OP
OP
DewHawk
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Rob
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2021
- Threads
- 16
- Messages
- 636
- Reaction score
- 1,271
- Location
- Aurora, CO
- Website
- www.instagram.com
- Vehicle(s)
- '21 JLURD, '04 M3
- Occupation
- USAF F-16 Crew Chief
- Thread starter
- #46
More progress over the last couple days:
New Morimoto 2Banger pod lights on the cowl and the naming of Achilles. I felt it was finally time to make it official considering Kiwi never had a chance to wear it's name.
After testing the Morimoto pods and being most pleased with the results, I decided to order an additional set of 2Banger's that I'll be stepping up on the bracket to shoot over the existing lights. I HIGHLY recommend them if it's on your list to get pods. They come in a variety of sizes/outputs/and light patterns to fit whatever your goal is. I've seen the equivalent Baja and Diode working at night in the past. These BLOW them both out of the water. There's just no comparison.
Beyond that, I discovered a while back that the stock exhaust was exhibiting signs of early corrosion. Being an Ex-Florida jeep, I wasn't super surprised to see it, but I was a little annoyed. Fortunately it gave me a golden opportunity to try something very few 4xe owners have even considered.
(yes, I'm aware of the lower shock bolts. literally going to reverse it as soon as I finish this)
Introducing Achilles new War Cry, courtesy of Pypes exhaust. I wasn't sure what to expect from this 'crawler style' muffler delete, but I figured for $90 it was worth a shot. I did run into some unexpected issues during install, mostly centered around the fact that I have Metalcloak drop spacers installed on the sway bar to supplement the end links. There was ZERO clearance, and the hanger just did not want to seat into the factory bushing. I was able to rectify these issues with a small torch, hammer and a pipe wrench by bending the hanger where it was really needed and pounding out some extra room on the top of the pipe. This worked perfectly as now fits snug without banging into anything. I want to also point out that before this install I went for a 15 minute drive to run some errands, but when I returned to start the job, I put my hand on the muffler to start removing it, quickly retracted it and went looking for my gloves. It was BARELY 50*F outside at this point and that muffler was PIPING hot to the touch. I was lucky I didn't burn myself, but it gives you an idea just how much bull$hit sound insulation material is in the muffler itself just trapping heat and exhaust unnecessarily.
The tone is interesting. It's not ricey or obnoxious at all (something I was REALLY worried about being this is still a 4 cylinder turbo) and the noise it emits doesn't really intrude into the cabin much more than before. I did a couple different runs down a 45mph road mixing windows up and windows down (radio off for both) and varying my throttle inputs between slow accel, floored, cruise, etc. I'd like to hear it drive by me to really sign off on it but so far I'm pretty pleased with my choice. It doesn't drone at all from what I can tell (at least not audibly enough to be obnoxious) and the sound is a very raw/throaty kind of growl even up at redline. It's not peaky or metallic nor is it boomy or clunky (sorry, trying my best to describe without video or sound references).
Simply put, if you're like me and plan on keeping your 4xe, it's worth considering dumping the muffler for the extra clearance. The other freebie with this is you now don't even need to think about getting a skid for the factory muffler. Saves weight, adds clearance, gives a little rumble, doesn't cost a ton; do I need to say more?
New Morimoto 2Banger pod lights on the cowl and the naming of Achilles. I felt it was finally time to make it official considering Kiwi never had a chance to wear it's name.
After testing the Morimoto pods and being most pleased with the results, I decided to order an additional set of 2Banger's that I'll be stepping up on the bracket to shoot over the existing lights. I HIGHLY recommend them if it's on your list to get pods. They come in a variety of sizes/outputs/and light patterns to fit whatever your goal is. I've seen the equivalent Baja and Diode working at night in the past. These BLOW them both out of the water. There's just no comparison.
Beyond that, I discovered a while back that the stock exhaust was exhibiting signs of early corrosion. Being an Ex-Florida jeep, I wasn't super surprised to see it, but I was a little annoyed. Fortunately it gave me a golden opportunity to try something very few 4xe owners have even considered.
(yes, I'm aware of the lower shock bolts. literally going to reverse it as soon as I finish this)
Introducing Achilles new War Cry, courtesy of Pypes exhaust. I wasn't sure what to expect from this 'crawler style' muffler delete, but I figured for $90 it was worth a shot. I did run into some unexpected issues during install, mostly centered around the fact that I have Metalcloak drop spacers installed on the sway bar to supplement the end links. There was ZERO clearance, and the hanger just did not want to seat into the factory bushing. I was able to rectify these issues with a small torch, hammer and a pipe wrench by bending the hanger where it was really needed and pounding out some extra room on the top of the pipe. This worked perfectly as now fits snug without banging into anything. I want to also point out that before this install I went for a 15 minute drive to run some errands, but when I returned to start the job, I put my hand on the muffler to start removing it, quickly retracted it and went looking for my gloves. It was BARELY 50*F outside at this point and that muffler was PIPING hot to the touch. I was lucky I didn't burn myself, but it gives you an idea just how much bull$hit sound insulation material is in the muffler itself just trapping heat and exhaust unnecessarily.
The tone is interesting. It's not ricey or obnoxious at all (something I was REALLY worried about being this is still a 4 cylinder turbo) and the noise it emits doesn't really intrude into the cabin much more than before. I did a couple different runs down a 45mph road mixing windows up and windows down (radio off for both) and varying my throttle inputs between slow accel, floored, cruise, etc. I'd like to hear it drive by me to really sign off on it but so far I'm pretty pleased with my choice. It doesn't drone at all from what I can tell (at least not audibly enough to be obnoxious) and the sound is a very raw/throaty kind of growl even up at redline. It's not peaky or metallic nor is it boomy or clunky (sorry, trying my best to describe without video or sound references).
Simply put, if you're like me and plan on keeping your 4xe, it's worth considering dumping the muffler for the extra clearance. The other freebie with this is you now don't even need to think about getting a skid for the factory muffler. Saves weight, adds clearance, gives a little rumble, doesn't cost a ton; do I need to say more?
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