merc
06-19-2005, 07:39 PM
As some of you know I was annoyed by my exhaust drone. My current setup was loud, and at WOT it was impressive to hear. After my stereo upgrade and the addition of a C B radio I wanted to quite the cabin noise levels down. The other reason was poor workmanship of the X pipe and muffler installation. Before leaving to Marietta, it took months of careful consideration before making a purchase. Money is not made on trees and I didn’t want to re-invent the wheel, considering I had already paid DR for his exhaust system and installation one year ago. Todd Fisher had a plan and I trusted his wisdom to manage this operation. He suggested I install the Corba Manifolds, re-work the DR Magnaflow x pipe and wield in a set of 18” Magnaflow mufflers. We talked about the Kooks full install kit, but I wanted a complete stainless steel system and the Kooks X pipe is aluminized steel. The other consideration with the Kooks was delivery timing and cost.
So the decision was made and this was going to be a fast pace weekend. Pam I used a couple days vacation and made the 10.5 hour (634 miles) journey to Grand Mufflers and Team Ford. I was very worried about all the projects and the alloted time. We were going to have the exhaust completely changed, and Scott and Jason was installing axles, limited slip, rear gears, electric water pump, watchdog alarm, mount new front wheels, rear SS brake lines, oil change, and new Super-chip programming, re-wire center gauge pod, all within a 48 hour time table. This was an insane request, and any small unanticipated problem would cause major delays.
Thursday, day one, Todd waited after hours at his shop till we arrived. We finally got their around 6:30, after fighting Atlanta’s rush hour. He gave us a brief tour of the shop and his renovations to the lobby area. Needless to say we were very impressed with the improvements. Chit chat was over and he placed my car inside the shop for a overnight cool down and we proceeded to the hotel. He handed me the keys to his car and said “ You drive”. At first I didn’t feel comfortable with driving his car, but I had no choice, he was not good to except NO for an answer.
As some of you know, Todd’s car is not an everyday stock Marauder. The Dynamat interior kills most road noise and any exhaust drone from his Kook headers and mufflers. I found it odd to drive a lowered car with QA-1 shocks, but quickly became fond of the performance differences. Within a mile or so of the shop Todd directed me to a curvy road. The large 25 mile an hour warning sign and U shaped arrow give me some idea that I should not exceed the recommend posted limit. So Todd said “ Take this one at 70 miles an hour”. What, are you f-crazy I replied. Pam was in the back set holding on to dear life without a seat-belt. I don’t proceed around the conner at 70 mph as Todd had suggested, but we did flash 50 mph. I had to slow down because Pam was getting thrown extreme left and right in the rear cabin. One second she was behind me and the other behind Todd. This boat handles like a exotic European sports car. I could have pushed it a little harder, but the factory seats don’t support aggressive maneuvers at these speeds.
Once we arrived at the Hotel, Todd waited until we were settled in and said he would call with updates in the morning. Like a fine Swiss watch he called on time at 10:00 a.m. to give me the status on my car. Bryan was bolting up the new headers and he estimated that the job would not be completed before 3:00 p.m. So we relaxed in the hotel and had a great time exploring the area. When Bryan was nearly completed Todd picked us up at the Hotel. I was extremely excited about what Bryan had done. He resolved a multitude of problems. The first was to remove the aluminized extensions on the stainless steel DR X pipes. Secondly he leveled out the X pipe and corrected the un-equal bow that gave a sag in the center. Third he removed the steel extensions behind the Mac Pathflow mufflers and replaced it with mandrel bent sections. What an amazing work of art. The lowest part of my undercarriage was the Ford racing transmission pan and not my left side high flow converter. The exhaust was level on both sides and tucked much higher then before. In the past I begin to notice burn marks on my car cover nylon cord when tying the cord underneath to secure both sides of the cover. This is no longer a problem. Bryan explained each part of the process and made me extremely comfortable with his workmanship. Once completed it was time for the test drive. I was very excited about my new sound and performance. What was odd is I felt that the seat of the pants start was a little slower, but the top end pulled better. I don’t have any new dyno numbers or time slips to verify performance. The sound of the 18’ Magnaflow are a slightly raspy at idle, but at WOT it was disco inferno baby. My Mac Pathflows took some time to brake in, so I expect the sound to improve as time goes by.
Grand Muffler is a one stop shop that can handle small and very large jobs. I was given the full tour of the facilities after the test drive was over. I have never seen so many tons of raw stainless steel tubing. The mandrel bending process is computerized and very interesting. I have included pictures for your enjoyment. It was nice to get an education and installation.
