the exhaust itself is causing the loss as most people seem to have no issues with it and I didn't realize the kink was so bad till I looked over it again.

[Sh0velMan]

Originally Posted by chrischhorn

If I snug down one side, I have to move the opposite side over almost a full inch to get the other bolts to line up on the other side. If my Z1 pipes show up by Thursday, I'm going to try to tackle this again.

My main concern is that with the kink in the exhaust I'm losing power. A LOT of power on the top end. 15whp to be exact since I use to make power all the way up to 8k and now my powerband plateaus at 6.8k. I went to get a retune after I swapped from CNT exhaust to litespeed and I highly doubt the exhaust itself is causing the loss as most people seem to have no issues with it and I didn't realize the kink was so bad till I looked over it again.

Dude, hate to say it, but I don't think an exhaust kink would result in that kind of top end fall off. A greatly reduced flow capacity would, however...

Wasn't the CNT a true dual with an X pipe?

[chrischhorn]

Originally Posted by Sh0velMan

Dude, hate to say it, but I don't think an exhaust kink would result in that kind of top end fall off. A greatly reduced flow capacity would, however...

Wasn't the CNT a true dual with an X pipe?

Its a fairly signifcant kink. Literally half of the 2 1/2" opening is not lined up on the test pipes at the moment. The CNT exhaust was an H-pipe design (HKS replica) and with the 2 piece H-pipe, I was able to adjust to make it work unlike the current LiteSpeed exhaust Y-pipe that is a single piece and only has so much flex to it. I feel some other things attributed to the power loss also pre-dyno but I feel this is probably one of my larger issues.

[chrischhorn]

Just in case anyone cared, Top Speed test pipes just had a terrible fit. Swapped to Z1 test pipes today and everything went super smooth. Hats off to Z1 for a perfect fit product!