My Epic Ebay TBE Install Thread.
My Epic Ebay TBE Install Thread.
ok, im only posting this to give folks a heads up. I knew it was going to be cheap and probably not fit perfect before i bought it, but the system cost me $92.00.
First i removed all of the stock system, including manifold and hotside, because i was swapping those at the same time. It took me 3 hours to remove the stock TBE, manifold and hotside, and to re-install a ported manifold, 10.5 hotside, and ebay O2 housing. This was all pretty straightforward. i did not have any broken bolts, or studs, and i did not have to remove the radiator to get the hotside out. I did have to helicoil one hole in the hotside because i bought it with one hole boogered all to hell.
Second step and first issue:
The Ebay downpipe did not match up with the factory graphite donut gasket OR the one supplied with the Ebay O2 housing.
the donut that was supplied was way too big on the outside diameter to fit into the "socket" on the downpipe. i had to reuse the stock donut, but it required coaxing it onto the Ebay O2 housing. The next problem was that the socket part of the downpipe has a sharp ridge on the top, causing the donut gasket to not sit all the way down into it. 15 minutes with a die grinder smoothed the ridge out enough for the donut to slide down into the socket almost as good as the factory fitment.
second issue with the dowpipe/O2 housing:
for some stupid reason, the Ebay O2 housing came with studs for the downpipe to rigidly mount it. with no flex section, this would result in a sure leak, and possibly broken exhaust parts. I decided to use the factory spring bolts, and retain the flexible joint, as the factory had intended. but guess what, the threads in the O2 housing were different than the factory bolts. They were still metric, but a different pitch. i mean, if you're going to go to the trouble to use a metric tap in the first place, why the hell wouldnt you just go ahead and use the same pitch as factory. DUH. No big deal, we just ran the correct pitch tap through the holes, and this worked perfectly. other than that, overall the downpipe fit very well, matched up to the factory hangers, and cleared everything under the car.
now comes the fun. and really f-ed up parts.
i started at the back with the rear muffler section. long story short here, it didnt fit worth a $hit. we had to seriously massage both of the hangers on the pipe itself to get the tip in the right place, and to get the forward most flange not to hit the fuel tank on the passenger side. we also had to put a quarter size ding in the pipe for it to clear one of the bolts on the rear diff mount. lastly, the muffler strap clamp hanger thing was too long, so we had to cut the strap and re-bend it, just so it would actually clamp down around the muffler body. getting the rear section correct took about an hour and a half.
next, the midpipe. with the muffler section in the right place, the long straight midpipe was now not pointing in the right direction upstream. we had to completely cut off the rear flange, grind the pipe at an angle, and re weld it. another hour or so to do this part.
next came the testpipe area. luckily i knew this thing was going to sound like *** when i bought it, so i bought a 3" dynomax race bullet to put in place of the test pipe, but it wouldnt have mattered, because we would have had to cut both flanges off of the test pipe to get it to match up to the midpipe, and downpipe. i used the flanges from the testpipe, and welded them onto the bullet and bolted it in place. also, the bolts supplied with the exhaust are a joke, 3 different sizes of hardware, for three connections that all need the same size nuts and bolts.
after everything was bolted up solid, we started the car up and went for a drive. im SO glad i put the race bullet in there or else theres no way i could live with the sound. even with the extra muffler, the system is still pretty loud, and fairly ricey. I may replace the rear muffler and tip later with something a little quieter, but for now, its liveable, and doesnt sound too terrible. the system doesnt hit anything under the car, and doesnt drone on the highway.
so total, JUST for the Ebay "bolt on" exhaust, it took two highly skilled guys 6 hours to install. Thats with a lift, air tools, a band saw, die grinder, two welders, some metric taps and a vertical mill.
so, my advice to anyone thinking about buying an Ebay exhaust system for their Evo, you might want to think twice unless you have all of these tools, alot of free time and a really really good, talented friend to help you. IF, and thats a huge IF, you could even find an exhaust shop to touch this job, it would easily cost you over $600 in labor to have it put on.
First i removed all of the stock system, including manifold and hotside, because i was swapping those at the same time. It took me 3 hours to remove the stock TBE, manifold and hotside, and to re-install a ported manifold, 10.5 hotside, and ebay O2 housing. This was all pretty straightforward. i did not have any broken bolts, or studs, and i did not have to remove the radiator to get the hotside out. I did have to helicoil one hole in the hotside because i bought it with one hole boogered all to hell.
