Silence of the Silencer

If you have been following what we've been up to for the past couple of days, you would have learned that we received a huge shipment from our sponsor, Apex Performance. Two of the items have been revealed to you guys so far: The Invidia catless bellmouth downpipe, and the Invidia G200 catback exhaust.

When I opened the contents of the G200 exhaust, I quickly noticed that the exhaust had a silencer installed. This silencer was crammed in the titanium tip, and was extremely stubborn to budge. I quickly went onto the NASIOC forums and asked the local guys for some advice, as well as some of you guys on the Machine Zealots' Facebook page. You guys gave great advice, so thank you very much for all of your input!

I ended up listening to this one guy who told me to use a metal bar placed within the silencer and torque it out. Immediately, I thought that this was the most logical way to do it. I wrapped up the removable metal handle bar from a hydraulic jack with a wet towel, and knocked out the silencer within five minutes.

No damage was done to either the silencer or the exhaust itself. Ah physics, I love you. If you guys ever run into an issue like this make sure you try this method; it works like a charm!

With the silencer removed, I think everything is in order to start some videos. Yeah? Hope you guys stay tuned to Machine Zealots!

Getting to know my Subaru

It feels really good when you set a time to just sit down and work on your car, doesn't it? This is the first modification that required me to get to know my car. By that, I mean, unbolting, removing, and just really dismantling the car and putting it back together again. There will be more of this as time goes on of course, but as I have only owned this car for a month, it's definately a special bonding time for me.




First off, I would like to say, the Subaru community has made an awesome section for DIYs available online. Frankly I think there isn't any room for my work, but I'll make the best of it. This modification idea came from my friend who owns a 2010 Subaru Impreza STI. Since he has owned the car a lot longer than me, he had informed me that all of the STIs have a huge "milk jug" attached to the intake called the intake silencer. He told me that I should look it up online, and this immediately intrigued me.

On the same day, I went online and did a search. Much to my surprise, this was indeed infact true! People have been doing this to their cars to enhance the volume of the turbos. There is no logical way it would make your car lose power, nor gain any power, so it was purely for the sound. I decided to do this for the sound, but mainly, so I had an excuse to take apart the car.

Does this actually work? Yes, infact it does work. I, myself, my brother, and a few other passengers that have sat in this car before and after the silencer delete have stated that the Turbo sounds much louder. For the people who have done it and can't hear the difference, there is two possible reasons I can think of: You have an after market exhaust which drowns out the turbo spool, or your RPM isn't high enough when you are trying it. The sound is really apparent when your RPMs are around 4.5k to redline. I've tried with both windows down and up, so believe me, it works.

There are actually some product manufacturers who sell aftermarket intake elbows. Basically it's exactly what we were left with, just without the silencer. They sell these things for as high as $100! Seriously? No seriously, if you are looking into more sound on your stock car, do this mod. It's free! lol.

Also, the sound doesn't get annoying either. On daily driving commutes, it will not effect any sound. As long as your turbo is prevented from spooling really fast, you won't hear a difference. For some, that is a bonus. I mean, I'm all for loud cars, but sometimes it actually gets really tiring. I don't know what you guys think, but that's just my opinion.

That's it for this mod! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me in anyway you find necessary, and I will help you out. =) Please support Machine Zealots by Subscribing to the Youtube channel, and joining our Facebook page.

Until next time.

Front Bumper Removal and Front Plate Mod

Like I said in the video, I have had two counts of "no front License Plate" violations. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't trying to be a rebel. After the first warning, I was already going to do this mod. However, I was waiting for the magnets to arrive in the mail, and I was eventually caught on the week I was going to put it on, but it was too late =( I was charged $85, as my second warning. Otherwise, the officer could have fined me for $600 as a driving violation, revoked my license, and impounded my car.

I really wasn't going to take another chance and gamble with those odds.

Anyway, I have driven the car for a week and a half now. Mixed driving styles: Fast and slow, and on the highway and in the city. The front plate mod seems to be holding up really well. I don't think I am going to worry too much about it falling off. What I really love about it, is that you can take off the plate anytime to take some awesome pictures, or videos. Of course at car shows, with the front plate off, you can really show off those aggressive lines at the front end.

Of course, removing the bumper doesn't just have to be about the front plate mod. Use this for when you are removing your head lights, changing out your grill, or whatever you have in mind. So pick your poison.

Special Thanks to Jerry (C586)! Awesome idea sir! =D

DIY - Remove your V6 Camaro Bumper

My previous post, I prematurely reviewed the Stillen splitter. The day after my review, the splitter came off! If I haven't mentioned it in the last post, the splitter came shipped with double sided tape. The instructions also say to use double sided tape and 4 self tapping screws, that wasn't good enough. Maybe it was my fault, maybe it isn't. All I know is, I'm still keeping my foot down on my previous critique, the instructions were NOT good enough. It did not even tell you where to mount the splitter. Well, much to my dissapointment, I had to re-install the splitter. Good news was, it was my second time doing the install, so I have a step by step tutorial on how to remove your bumper.

First things first, to take off your bumper you DON'T have to remove the wheels. However, if you want more access while removing bolts, then I would highly recommend you taking off your wheels. Takes 10 minutes, I promise.

There are six plastic rivets running along the top of the bumper. Remove them.

There are two 10mm bolts on the ends of the rivets, one on each side, remove these too.

There are also two 10mm bolts right under the bumper. I don't have a picture for these, but it's easy to find, they are the only bolts under the bumper.

Go to your wheel wells now, you will find 3 torx screws facing towards your bumper. Remove these three screws.

Look up in the wheel well, you will find another plastic rivet. However, the rivets in the wheel wells are slightly larger than the ones located on top of the bumper. Make sure you don't mix them up.

This one is optional... if you removed your wheels, look towards your springs and remove the rivet. If you didn't remove your wheels, forget it, you can't even remove it. Removing this rivet will make your wheel wells much looser; more clearance.

Peel back the wheel wells. Just a pre-caution, from here on out, the bumper removal is much trickier. However, if you get past this, you will find it a breeze the next time you remove the bumper. Every bolt from this point on will be located within the wheel wells. There are 5 bolts in total, holding the bumper to the fender. First one is located at the edge of the bumper, this is a 7mm bolt facing upwards. Remove it vertically, downwards.

Get some light deep into the bumper, look towards the front of the bumper. There are three 10mm bolts. One on top of the other. The one on the top, I have to admit, was the most frustrating... You'll see why. My advice, get a long extension for your 10mm socket wrench, or an electronic wrench. Basically you won't have much room to unscrew it.

The very last bolt is a 10mm bolt hidden backwards where you just removed the 7mm bolt. You won't be able to see it, even with your wheel removed. Just feel for a bolt hidden behind the one I have circled above. Use your 10mm socket and get that out.

Congratulations! You have just removed your bumper! Now you can install your splitter, change your grills, remove your headlights, or do what ever you have in mind!

Well, that is it for the bumper removal. I'll be posting some more vanity shots of my completed project after I wash my car sometime this week. That's it for now. Cheers!