Later that night it was time to play with the Evil one. That’s right, Legal Knivel was in town and it’s time to lay down some rubber. So off we went to the back woods 1/8 mile track in Dallas G.A. Seeing Martyo’s car slide down the track was an amazing site. The track announcer thought it was a crown vic with a few mods, but after a few spirited sprints he change his conversation. I think he wanted one of these fast 4 doors. After a couple of hours of track time Todd, Marty, and myself hit the streets of G.A to have some Marauder only fun. For the next 10 or more miles I could only hear the sound of Legal Knivel’s explosive exhaust at WOT. Then I made the mistake of lining up with him at a 40 mile per hour roll. We lined up, I got the rev’s high and I blasted off. I was moving pretty good but he had me by 15 cars before I could lookup and hookup. Anyway, I became the bait car, but their was no takers that night, no rice in site.
Marietta was a blast and the locals are some of the nicest people I have ever meet. I can’t begin to fill in all the details that night because I might need a attorney and publicist. We burned the midnight oil and getting up at 6:00 a.m. in the morning was a challenge. Saturday morning was another day of Marauder modifications. Scott and Jason started on my car early and the Mezire water pump was the challenge of the day. Jason worked his electrical magic and installation expertise. Marauderchick was the pioneer of this mod, but I was going to add a bit more complication with the addition of the Watchdog monitoring system. The installation was very lengthly, approximately 3.5 hours. Jason thought the Watch Dog system was cool and it worked as advertised, but required a hefty labor cost.
For lunch the the group went to lunch and Marty picked Dairy Queen, WTF, I traveled 600 miles for a DQ memory. Oh well, it could have been the Waffle House. When Marty comes to Washington D.C. I know where to take him, that ‘s right IHOP (International House of Pancakes). At least he has a good taste when it comes to women. By 5:30 everything fell into place and my wish list was complete. I was very pleased with the professionalism I experienced at Team Ford. I am sure I am not the only one who shares this opinion because their was 3 other M.M. net members cars on the lot waiting for service. Ford Nut stopped by to entertain us for a few hours and have his car worked on also. It’s always been a blast visiting the Marietta. I don’t know how to thank everyone involved in this project. Cheer to all of you and I will return hopefully in November to play with the SS boys.
P.S. I don't have any old pictures of the previous install but I found this example of another members DR exhaust ( Click here (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/vbgarage.php?do=popup&image=http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/vbgarage.php?do=getimage&id=269) ), You can blame Todd for not taking pictures before the install. Look closely at the cat location as it passes under the transmission brace.
Cheers :beer:
So the decision was made and this was going to be a fast pace weekend. Pam I used a couple days vacation and made the 10.5 hour (634 miles) journey to Grand Mufflers and Team Ford. I was very worried about all the projects and the alloted time. We were going to have the exhaust completely changed, and Scott and Jason was installing axles, limited slip, rear gears, electric water pump, watchdog alarm, mount new front wheels, rear SS brake lines, oil change, and new Super-chip programming, re-wire center gauge pod, all within a 48 hour time table. This was an insane request, and any small unanticipated problem would cause major delays.
Thursday, day one, Todd waited after hours at his shop till we arrived. We finally got their around 6:30, after fighting Atlanta’s rush hour. He gave us a brief tour of the shop and his renovations to the lobby area. Needless to say we were very impressed with the improvements. Chit chat was over and he placed my car inside the shop for a overnight cool down and we proceeded to the hotel. He handed me the keys to his car and said “ You drive”. At first I didn’t feel comfortable with driving his car, but I had no choice, he was not good to except NO for an answer.
As some of you know, Todd’s car is not an everyday stock Marauder. The Dynamat interior kills most road noise and any exhaust drone from his Kook headers and mufflers. I found it odd to drive a lowered car with QA-1 shocks, but quickly became fond of the performance differences. Within a mile or so of the shop Todd directed me to a curvy road. The large 25 mile an hour warning sign and U shaped arrow give me some idea that I should not exceed the recommend posted limit. So Todd said “ Take this one at 70 miles an hour”. What, are you f-crazy I replied. Pam was in the back set holding on to dear life without a seat-belt. I don’t proceed around the conner at 70 mph as Todd had suggested, but we did flash 50 mph. I had to slow down because Pam was getting thrown extreme left and right in the rear cabin. One second she was behind me and the other behind Todd. This boat handles like a exotic European sports car. I could have pushed it a little harder, but the factory seats don’t support aggressive maneuvers at these speeds.
