Official Hawks ORY thread. What I did to make mine work....

[ghettocruiser]

Ok... Everyone has read numerous threads about the Hawks ORY. It doesnt fit, yadda yadda yadda. But I personally have never seen any pictures of how it doesnt fit...or what people did to modify it to work. So hopefully this helps some of you out. I havent finished my y-pipe yet. But I hope to soon...because I wanna drive my car and this is holding me up big time.

First chapter... The "Y" itself. Im not sure if they all looked like mine...but I thought it was pretty cruddy. There was a huge restriction where the two header pipes met at the 3" part. See the pic below...



Am I wrong or is that restrictive and not good for exhaust flow at all..?

Here are the steps I took to get rid of that.













Much better now.... Its nice and smooth on the way out now.



This is looking down the passenger side tube.

[ghettocruiser]

This is the part that really ticked me off... The rest of the y-pipe. It hit everything under the car. I was NOT happy about cutting my nice new spohn cross member BUT..I figured if thats what had to be done...then fine. No big deal. After I cut and cut and cut... That darn thing still wouldnt fit. I managed to actually get all the pipes together...and it hit the passenger side "chassis rail", the driverside crossmember bolts and "chassis rail", and the part where it came together was hard into the torque arm. I couldnt slide the pipes onto the headers all the way because of how everything was bound up. AND....if I could get it to clear that way, it would have scraped on every little bump. Hung down lower than anything else on the car. Here are some pics...

Drivers side...hitting everything.



Passenger side...hitting the frame.



Hitting the torque arm.





Now...I should mention that full weight is on the car, and its at ride height. Even if it wasnt....it should still fit because if it didnt, when you lifted the car on a lift the suspension droop would rip the exhaust apart.

My plan is to cut it, rotate, twist, hammer, bend, tweak, weld it all back together. I dont want to have 5 clamps under there for just the y-pipe. So Im going to get it to where its good...and weld the whole thing together. So all you have to do is slip it on the headers. This thread is open to suggestions of course. I would really like to see pictures if you do have solutions.

This is in now way intended to bash Hawks. I do believe some things could be done about this...especially for the price. I mean...all in and all its a nice piece. But it needs to fit. I couldnt imagine if I got the one with cats... Ok...any suggestions? Im probably going to start cutting either today or tomorrow. Of course Ill snap pics along the way.

Justin

[StevenK]

If I had paid that much for the Y and it didn't fit, I would be really pissed....at least your taking it well.

I ended up just getting the headers because I had heard some horror stories, and didn't feel they were worth it. I had a local exhaust shop make me a custom 2.5 to 3 inch Y-pipe, 3 inch intermediate pipe with cats and dynomax muffler for 1100, and it looks sweet

[ghettocruiser]

Steve,
Yeah...Im taking it well because I know Hawks is a great company. And I know that the problem lies with stainless works most likely. I dont expect Bruce to be able to open and mock up every ORY that gets sold. Not even sure he actually sees the box... Im also taking it well because if I go to stainless work about the issue Ill probably just get frustrated.

Im sure if Bruce was making them in house...he wouldnt be sending them out with a restriction like that...or with a bad fitment issue...or with a heavy film of crud inside all of the pipes. I have emailed Bruce with the pictures that I have above. Not to complain or to come down on him...more of an informational email. Im sure he gets quite a few angry customer emails...so this one was to just show the problem i was having.

I already started to tweak the y-pipe. I think its coming out pretty good actually. If I finish it tonight Ill post up some more pictures.

Justin

[cam-]

WOW!

Am I wrong or is that restrictive and not good for exhaust flow at all..?

That is ABSURDLY shoddy workmanship I can't believe they all come like that. The dude who made that up was probably on his last day. Thats WAY restrictive man. I was very impressed with the overall quality of the Hawks headers ( I made my own y pipe ) but man I'm sorry for your luck you got screwed on that y-pipe deal. At least you fixed it and as much of a pain in the ars that probably was its a lot less headaches to take that route than the scream and yell send back etc etc route IMO at least.

Whats that saying? If you want something done right do it yourself.

I wasn't happy with the overall design of that y which is the reason I never bought it. I made up my own out of manderel bent 90's and some straight. Stainless of course. Pics here for anyone interested it wasn't very difficult to fab up.

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/lt...our-ls1-y.html (show your LS1 Y-pipes)

[ghettocruiser]

87roc.... Thanks for the response. I saw your y-pipe in that thread awhile back. Looks good! I wish I could do a drew's style crossmember...but Im using the spohn crossmember with torque arm. So Im kind of stuck there because of the torque arm mount.

