Hey you have nothing to be sorry about! It's all good. The next time you see that car/muffler combo it will have a Helmholtz resonator stuck on it. As for noticing the tires, lots of suspension mods are also visible.

I will post a better photo from "tire kicker" height to the R53 straight exhaust thread when I have it all back together.

 

Real interested in hearing how the Helmholtz resonator experiment turns out.

 

Just installed my IE exhaust (double tips). A few notes though, first off, the sound is about 900% better than the stock exhaust. As for the install, it was easy enough, though the flange bolt requirement for my 5/04 MCS was a M10. I used a M10x40 (what the store had) but could have used a 35 or a 30. Someone earlier stated M12x35. That size does not work unless you want to boar out the bolt holes on the cat/header flange.

The only manufacturing flaw I had is that the pipe at the flange was not even with the face of flange and required a little bit of grinding to ensure a flush fit.

Otherwise, everything went well, though to be on the safe side, I will be adding some additional heat shielding or trimming the rear valance behind the muffler.

Personally, I like the dual tip look.

 

Glad you like the exhaust. I too love mine. There's a alittle fit and finish problems, but for the price, I can deal with a little "touch up" work on it. I agree with you, as I like the dual tips, but on mine, one of the tips kind of hangs down lower than the other, and it bothers me. That's why I'm going to give this new big mouth tip a try. Again, congrats on the exhaust and enjoy it.

 

Ok - I have to confess, after 48 hours, the tips have gotten to me, I can't get them quite straight - one lower, and the visible angle (not parallel) between the tips kind of bugs me, so I will be ordering the big mouth tip. Hey, at least I will have a spare tip laying around.

 

I've been running my IE exhaust for about a week now. The exhaust drones a little too much for my liking for a daily driver. I'm thinking of adding another muffler to the system on the driver's side. Otherwise, I like it: well made, I had no fit problems and I appreciate the flow of the 2.5" system. I'm also not wild about the dual tips which "list to port" and are kind of hacked on, and may convert the twin tip to single tip (just as an exercise in metalshaping, their big-mouth tip looks fine).
Ian
'02 MCS

 

Just got my Big Mouth tip today, and hopefully I will install it tomorrow over lunch. It is pretty nice. Much better looking than the dual tips (not nearly as rough), and pre-painting the interior of the tip with black paint is a nice touch. I will post a pic tomorrow after it gets installed.

 

I am going to slash cut my dual tip soon. I am curious how the big mouth tip looks when installed in our small car.

 

Okay, I received my big mouth tip yesterday. I waited until today to install it as I wanted to get a band clamp from Napa. My first impression out of the box was the normal "WOW, what a work of art" statement that seems to be the norm when I get something from Ireland Engineering. The tip is really nice looking. There are more pros than cons with this tip.

Here is the tip out of the box




As you can see, the tip is extraordinarily constructed. They even spray painted the inside black.

Here are the 2 tips side by side



Now for the cons. The tip's hanger is not shaped like the original's (look at the above picture of the two tips side by side) and therefore will not fit into the hanger. What's a guy to do? Easy, you just undo one of the nuts on the rubber hanger holder and turn it 90 degrees. Tighten down the one nut and just place the other nut onto it's bolt just as a holding place. You can see in the picture below what I mean.

So again, the only Con I have with this tip is the hanger, but as you can see in my picture is very easily fixed. The Pros however outweight this con. The welds are solid, the design is tasteful, they spray painted the inside black already for you, easy to install. This took me 30 minutes to install, and most of that was trying to get the old tip off. I once again used small hose clamps on the exhaust hangers to keep the exhaust from sliding around. The tip sticks out about an inch and a half, BUT, it doesn't look bad with this style of tip. The dual tip looks horrible with the amount of it that sticks out. This new tip pulls it off nicely. I will be taking daytime pictures tomorrow. Here are some pictures after the install.


So, again, thanks to Dustin for all the help and thanks to Ireland Engineering for creating such wonderful products for us budget minded people. If anyone has any questions or need help installing, shoot me a PM or just ask here in this thread.

 

Ok - sorry for the delay - my install looks pretty much like the one above. Again, to reiterate what he said in his post, you do need to rotate the left side hanger 90 degrees and secure with one bolt. On mine i clipped the heat shielding and slid the unbolted side underneath the shield. Looking underneath, it appears that if you had time, there is actually a hole where the the second bolt would go. So if you were enterprising enough, it could probably be held in place with a small alligator clip. My feeling is that the single bolt is holding it pretty securely.

My pictures look about the same as the ones above (save for my Cooper being Dark Silver). Here is one picture of what it looks like from above. Again, it does still stick out a bit, but it looks much better than the dual tips.


