scoobaru's 4th gen liberty 2.5i - warm engine exhaust video

[scoobaru]

before reading keep in mind my knowledge of a car engine is pretty limited so forgive any terminology which is wrong/primative

so, I bought my 2004 'atlantic blue' lib 2.5i 2 years ago and finally decided to start modifying it last week.
so far i have:

- removed the air box resonator
- installed a new air filter from HKS
- installed uel headers from a first gen lib (in an effort to get that notorious rumble!!!)

forseeable future:

- buy an x-force catback and install that (change the tips to quad tips)
- get an sti (or most likely a look-alike) bootlid lip spoiler
- rear diffuser and maybe a front lip spoiler
- spray front grill black
- wheels and tyres!! 18x8.5 rota grid rims in white and not sure about the rubber yet
- change the fascia of the dash to http://www.avojdm.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_54_60&products_id=104&osCsid=2a7e3a006a3a676edfaa8e088d3ae281 and then install a kickass ICE setup

progress so far:

no issues with the filter and the air box but the UEL headers from the first gen lib are giving me a bit of trouble.
they can bolt straight on and everything lines up ridiculously perfectly except for the connection after the 2nd o2 sensor for some reason the bolt holes are at completely different places which seems silly given all other connections are the same.
another problem i (stupidly) didnt forsee was the o2 sensors. in the first gen lib there is only one but in my one there are obviously supposed to be 2 so i need to take it to an exhaust shop to have the sensors taken out of the stock headers and put into the new ones to stop my ecu from shitting itself (anyone know if i should/shouldnt be driving without either of the sensors connected?) and while its there ill get them to fix that connection so it all lines up perfectly.

good news:
the uel headers from a first gen lib DO give you the rumble. there is a bit of welding involved so for guys like me its not a 100% at-home-in-garage-job because i have absolutely zero idea how to weld! (something i should definitely learn) but yes the rumble is definitely there, however it is extremely quiet with the super-silencing-stock mufflers on so replacing those is a must (i did give it a bit of a rev without the mufflers hooked up and boy did it sound mean!)

questions:
- the one about driving without 02 sensors from above ^^
- what is that box-looking thing which is just before the y-joint at the rear of the car? is it a second cat? can it be taken out and replaced with a straight pipe to maximise rumble?

thanks for reading this. hopefully one day ill have a lib as nice as some of yours!

[cruisn]

Hi and welcome.

You will need to get an exhaust shop to add a second bung for the second sensor. They can also cut and reweld the flange to line up.

That "box looking thing" is another muffler. Its straight through anyway. You can remove and fit a hotdog for less muffling.

[SH30RB]

Welcome mate

i do like the atlantic blue on libs
and an interesting combo with the uel headers from a Gen1!
would be great to hear a soundclip if possible

[scoobaru]

Hi and welcome.

You will need to get an exhaust shop to add a second bung for the second sensor. They can also cut and reweld the flange to line up.

That "box looking thing" is another muffler. Its straight through anyway. You can remove and fit a hotdog for less muffling.

awesome thanks for that! im taking it to an exhaust shop tomorrow to cut and reweld the flange so ill see how much it costs to remove that second muffler.

Welcome mate

i do like the atlantic blue on libs
and an interesting combo with the uel headers from a Gen1!
would be great to hear a soundclip if possible

yeah i went for the gen 1 headers cause i figured it was a cheap way of getting the rumble! ill try get a soundclip of my car without the muffler attached and then one once its all hooked up and another one whenever i get round to doing the x-force catback. should have them up by wednesday

i love the atlantic blue cause when its really clean in the sun it has so many different greens and blues in it.

this forum is the best. everyone is so nice and helpful.

thanks for the welcomes

[scoobaru]

That "box looking thing" is another muffler. Its straight through anyway. You can remove and fit a hotdog for less muffling.

as an afterthought, could i just fit a straight pipe or would that be too loud? i just wanna make the most of the rumble!

[cruisn]

You can easily try a straight pipe section, drive around and see if you like it. It all really comes down to the rear mufflers in the end.

I had those uel headers on my Gen2 with a 2 1/4" catback, one hotdog centre and a free flowing muffler. I tried it without the centre muffler and it actually lessened the boxer note so put the hotdog in.

Sounded exactly like a WRX.

[scoobaru]

update:

So, today i had the flange aligned properly and the guy at the exhaust shop said that the cat that is in the headers i got from the wrecker is busted so i need to take it back to the wrecker and get another one which is rrrreeeeeaaaallllyyyy annoying. im thinking i might just get a brand new one installed but the $$ could be an issue

i got the front muffler replaced with a hot dog but cause of the rear mufflers the noise is still really silenced which is annoying so ill need to get those replaced to make it louder.

starting to think this little experiment isnt worth the hassle...

[scoobaru]

as promised a video showing the exhaust note with the headers and the front muffler removed and replaced with a resonator.

hopefully replacing the cat with a high flow one from magnaflow this week and im trying to find some reasonably priced quad tip mufflers to really bring out the rumble

[Victripper]

Firstly Welcome to the forum... Some new ways of looking at things with older Gen gear being installed. If only that would work with a Blitzen wing for a Gen V.

As you have it now the car sounds pretty sweet... Damn now I have another change I want to do... The list is getting too long! Not sure if I could get that on a Gen V anyhow so will have to see..

[cruisn]

Nice work.

Some decent mufflers will make it just right.

[scoobaru]

sneaky rev after drive home from uni while the engine is nice and hot

[nyc2sydney]

PM sent, nice work! inspired me to research this instead of the Borla reps