All in all...I was happy with the headers. I was alittle ticked about the driver side O2 sensor location...but overall they were nice. I was extremely please to have clearance over by the steering shaft. Tons of room.

Yeah...modifying it just seemed easier than sending back etc etc... I figured its good enough for now...and if I decide to tackle making one from scratch...I can always do it. Simple enough to take this one apart.

As for my progress... I think I finished the y-pipe last night. Its officially bolted on and seems to be in a decent position. Its now in two pieces instead of 4. But...it might be all one piece by the end of today. I haev to see if pulling it on and off is possible with all one piece.

Ill post some pics up...but unfortunetly, I all but destroyed my old digital camera...so I think I lost some of the in progress pics. Its fully welded...I just hvae to decide on if I want to leave it 2 piece or weld it completely together. Im thinking I might leave it for alittle adjustability.

I started it with the y-pipe installed...and even after bolting it up quickly in the dark there were many leaks. in fact...the only one I saw was at the only non-welded joint. And i think I just need to tighten the clamp...or get a better one. It sounds soooooo much better than the open headers in my opinion. Smoother, more pronounced idle, seems to rev nicer. I might start to fit the rest of the magnaflow up tonight too. Try to wrap up under the car so I can get her on the ground!

Justin

[stage20]

those y pipes are a joke.
1st time ive seen those pics.
cant believe they send it out like that??!!??

[ghettocruiser]

Yeah I was fairly disappointed in the quality and the design. Im super annoyed at how much I had to chop up my crossmember. Thats the big beef I have. And the extra dough I paid for the pipe which I had to completely redo...

ANYWAY...on to my fix. I lost some pictures due to the un-timely death of my camera. So I took some after pics and I even showed the pieces that I took out and where I took them out. Im happy with the fit now. You can almost slide it on and off as one piece...which is nice. But I left it in two pieces in case I need to twist or tweak it once the cat back is on. If you have any questions...feel free to ask. The pics should explain themselves.



















You can see from the pics thats looking down the tunnel...that the 3" part of the y pipe is in a good spot...Ive since moved it over about an inch so that it lines up with the cat back. All I did was cut about 3/4" out of the spot were its not welded. Make sense?? It fits great now.

OH... and Im in love with the clamps Im using. They are from the same company that makes the clamps that come with the kit...but they are the Easy Seal version. They are wider, have two bolts, and seal/hold like mofo!!
The best part...when you take them off the pipes slide back apart easily! I hate u-bolts, and Ill be using these band clamps throughout the exhaust system. Even on the magnaflow...wehre I think they should have used the band clamps instead of u-bolts. Such a nice exhaust...such crappy clamps.


Justin

[ghettocruiser]

Speaking of the cat back...

here is a pic of it just for fun. Also an overall view of the y-pipe after I was done with it.

Justin

[cam-]

Nice work man! What brand are dem dare exhaust band clamp thingamajigs? I have some similar but not as wide and really dont want to crush the pipe especially around the header. Thx

[stage20]

Originally Posted by 87roc_t56

Nice work man! What brand are dem dare exhaust band clamp thingamajigs? I have some similar but not as wide and really dont want to crush the pipe especially around the header. Thx

exhaust band clamps. you can get them through jegs, or at your NAPA store.

[ghettocruiser]

I got mine from Napa. They had both 2.5" and 3" in stock...something like $8 a piece...but worth it. The brand name is Torca I believe. And the "model" name of the ones I got are the "easy seal" clamps. The ones that come with the Hawks y-pipe are called "accu-seal"...I think. They are the thinner ones with only one bolt.

One thing Im not sure of though... Are these clamps supposed to go half on one side of the joint, half on the other? Or are they supposed to go just on the expanded side. They seem to work decent either way...

Justin

[cam-]

Are these clamps supposed to go half on one side of the joint, half on the other? Or are they supposed to go just on the expanded side. They seem to work decent either way...

Hmmm the ones I bought have two bolts but only go on one side. The band is about an inch wide or so but i think they might crush the pipe. Its the width of those ones you used that caught my eye. No idea the "correct" application for those as per one side or both but thanks for the heads up I'm gonna get some of them too.

[stage20]

Originally Posted by ghettocruiser

I got mine from Napa. They had both 2.5" and 3" in stock...something like $8 a piece...but worth it. The brand name is Torca I believe. And the "model" name of the ones I got are the "easy seal" clamps. The ones that come with the Hawks y-pipe are called "accu-seal"...I think. They are the thinner ones with only one bolt.

One thing Im not sure of though... Are these clamps supposed to go half on one side of the joint, half on the other? Or are they supposed to go just on the expanded side. They seem to work decent either way...

Justin

always done them half/half.
work good for butting pipes too if you cant expand it.

