My 08 RCSB 5.7

ARH made the mistake, and they need to make good.

Once ARH has corrected their mistake, please take another
picture of everything laid out on the floor as you have it - thanks.

 

Right on

 

LoL just got off the phone with ARH

They want to pickup everything sometime this week and can't give me an ETA on when I'll have another set in my hands. I explained my truck is apart currently as I wanted to get a head start to prevent downtime and cussing...

Their reply was "That wasn't smart why would you do that ?" Of which I replied "I didn't expect to receive damaged products for an incorrect application after paying $2k and waiting 5 weeks"

Guess I'm expecting too much here. Will update once I know something.

 

ARH Customer Service

 

Ok so decided to press forward and remove the OEM headers today once I got home from work. Keep in mind I had a head start so mid pipes were removed already.

Total time spent on removal of both headers - 90 mins. I had about 7 different 12mm wrenches on standby but used none of them. I may have gotten lucky but my deep well 12mm did almost all the heavy lifting here. What helped was spraying WD-40 on them all 3 days ago so once they broke loose I un-tightened with my fingers.

Tools needed, 12mm deep well, 10mm socket, and extensions/swivel



Driver side was straight fwd, lots of loosening by touch only but nothing too bad. Took 30mins.



Passenger side was the remaining hour. Pro tip is remove the small heat shield pictured below as it will hang up on upper control arm once all 12mm nuts are removed. Also need to un-bolt oil dip stick to give it some play allowing the header to maneuver out below.


Tomorrow I plan on taking some scotch bright pads to the surface and clean really well. Progress made though.

And... ARH never called, emailed, or text me today with an update on my failed order. I'm sitting tight to give them a chance but not impressed so far with their awesome customer service

 

Header review here - https://www.tundras.com/threads/just-another-arh-lt-review-pic-heavy.72677/

 

I'm not usually a fan of those wheels - but they look great in black!

 

So after some recent inspiration @swank501 I decided to make an attempt at building my own 3in X Pipe.

Plan is to chop off the 3in to 2.5 reducers on my ARH mid pipes and weld in a 3in collector. Starting at the 3in mid pipes route it into my Xpipe -> Aero turbine 3in mufflers -> Vibrant 3in UQ resonators -> re-use the 3 to 2.5 reducers where my dual tail pipes start after the resonators and keep the 2.5 tail pipes in place on the way out back for now.

So with my plan in place I went shopping


Amazon had the Squirrely 3in 16g bends on special last week *2 for $46. Picked up some Blue Devil fluxcore stainless gasless wire ($41) for the Hobart. Scored a deal on eBay for some 304 3in collectors *2 pair for $56.

Couldn't find a deal on the Vibrant UQ's but after owning a modified Nissan Titan knew they would be great at reducing the rifling in my exhaust. Paid $85 a piece for those pretty cans.

Setup my work area



Armed with my tape measure I started making measurements.


Having never used stainless fluxcore I started practicing for about 30mins to get a feel for it. For the record it isn't the best for welding stainless lol


Bead went down strong with good penetration so was ok with the ugly visual plus I won't be looking underneath often. The function is definitely there and happy with the output. From start to finish it took 3.5hrs to get to this point, time flies when your having fun but also was very tiring in this heat.



It's not a work of art but will withstand the weather elements here in Texas just fine plus looks like it will flow well. I spent hours looking everywhere for a decent pre fabbed X pipe that wasn't $300 and didn't look like it was made from a beer can. Most importantly it would fit underneath and connect to my existing tail pipes so only option was DIY. Can't wait to hear how it sounds and plan to do a before sound clip sometime this weekend and an after in 2 weeks once done.

 

badass man! What ever happened with the incorrect midpipe? Are you just going to adapt with the custom X-pipe setup? ARH customer service is weird. They def went all out helping me with the incorrect midpipe, but i often felt like i was dealing with snake oil salesmen for other interactions.

 

LoL funny you say that as I got that same vibe in my dealings with them. Just happy I got what I needed eventually.

So plan is to use the 2010+ mid pipe since it's a nice smooth 3in bend with a straight shot into the muffler. Also going to chop it some and move the 3in flange back towards the engine to give more room for the muffler/resonator.

Other thing is that hanger on driver side mid pipe recently started clanging with the AC on which is annoying so will need to modify that in the mix.

More to come, modding is never done once you start lol

 

So got a bit anxious and started welding forgetting about the initial sound clip oops.

