My Cefiro #6: Exhaust

My Cefiro #1: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-cefiro-1-carsales-ad.html

My Cefiro #2: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-cefiro-2-inspection-and-test-drive.html

My Cefiro #3: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-cefiro-3-buying-it-and-bringing-it.html

My Cefiro #4: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-cefiro-4-starting-modifications.html

My Cefiro #5: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-cefiro-5-first-drive-and-photos.html

After booking the car in to Smooth Garage to get a new exhaust, I headed back to the workshop a few days later. The cannon exhaust on the car was huge, and also mounted quite a lot lower than it needed to be, so I ended up getting them to make twin 2 inch straight pipes from the diff back. Apart from the tougher sound, it would also be able to tuck up nicely in the rear bumper's exhaust outlet, as opposed to hanging another 10 centimetres or so lower underneath it like the cannon. All photos taken with a Canon Powershot A470 compact.

It was a fairly simple job, so while they worked on making up, welding and cutting the new pipes, I just sat down on a lounge in the waiting area and flicked through a large pile of car magazines stacked on the table. 

This day was really not a good one in regards to my health. Despite the fact that I was sitting down on a comfortable lounge, I was so fatigued and nauseated most of the time that just being there was stretching myself pretty far. It was a day where I really should  been lying down. Bright fluro lights have the tendency to give me a mix of a headache and light head, so sitting there for a few hours with the loud banging metal noises wasn't a whole heap of fun.

I was sitting in an area to the left of this photo, but came back for a quick look every now and then to see how things were progressing. Not that I could see much of the exhaust at this distance and angle. While I was sitting back down reading the magazines, I heard the sound of an RB engine crank and start. My first thought was 'wow, that car sounds tough, I wonder what it is?' Then looking across as the car slowly rolled into view, I saw that the car was mine. Despite the waiting being unpleasant, hearing how good the Cefiro sounded definitely put a smile on my face.

You can see the close-up of my awesome painting skills here, along with the new straight pipes.

If you go back and have a look at the original cannon exhaust, you can see how much higher up the twin pipes sit, and aesthetically it seemed to make the rear end flow more nicely. Well, discounting the obviously mangled bumper which looks like it's been attacked by a 5 year old with a cigarette lighter and liquid paper anyway.

So after taking these few photos of the new exhaust setup, I jumped back into the driver's seat, started the car and trundled out onto the road. At idle the exhaust sound was noticeably louder, and once I got going on the road, it definitely had a tougher sound to it. I deliberately took the Port Expressway home, so I could give the Ceffy a bit of a boot up to 90 to see how it sounded accelerating at higher revs.

After turning and moving into the merging lane at around 40, I shifted back to second gear, so it would have a bit more of a boost kick. After checking for other traffic, I planted my foot on the accelerator and got it up to 90 as fast as it knew how. Between the power, the sounds of the engine, exhaust and turbo, it's safe to say that put another big smile on my face.

Coming up in Post #7: A quick shoot using 3 Nikon Speedlight external flash units for lighting.