Probably took 3-3.5 hours all in all. (The UP probably only added an hour to everything... I think it was a combination of new car and luck!) Had a massive leak where the DP meets the catback. I tried the Helix gasket, which seemed insufficient to me..and I was right. The flanges don't line up perfectly and there's a gap at the top. I tried Gruppe-S's recommendation of reversing the stock donut gasket, and it appears to seal for now. We'll see if I have to dig into it later. Everything seems fine. Going to take a shower and then do a proper testdrive. Will figure out how to hack up the stock heatshield in a few days; I am leaving it off so I can go back and re-torque everything after a few days' of heat cycling.
Everything's fine so far, went on a short test drive. It spools faster (full boost at 3000 now vs around 3500 before), and has a little more pull. I'd expect it to make more of a difference once the ECU had had a chance to adjust itself appropriately. Now for the comments.... here's how I did it, it may or may not work for you! 10mm box wrench, 10mm socket+extensions to remove all heatshield bolts. 14mm box wrench, 14mm socket+extensions to remove downpipe bolts. 12mm socket + extension to remove bolts for splash shield. There's a few pop-out things there too. O2 sensor socket for O2 sensors (one through pop access panel in wheel well & one on the midpipe). I bought one, so anybody who wants to borrow it, feel free. 12mm socket + extensions to remove heat shield under exhaust manifold. 14mm box wrench, 14mm socket + extensions to remove exhaust manifolds bolts/nuts (to engine, crossover pipe and uppipe). 14mm(might be a 12 in there too) box wrench/socket to remove downpipe to centerpipe connection and hanger bolts. 14mm socket + long (10-12") extension to remove uppipe bolts and loosen turbo brackets. 12mm box wrench to remove EGT sensor (easier to get to for me after the UP was loose so I could move it around). Then pull uppipe towards where the exhaust manifold was and then rotate it 180 degrees while pushing it back up and over the axle and stuff... it came right out without any wiggling or complications. I think pulling the EGT sensor was key here. Re-assemble everything. Be pissed off at exhaust leak from shitty Helix supplied gasket. Swap gasket for reversed stock donut. Go for a drive. Freak people out when smoke comes through the hood scoop.
Have you done the ECU Learning Trick, programs your ECU in 5 seconds? First: With the car fully warmed up, reset the ECU. This can be done by killing power the ECU or by simply pulling off the neg. battery terminal and pressing the brake pedal for a couple of seconds. Second: Drive to a nice open road without traffic. Don't go on boost until you get there. Put the car into gear (3rd gear works the best) bring the revs up to 2600rpm. Push the go pedal down slightly so boost stays right around 2-4psi. You will need to MAINTAIN 2500rpm and 2-5psi for approx 5 seconds. You can do this by left-foot braking gently as to prevent acceleration. During these few seconds, the advance multiplier (which you can't see so you'll have to trust me) will go from 8, to 12 and then to 16. Works like a charm. And on our reflashed ECU, is worth an immediate 10-20 horsepower
Yeah, wasn't it Shiv from Vishnu who posted that a while back? Was thinking about giving that a go....
Yeah, I think Vishnu figured it out. It works great. Even better if your have the EcuTek Dashboard Moniter because you can actually watch your Advanced Multiplier go up.
Yeah, I wish I did... I'll go ahead and give it a go tonight or tomorrow. Might yank the exhaust gasket and slosh some high temp gasket maker on it just to be safe too.
OK, the Vishnu trick did it. I wasn't too impressed after the install (reset the ECU and drove like 10-15 miles).... so reset it again, and rode the brake and gas holding 4psi or so at 2500rpm for 6-7 seconds. And holy sh*t! :eek3: It's a different beast now. Great pull and great++++ sound. Of course, once I get engine management it'll be even more fun.
Moving this to DIY. Glad to hear that you did not have to do the superman removal like we had to do with mine :rofl:
glad everything is done... both mike and i had leaks where the helix dp meets the catback... we used 2 gaskets and it was fine
Two of the cheapie gaskets that came with it? The stock one seems ok for now.. I figure if it leaks I'll use another donut gasket and put a thick bead of the ultra high temp gasket maker stuff on each side.
Yeah, it's just a short cut to something the ECU will figure out by itself over a few days or so. You'll get the same power increase, just not immediately.
would this method only work for cars wit DPs or cars like mine? (axle-back)? should i do this before getting the accessport? (getting them on TODAY!!!!!!!!!)
so when buying a helix DP, it would be smart to pick up two gaskets huh? are those OEM gaskets or something else?
^^^ +1 on that question. I just installed my Perrin Catback yesterday and have a Helix DP waiting to go on in the next week or so. I bought a 3" 2 hole gasket... is that not going to be enough? Also, I could barely use those 2 springs at the DP/Cat-back connection(had 2 compress them almost all the way). The flange on the Helix DP is even thicker... Do I need longer bolts to re-use the springs????
The Advance Multiplier functionality is part of the ECU program and will not be affected by your changing the maps via AP, Ecutek, or any other way. What CAN be affected is the initial Advance Multiplier value, which effectively determines how long it takes the car to bring it up to max...
Glad you guys find it useful. It can be tricky to wrestle the uppipe out, but I have yet to see a case where you couldn't... sure beats lifting the motor or pulling the turbo if you ask me.
You're just speeding up the learning process... I suppose that theoretically you could screw something up by allowing for full advance without the ECU learning it gradually, but that's not really likely.