Got it built out and installed so I can drive the truck at least. Sounds amazing and the vibrant resonators solved the rifling. I connected my existing 2.5in tail pipes for now while I wait for my piping to arrive for the 3in replacement and decide how I want to route them either side exit or turned down at rear. Once completed I will be full 3in from header back.

So far power delivery has shifted into the mid/upper RPM and is definitely felt so I'm looking fwd to extracting the most out of my ARHs as possible once the full 3in is done.

 

When do we get to hear it?

 

Plan on getting one this weekend now that I finished the 3in tail pipes. Just need to add tips and the exhaust is donezo. Took her for a spin and yeah the difference from 2.5 to 3in is noticable. That gain in torque carries wheel spin nicely up into the powerband. Went with aluminized pipe for tailpipes and welds we're back to normal from that flux core SS crap...




DIY SABM up next this weekend !

 

Got my SABM installed and ran into an issue with fuel delivery. It hasn't popped up again since but assume I'm on borrowed time for a fuel pump replacement. Anyways onto more exciting things...

Sound clip of cold start:

https://youtu.be/ino5aXr3S6E


Sound clip of a quick stab of throttle on take off:

https://youtu.be/t0yHjr-rjHA


Sound clip with windows down of a quick WOT, sorry for shakey camera:

https://youtu.be/HuvYqERevfQ

 

Noice...Well done Sir.

 

sounds really good. Makes me want to put a resonator on mine. It gets pretty rowdy above ~4k

 

Yep I had that too and prefer to be a bit more conspicuous with how I drive. They helped quiet that rifling scream above 3500 RPM. I still plan to experiment with a pair of Helmholz to further clean it up some.

Hoping to hit up the 1/4 track this fall in Marion, TX to gauge whether this N/A effort paid off

 

Couple street pulls on mine. Def wanna choke down that rasp a bit.

 

This is a great thread. Nice work, I love seeing someone kick-ass in the shop!

Truck looks awesome too.

 

Your Tundra is a beast ! Yep same sound I had, Vibrant UQ's will make you smile.

That SC whine is intoxicating

 

Thank you MG, although I think of it as such my small garage is far from a shop lol

Most of my efforts here have been a result of research within this awesome forum and it's members and I like to give back in the same form received. The Tundra community is strong !

 

ya tundras!

 

I added a cool interior touch tonight. Ran it off the AC panel over the 2 blanks AUX ports so comes on/off with parking lights.

 

Completed my Helmz additions today. It definitely helped quiet down cold start up and helped the small drone I had at 2400rpm. Cruising is significantly quieter and still got that WOT bite I enjoy.

Used 22in / 2in diameter and positioned them right at the resonator exits going into the tailpipes.

 

I picked up some Borla XR1 3in mufflers recently on the cheap to replace my Aero's. Always preferred Borla for my muffler choice on my vehicles. Also wanted to see if I could take the noise down another notch.

After looking at my buddies Ram and how they had their resonators at the tip I did some research and found it to be ideal for noise reduction.




Absolutely love the sound now, and probably the best exhaust note I have had since my Borla induced Lexus ISF. Noise level reduction accomplished and now can hear an exhaust leak up front I never heard before smh. Need to tighten my header bolts. Sound clip to follow.

Also took some time to record some 0-60 & 1/8 today using my TQ Pro app. Living outside the city has its perks with those desolate roads. I managed to better my launch technique and wrangle wheelspin to only 1st gear. It will only get better once I get my LSD.

Best times:
0-60 * 6.2
1/8 Mile * 8.53 @ 85.1

Not sure how accurate the App is but online translates to a 13.56 @ 104.7. One could hope right

 

Well look what arrived today

.

 

Dropped my diff today. Called a few places to do the work and the price difference between taking the Truck vs the Diff was substantial. Went with a local company here called "Twisted Axle" that had 100+ perfect 5 star ratings on Google. The guy named Rafael was very familiar having done numerous Auburn Pro installs on Tundras. He said this would be his 1st Grip LSD install on a Tundra and was excited as he prefers the design and have installed a good amount of them just never in a Tundra. Everything gets dropped off Monday and 2 day turn around

I used the awesome sticky here for the removal and had it out within 1hr taking my time with the help of my son. Was allot easier than expected and saved me $400 !

 

When i did mine, i was not prepared for how heavy that diff is!