Second step and first issue:
The Ebay downpipe did not match up with the factory graphite donut gasket OR the one supplied with the Ebay O2 housing.
the donut that was supplied was way too big on the outside diameter to fit into the "socket" on the downpipe. i had to reuse the stock donut, but it required coaxing it onto the Ebay O2 housing. The next problem was that the socket part of the downpipe has a sharp ridge on the top, causing the donut gasket to not sit all the way down into it. 15 minutes with a die grinder smoothed the ridge out enough for the donut to slide down into the socket almost as good as the factory fitment.
second issue with the dowpipe/O2 housing:
for some stupid reason, the Ebay O2 housing came with studs for the downpipe to rigidly mount it. with no flex section, this would result in a sure leak, and possibly broken exhaust parts. I decided to use the factory spring bolts, and retain the flexible joint, as the factory had intended. but guess what, the threads in the O2 housing were different than the factory bolts. They were still metric, but a different pitch. i mean, if you're going to go to the trouble to use a metric tap in the first place, why the hell wouldnt you just go ahead and use the same pitch as factory. DUH. No big deal, we just ran the correct pitch tap through the holes, and this worked perfectly. other than that, overall the downpipe fit very well, matched up to the factory hangers, and cleared everything under the car.
now comes the fun. and really f-ed up parts.
i started at the back with the rear muffler section. long story short here, it didnt fit worth a $hit. we had to seriously massage both of the hangers on the pipe itself to get the tip in the right place, and to get the forward most flange not to hit the fuel tank on the passenger side. we also had to put a quarter size ding in the pipe for it to clear one of the bolts on the rear diff mount. lastly, the muffler strap clamp hanger thing was too long, so we had to cut the strap and re-bend it, just so it would actually clamp down around the muffler body. getting the rear section correct took about an hour and a half.
next, the midpipe. with the muffler section in the right place, the long straight midpipe was now not pointing in the right direction upstream. we had to completely cut off the rear flange, grind the pipe at an angle, and re weld it. another hour or so to do this part.
next came the testpipe area. luckily i knew this thing was going to sound like *** when i bought it, so i bought a 3" dynomax race bullet to put in place of the test pipe, but it wouldnt have mattered, because we would have had to cut both flanges off of the test pipe to get it to match up to the midpipe, and downpipe. i used the flanges from the testpipe, and welded them onto the bullet and bolted it in place. also, the bolts supplied with the exhaust are a joke, 3 different sizes of hardware, for three connections that all need the same size nuts and bolts.
after everything was bolted up solid, we started the car up and went for a drive. im SO glad i put the race bullet in there or else theres no way i could live with the sound. even with the extra muffler, the system is still pretty loud, and fairly ricey. I may replace the rear muffler and tip later with something a little quieter, but for now, its liveable, and doesnt sound too terrible. the system doesnt hit anything under the car, and doesnt drone on the highway.
so total, JUST for the Ebay "bolt on" exhaust, it took two highly skilled guys 6 hours to install. Thats with a lift, air tools, a band saw, die grinder, two welders, some metric taps and a vertical mill.
so, my advice to anyone thinking about buying an Ebay exhaust system for their Evo, you might want to think twice unless you have all of these tools, alot of free time and a really really good, talented friend to help you. IF, and thats a huge IF, you could even find an exhaust shop to touch this job, it would easily cost you over $600 in labor to have it put on.
Do yourself a favor and get rid of that exhaust. I know you probably have the modding bug and no cash to support it, but I would rather buy used name brand parts from this forum instead of going with ebay brand stuff. In the long run you'll be better off. Have some respect for your Evo.
Do yourself a favor and get rid of that exhaust. I know you probably have the modding bug and no cash to support it, but I would rather buy used name brand parts from this forum instead of going with ebay brand stuff. In the long run you'll be better off. Have some respect for your Evo.
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Not the experience I've had with the ebay exhausts. However, I wouldn't have been surprised if they ended up like this 
Exhaust is such a basic mod yet such a PITA its amazing. Gotta just fight through the details and make it work, or buy a name brand unit and ***** to them if you have problems.
Exhaust is such a basic mod yet such a PITA its amazing. Gotta just fight through the details and make it work, or buy a name brand unit and ***** to them if you have problems.
Good review of the product.
I bought one off eBay that was a tad more expensive...$230 shipped I believe....and it fit MUCH better than the one you bought.
Thats the problem with eBay, you can't even seem to find the same part again and you can't even tell which one is the "good" ones; since there all Chinese knock offs.
I bought one off eBay that was a tad more expensive...$230 shipped I believe....and it fit MUCH better than the one you bought.
Thats the problem with eBay, you can't even seem to find the same part again and you can't even tell which one is the "good" ones; since there all Chinese knock offs.
Now that you've been driving the car..... jack it up and look at the first flange from the rear of the car. Its very close to your driveshaft.... make sure that its not making contact. The ebay exhaust that was on my 03 was the same and it made contact.
e-gay, e-gay, e-gay FTL!!!!
I learned my lesson when I had a 06civic Si and I purchased an egay exhaust. The exhaust tip ended up being slightly skewed to the left. It sounded like azz.
I learned my lesson when I had a 06civic Si and I purchased an egay exhaust. The exhaust tip ended up being slightly skewed to the left. It sounded like azz.
Because it was 92 damn dollars.
92 dollars. That's less than a good hooker. That's less than a lot of name brand boost controllers. That's less than a port and polish job, for an entire exhaust.
Install might have been a pain, but damn, 92 dollars. 92. Dollars.
92 dollars. That's less than a good hooker. That's less than a lot of name brand boost controllers. That's less than a port and polish job, for an entire exhaust.
Install might have been a pain, but damn, 92 dollars. 92. Dollars.