There are some more images in my gallery. One thing that I found difficult is getting the tip centered and I need to work on this a little bit more.

 

Looks great guys, Thanks for the pics and feedback. I have reported your findings to IE and know they will be adjusting as needed.

 

they look just like the Minspeed exhaust.. almost identical..

 

Okay, I couldn't get any day shots today. I was extremely busy plus the pollen is in the air and Lilith needs a wash. I will, however add some more details. The tip sticking out doesn't bother me. I figure if you are running this exhaust from the get go, then you will probably get used to it. I believe if you run Ireland Engineering parts, you're a different kind of breed anyway. MJCMini stated he had trouble centering his. I didn't have trouble centering mine so much as "keeping it centered" while tightening it up. I ended up adjusting it again today, and so far it sems to stay centered. As you can see from his picture, it does stick out quite a bit, but that will set you apart a little. This tip looks 100% better than the original tip. There are so many flush mount tips out there, why not let that thing poke out a bit.

Now for the driving aspect. I took Lilith out today and was shocked. Her throttle seemed to be a little more responsive. I'm thinking maybe the hole being a little more open got rid of some more restriction. I was a little disappointed being that the prominent snap crackle and pop disappeared. I soon found out by rolling down my windows that it is still there, it's just not as noticeable in the car with the windows up like it used to be. At wide open throttle......the whistling is now gone. I have always been the type that doesn't like illusions. If a car has 2 tips, I want it to actually have 2 mufflers. With this exhaust being a single canister, it really only needs 1 tip. That's just me though.

Everytime I walk behind the car now, I just can't stop looking at the tip. I really like it. Is it for everybody. Probably not. If you like the OEM double tip style, just go have the original tip reworked. If you want something different, or don't want the hassle of finding someone to rework the original tip, try this one.

Fit and finish=10 (welds are beautifully done, construction is top notch)
Ease of installation=7 (Only because the hanger being off, installation is still a cinch)
Aesthetics=10 (IMO, this tip looks superb on our little cars)

 

I'm really not trying to throw cold water on this, but as soon as I saw the photos of the tip sticking out so far beyond the valance, I thought: "I've been there, only last week in fact, and this weekend I have a new set of tips that sit flush with the valance 'coz I couldn't stand the oval tip sticking out so far." I was always being reminded by those funky V-dubs with the single trumpet exhaust tip sticking up into the air from the rear.

If you're happy with this tip, go for it! And it clearly looks way better than those poorly made twin straight cut tips that came with the exhaust originally. But, it's not my cup of tea.

 

Once it gets hot, it will even stick out more due to expansion of the metal. From behind, I hope that you can't see the smaller tube (opening) inside because it looks out of proportion, but hey everything is subjective.

 

I think it might be the camera angle of the MJCMini in that post. Here is another one of his pics and I think it shows the tip not sticking out too far IMHO.

 

That one is alright. The finish of the V2 looks like it's chromed plated which is actually better.

 

Sorry for the odd angle of my first shot. Also to note, both of the pictures were taken with the car and exhaust hot after a 15-20 mile drive.

 

Yes, it's definitely the angle. If you look directly down at the tip, you don't see it. If you step back a little, then you see it sticking out a little. You have to see it in person to understand that it's not bad at all. And yes, it is chrome now. Of course the original tips were pretty shiny too, but the heat effect on them dulled them after a while. And the shape compliments my oval reverse light. Like I said before, I'm really happy with it and you really need to see it in person to understand.

 

That's great. We all know that IE is one of the best bang for deep sound and weight savings

 

I am very excited about this IE exhaust.. spoke with Dustin yesterday.. which by the way I sooo appreciate all your advice!!! And am anxiously awaiting details to order it!! Thanks again Dustin.. I'll post pics and vid... once I get it ordered and installed!

 

Chrome? Unless IE did that and didn't tell me nor raise the price for chrome I don't think it's chromed.

It should be polished Stainless Steel. I could be wrong and will double check with IE.

 

It might be polished, but looks chrome to me. Of course I didn't "study" the tip, I was just excited to install it. Let me know what they say.

 

Confirmed that it's Polished SS not chrome. They will also adjust the hanger on the next set. However the current set can be bent to fit just make sure you bend the rod near the end the weld.

 

I just finished installing my slashed cut V1 dual tip with the help of Quintin (our maintenance guy in the company where I work). It was cutted 12 degrees. The tip is flushed out slightly with the lower valence of the bumber when it's cold and sticks out by about 1/2 inch when it wams up. Just perfect and looks way better than the original tips which are plain, straight & bland. I'll take photos tomorrow.