I have an appointment to have my XS Headers installed on Friday by Vivid Racing in Chandler. I was recommended there by a friend. Has anyone in Arizona ever had any work done there before? Their site looks cool but I don't know anyone that's actually had work done there. www.vividracing.com

I tried installation myself last weekend but after bashing my fingers on the very first bolt and not being able to break any of the catalytic converter bolts free I decided to have them installed professionally. Thanks all who have any info.

 

I know they've built quite a few Evo's. There's a yellow Evo driven buy an old dude who works for a hospital that had his built there. His was in Import Tuner, I believe. So I'm guessing they do good work.

 

Cool, thanks for the info. It says they've had quite a few cars in magazines in the past couple years on the website, so that's cool. I have made the mistake of having stuff installed at Midas or Meinekee before and regreted it later on, so I figure speed shop would be a safter bet, even though the rates are a little higher than I thought they would be.

 

thatguy got some work on his S14 donwe there, said everything went well

 

vividracing is a very reputable shop. i'm sure a header install shouldn't be anything out of the ordinary.

 

I live right by them and a buddy of mine had some work done on his lude there and another friend had somethings done to his evo. They do great work from what I know of.

 

Cool, thanks guys. I feel pretty good about having them install the headers. I told them they are the same exact setup as the CT's, which they sell, so I'm sure it'll be a breeze for them. Wish I could've done it myself but without an impact gun and a garage those cat bolts were driving me .

 

Well, got the headers installed last Friday. They ended up doing in 2 hours but of course charged me the full 4 hour install rate. Kind of sucked but at least I didn't have to wait the whole 4 hours. The shop is impressive. They're dealing mostly with Porsches and Beemers, so I was a small fish in a big pond there.

The XS headers seem decent but I'm not thrilled with the sound of the car with the windows down. With the windows up it has a nice deep G35ish sound to it, but with the windows down it sounds like there's some kind of pinging or tiny exhaust leak. The odd thing is when I park the car and rev it with the windows down I don't hear it, only when in motion. I'm super paranoid about my car anyway so I'm sure it's fine but won't know until I have my buddy do a drive by for me so I can hear it from the outside. I'm thinking it posibly is the flex piping not flexing enough and trying to break in? I know I read somewhere on here to loosen it before installing because its too tight when new. I loosened it a bit before having them installed but I guess not enough because when I checked out the stock A-pipe it was loose as hell, a lot looser than the XS after twisting on it a little.

Oh, also, my buddy just bought an 04 SRT-4, so now I'm going to have to invest another 5g's to get a CTSC to get my CL to run with his car. Why didn't I pick a cheaper hobby???