[ghettocruiser]

Cool thanks for the info. I was trying to clamp my magnaflow muffler to the over the axle pipe and that sucker just didnt seem like it wanted to hold. But they seemed to work everywhere else. I have a couple extra clamps so I might try a new one...

Justin

[LadyInRed]

wow that was fing gross. good job on the clean up!

[ghettocruiser]

Yeah it was a fiasco thats for sure. Figured maybe you all would like some finished exhaust pics. Finally got the magnaflow installed. Im debating on if I want to keep using those band clamps everwhere. They are allowing a few small leaks here and again. Those things have to be torqued to like 50-60 ftlbs!!! Thats hard to get to when you are crammed under the car laying on your back. But they still leak here and there. Probably where the pipes are 100% round. Oh well... Enjoy the pics. I think the tail pipes look hot!!!











The tips still need alittle bit of tweaking. They were sort of hard to get lined up. Im going to see about gettni a previous thread of mine about magnaflow deleted and starting a new one with pics of how I did it. There seems to be a lack of good pictures or good methods of actually getting it installed. Also...the kit that should work the best is the 98-02 kit. But thats a different story...

Justin

[cam-]

Yeah looks sweet. Got a sound clip or vid?

[GTA91]

Everyone needs to start running the "double hump" crossmember from "Drew" or "Drews" on here... do a search for it or search my username. I used that along with a custom ORY on my old setup... worked great and more ground clearance than stock. I've still got the ORY if anyone wants it.

[ghettocruiser]

None yet. Ive been too busy trying to get her done to take any more vids. But as soon as its on the ground and moving, Ill be sure to post up a few vids of the exhaust and what not. Sounds great. Alittle quiet at idle...but thats a good thing. Still sounds mean. But when you rev it... wow. Sounds like the gates of hell just opened up. Sounds absolutly rediculous while sitting in the car.

Justin

[cam-]

But when you rev it... wow. Sounds like the gates of hell just opened up. Sounds absolutly rediculous while sitting in the car.

Cool beans! I'm running my existing flowmaster ( not the gacky crossflow style ) but if it doesn't sound killer out it goes for something else so I am very curious to hear yours. Please do post up vids/sound bits when you can.

All this activity from you gus lately is gettin me pumped again

[ghettocruiser]

GTA91: I would LOVE to use drews crossmember. however...I have the spohn torque arm with the mount on the crossmember. I couldnt see any way of making the humps. I was going to convert the spohn piece into a drews...but there just doesnt seem to be much room for playing there. The passenger side would work...but the TA mount on the drivers side would stop progress. Ill see how this works for now. After fiddling with the hawks y-pipe...I think it will actually flow half decent and will work for now. I think what needs to happen is a fun weekend meeting with Bruce (hawks) and Steve (spohn) and try to come up with a solution. Cutting the crossmember like I had to was annoying enough... There has GOT to be a way! haha. Spohn makes awsome stuff as far as Im concerned. And Hawks does awsome work. There should be a solution to make all the parts work together.

Anyway... 87roc_t56... Stay tuned for even more activity from me... Hopefully by thursday ill be .

Ill try to get some vids of it... like a walk around or something. Kind of showing all the work all the while hearing the car run. Then maybe some action shots or in car stuff. I gotta see how the next few days turn out. The wiring is done...however none of it is "packaged" inside. I have to hide it and make final connections etc etc..

Justin

[GTA91]

I can see the pics now... I just can't stand the site of those y-pipes... sorry guys, no offense to you at all. The double hump x-member makes it soooo easy. I'm still using a stock tranny mount torque arm so I know they could fab something up to work. I'm going to go to a Chris Alston tq arm that mounts to the tranny tunnel... similar to the Jeg's tq arm but alot stronger. That way it will clear my true duals and still work with my x-member.


*That black TA with the 4th gen WS6 wheels looks nice!!

[stage20]

Originally Posted by GTA91

I can see the pics now... I just can't stand the site of those y-pipes... sorry guys, no offense to you at all. The double hump x-member makes it soooo easy. I'm still using a stock tranny mount torque arm so I know they could fab something up to work. I'm going to go to a Chris Alston tq arm that mounts to the tranny tunnel... similar to the Jeg's tq arm but alot stronger. That way it will clear my true duals and still work with my x-member.


*That black TA with the 4th gen WS6 wheels looks nice!!

youre gonna need to get that t/arm off the tailshaft, or you gonna break it with your launches at the track with that stroker.
be careful.

[GTA91]

Originally Posted by stage20

youre gonna need to get that t/arm off the tailshaft, or you gonna break it with your launches at the track with that stroker.
be careful.

That's why I'm going to a Chris Alston tunnel mount