Lobaks are installed

[STLMARSHALL]

I finally got the car running and did a couple of test videos. The Lobak inserts are a little small and loose fitting so I will have to tighten them up some, but for now here is an example. I also went for a 1st drive today with the new T56 6 speed. Man does it shift smooth. It will take a while to get used to the shift pattern.

Open headers, sorry about the camera angle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjpDVDO3NAo

Lobaks, are much quieter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R1myJiFbNo

[Rodster]

Looking - and sounding great - even on the crapppy little speakers on my notebook....can't wait to see more!

[Tom Mauldin]

Sounds good! Can't wait to hear the difference on the rev test. Thanks for taking the time to document this test.

[STLMARSHALL]

Well we went for a test drive today after thinking we had the inserts in tightly enough. It sounded pretty good. Loud when you want it and fairly quiet when you keep the RPMs below 2000. Well I decided to find out what a trip to the rev limiter sounded like. At 4000 rpm the sound doubled suddenly. That is when I knew one of the inserts had blown out. We turned around and recovered the insert from the ditch and drove home with 1 open header. Now that is loud even when short shifting. So we returned home and proceeded to drill a hole thru the pipe and insert to ensure that never happened again. We once again went for a test drive. It sounds pretty good and is different than the sound of the magnaflows. My friend said he felt like it had more power than with the old system. I think it is hard to tell because the T56 gear ratios are different than the TKO. The T56 really shifts nice and I kind of like the ratios. 5th is good anywhere from 35 mph to 60 mph. 6th (.50 OD)is only good above 50-60 and accelerates just fine above 60 mph. I think at 65 mph it was around 1600 rpm and was very quiet. It was hard at times to hear the engine over the road noise. On the way home about 60 seconds from my house the upper radiator hose blew off and dumped the system in the street. I was able to shut it off about 5 seconds later and coast home. It looks like it will take some time to work all the bugs out.

[loeffler1]

What type of connectors are you using on the cooling system? Is it the corrugated SS from FFR. Seems to me there was an issue years ago with the short rubber connectors that attached these to the radiator and they would keep popping off. Napa sells a hose clamp that is super strong. They look a little odd in that the screw section is slightly elongated but seem to do the job real well. I just asked the parts guy for the strongest clamp available and thats what they came up with. It also helps to have a ridge on the metal part of the pipe that the hose clamp can't slip past when tightened and I don't think FFR connectors had that. I tossed mine in favor of Breeze's polished aluminum upper pipe that does have a bead on each end. HTH.