Once we arrived at the Hotel, Todd waited until we were settled in and said he would call with updates in the morning. Like a fine Swiss watch he called on time at 10:00 a.m. to give me the status on my car. Bryan was bolting up the new headers and he estimated that the job would not be completed before 3:00 p.m. So we relaxed in the hotel and had a great time exploring the area. When Bryan was nearly completed Todd picked us up at the Hotel. I was extremely excited about what Bryan had done. He resolved a multitude of problems. The first was to remove the aluminized extensions on the stainless steel DR X pipes. Secondly he leveled out the X pipe and corrected the un-equal bow that gave a sag in the center. Third he removed the steel extensions behind the Mac Pathflow mufflers and replaced it with mandrel bent sections. What an amazing work of art. The lowest part of my undercarriage was the Ford racing transmission pan and not my left side high flow converter. The exhaust was level on both sides and tucked much higher then before. In the past I begin to notice burn marks on my car cover nylon cord when tying the cord underneath to secure both sides of the cover. This is no longer a problem. Bryan explained each part of the process and made me extremely comfortable with his workmanship. Once completed it was time for the test drive. I was very excited about my new sound and performance. What was odd is I felt that the seat of the pants start was a little slower, but the top end pulled better. I don’t have any new dyno numbers or time slips to verify performance. The sound of the 18’ Magnaflow are a slightly raspy at idle, but at WOT it was disco inferno baby. My Mac Pathflows took some time to brake in, so I expect the sound to improve as time goes by.
Grand Muffler is a one stop shop that can handle small and very large jobs. I was given the full tour of the facilities after the test drive was over. I have never seen so many tons of raw stainless steel tubing. The mandrel bending process is computerized and very interesting. I have included pictures for your enjoyment. It was nice to get an education and installation.
Later that night it was time to play with the Evil one. That’s right, Legal Knivel was in town and it’s time to lay down some rubber. So off we went to the back woods 1/8 mile track in Dallas G.A. Seeing Martyo’s car slide down the track was an amazing site. The track announcer thought it was a crown vic with a few mods, but after a few spirited sprints he change his conversation. I think he wanted one of these fast 4 doors. After a couple of hours of track time Todd, Marty, and myself hit the streets of G.A to have some Marauder only fun. For the next 10 or more miles I could only hear the sound of Legal Knivel’s explosive exhaust at WOT. Then I made the mistake of lining up with him at a 40 mile per hour roll. We lined up, I got the rev’s high and I blasted off. I was moving pretty good but he had me by 15 cars before I could lookup and hookup. Anyway, I became the bait car, but their was no takers that night, no rice in site.
Marietta was a blast and the locals are some of the nicest people I have ever meet. I can’t begin to fill in all the details that night because I might need a attorney and publicist. We burned the midnight oil and getting up at 6:00 a.m. in the morning was a challenge. Saturday morning was another day of Marauder modifications. Scott and Jason started on my car early and the Mezire water pump was the challenge of the day. Jason worked his electrical magic and installation expertise. Marauderchick was the pioneer of this mod, but I was going to add a bit more complication with the addition of the Watchdog monitoring system. The installation was very lengthly, approximately 3.5 hours. Jason thought the Watch Dog system was cool and it worked as advertised, but required a hefty labor cost.
For lunch the the group went to lunch and Marty picked Dairy Queen, WTF, I traveled 600 miles for a DQ memory. Oh well, it could have been the Waffle House. When Marty comes to Washington D.C. I know where to take him, that ‘s right IHOP (International House of Pancakes). At least he has a good taste when it comes to women. By 5:30 everything fell into place and my wish list was complete. I was very pleased with the professionalism I experienced at Team Ford. I am sure I am not the only one who shares this opinion because their was 3 other M.M. net members cars on the lot waiting for service. Ford Nut stopped by to entertain us for a few hours and have his car worked on also. It’s always been a blast visiting the Marietta. I don’t know how to thank everyone involved in this project. Cheer to all of you and I will return hopefully in November to play with the SS boys.
P.S. I don't have any old pictures of the previous install but I found this example of another members DR exhaust ( Click here (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/vbgarage.php?do=popup&image=http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/vbgarage.php?do=getimage&id=269) ), You can blame Todd for not taking pictures before the install. Look closely at the cat location as it passes under the transmission brace.
Cheers :beer: