Weederr's Series.Yellowbird tS

[mistople]

Originally Posted by weederr33

You know, I thought I had read you had issues with the OP flanges and an exhaust leak. I was meaning to PM you about that. I did order an extra pair of gaskets just in case. I did accidentally get one of the bolts stuck while fiddling with how I'd install it. lol so I don't think it's going anywhere. I'm looking forward to it as well!

I choose the CS400 since it has a little more down low and I daily my car. As well, the cost was a little more justifiable than getting a coated A350 with the sacrifice of a few ponies up top. I should be getting it installed later in the week and then begin data logging with Zach @ CSG. I have something else I'm wanting to install since I'm on lock down thanks to the SARS-Cov-2 virus going around.

Yeah, that was me. I had it come undone on track twice. Sounded mental revving out—which was fun for all of ten seconds—but super annoying to have to fix and lose precious (and expensive!) track time. No issues off the track.

I've even had my mechanic try his tricks and one still came undone. I'm going to be looking at these as a possible solution: https://www.stage8.com/

The 400 should be a great choice for your needs. You'll love it. Working with Zach is a pleasure. I can't tell you how happy I was to get back to my NA tune that he did on mine. He did my JDL before then and it was also killer.

[weederr33]

Originally Posted by mistople

Yeah, that was me. I had it come undone on track twice. Sounded mental revving out—which was fun for all of ten seconds—but super annoying to have to fix and lose precious (and expensive!) track time. No issues off the track.

I've even had my mechanic try his tricks and one still came undone. I'm going to be looking at these as a possible solution: https://www.stage8.com/

The 400 should be a great choice for your needs. You'll love it. Working with Zach is a pleasure. I can't tell you how happy I was to get back to my NA tune that he did on mine. He did my JDL before then and it was also killer.

Those are some interesting nuts and bolts and will keep those in mind if something goes wrong.

I had Zach do my tune for my current HKS set up and he did great. So hopefully it will be smooth for the Ace set up too.

[weederr33]

So I bought the Cusco Oil Cooler a few months back but had not had time to install it and all of the time consuming aspects of burping the coolant. Well thanks to our lock down, I have all the time. For a while now, I had been running the Forester oem cooler routed through the throttle body. It worked just fine and did it's job. The only hiccup I had from it, was occasionally it would leak even though I had the worm drive clams tightened to the max. I had intentions of doing a hybrid of the Forester cooling unit and the rest from Cusco, but mid installation, I realized that would be a bit of a pain. Below are all the steps with commentary:

I had cut the hoses long ago and measured them probably 5-6 times. It fit just right!


Routing the hose across the engine was a pain and I tried several method before snaking up and over the alternator and then through the throttle body hoses (lol). Lastly I slipped it behind the water pump and to the inlet on the cooler unit.




It came with two random metal washers which I realized after actually reading the directions are used to lift the water pump belt cover. -__- so I cut it for nothing


The last portion was the outlet hose to the radiator. The directions state you can simply cut the hose without removing it. I intended to remove the hose as I already had it neatly cut and measured. Well once down there I realized the clamps were a pain in the ass to get off and hard to reach. So I did what the directions said. Quick note: coolant WILL come out! So I just slit the pipe and let it bleed for a while.


The hose going down to the outlet pipe touches the intake box, but I'm not too concerned. The kit came with zip ties to move it a bit, but I couldn't figure out a good mounting position without pulling on the wires.



Finished!



I don't foresee it being any better than the throttle body method, but hey, I'm stuck at home, why not do it. Should be putting the ACE CS400 on later in the week!

[weederr33]

ACE CS400 installed!!!


Paired with the HKS R-Spec front pipe, oem midpipe, and TRD High Response Muffler Ver. R.

I got it installed. Took me about 5 hours because I'm slow and it was probably the most difficult header to install. I tried to snake the overpipe portion in like I did with my AVO, but because of the merge collection, it would not budge. So I unbolted the engine and jacked it up. That was probably the most surprisingly easy thing to do! The bolts came undone with no problem at all, and lifting the motor 1/4 of an inch to slip the overpipe portion in was a breeze.

Now... the annoying part. The overpipe! That piece of shit is by far the most difficult part I've ever had to install. The three bolts had to screw in and were at funky angles. The 2 were pretty easy, but the top right bolt can kiss my whole ass. That sucker was so hard to thread and then tighten I almost gave up. I had to remove a portion of the plastic paneling in the wheel well to get my socket lined up. Then, the overpipe-to-front pipe part had threading too! I've never seen that before. Once again, that was also a nightmare to line up, thread, and torque.

I plan to do some data logging tonight and send it off to Zach at CSG and let him do his magic. I'll be curious to see how it stacks up against the HKS header it's replacing and the Nameless/Cosworth I had on both my FR-S and BRZ. If all goes well, I will be the last mod I do for a long, long time. Hopefully this weekend or next week I can get some sound clips of the set up.

[nikitopo]

Originally Posted by weederr33

I plan to do some data logging tonight and send it off to Zach at CSG and let him do his magic. I'll be curious to see how it stacks up against the HKS header it's replacing and the Nameless/Cosworth I had on both my FR-S and BRZ. If all goes well, I will be the last mod I do for a long, long time. Hopefully this weekend or next week I can get some sound clips of the set up.

Keep us posted.

[weederr33]

My review did not post. Well the short is this: ACE CS400> Cosworth 0.3 manifold> HKS EL header.

I took the car for a nice run down and wow does it have power all around! Each time I came out of a corner, there was power on tap. It feels more lively than the HKS did. While raspy, it was not as raspy as the Cosworth. The tuning by Matt@Cosworth was damn good out of the box. Zach@CSG did excellent work tuning in the car on both my HKS and ACE headers. I also did notice one thing. I have the beatrush under panel, and my CS400 DOES tap it every so slightly, but only from flexing of the panel. I only noticed this because when I went to tighten the bolts down after heat cycling, there was some coating that was knocked off. I could not hear it, nor would I have known. So I'm not going to worry.

[nikitopo]

In which area is the ACE CS400 better? Mid rev range or top end?

[weederr33]

Originally Posted by nikitopo

In which area is the ACE CS400 better? Mid rev range or top end?

Mid range. But it has plenty of top end too.

[weederr33]

Got a sound clip of the new exhaust set up! @Tcoat

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by weederr33

Got a sound clip of the new exhaust set up! @Tcoat

Sounds much like the standard TRD exhaust with maybe a tad more rasp and volume. Looks great too!

[weederr33]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Sounds much like the standard TRD exhaust with maybe a tad more rasp and volume. Looks great too!

The rasp is the headers for certain. They are very raspy

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by weederr33

The rasp is the headers for certain. They are very raspy

Ahhh yes that makes sense. So with stock it is probably very close to the standard TRD.

[Capt Spaulding]

@weedere33 or anybody else. With regard to the oil cooler, the cusco kit is, to me, outrageously priced. Are the radiator hose adapters available separately? I have everything else.

[weederr33]

Originally Posted by Capt Spaulding

@weedere33 or anybody else. With regard to the oil cooler, the cusco kit is, to me, outrageously priced. Are the radiator hose adapters available separately? I have everything else.

It is very over priced! I'm sure you could contact Cusco directly and ask for replacement adapters. Otherwise, you may have to see if someone can CNC a pair for you.