8/29/06

From the “You Just Can’t Please Some People” files, comes the next chapter in Matilda’s rorty zorst story. Now it is too quiet again. I went from here to Steve/John’s muffler shop after work yesterday. Steve/John wasn’t there but his new muffler guy was, as was the old muffler guy of course. The old muffler guy was busy with a project so new muffler guy had me pull onto the rack. Now, new muffler guy is an old muffler guy in that he grabs the flaming-hacksaw to get the job done. I ‘splained about the insert in the pipe and told him that we’d have to remove it. He cut the glass pack out with the torch anyway. When it hit the ground I pointed at the insert and said, “We still have to take that flange loose to get that out. Grab a 16 mm wrench.” He was dumbfounded that you could actually take something apart and have it go back together. Well, I say that, I'm sure he actually did realize that exhaust systems could be unbolted, but he didn’t act like it. I watched as he gingerly took the nuts off and finagled the flange off with the ratchet. I wanted to say, “Come on Nancy, grab the thing and take it out! Do you want me to do it?” but I didn’t. When the flange hit the floor, the insert popped right out, to my relief, and he pussyfooted around picking the flange back up. I rolled my eyes and continued to watch. He picked out a “turbo muffler” and got everything lined up so that it wouldn’t interfere, which was a pretty impressive feat actually, and then zooked it in place. Now, old muffler guy would have continued with the MIG welder and been done but new muffler guy, being an old muffler guy, had to break out the torch to seal everything up. I, again, rolled my eyes and watched. When he got it all together and I took the car off the rack, we had to call Steve/John to see how much they needed to charge me. I paid it and hung out watching John try to remove the bumper from a car out back. We talked to old muffler guy for a bit, new muffler guy left, and then we headed out as well. Now, having said the car is too quiet again, I must qualify that some. On the drive home with the windows up, all I could hear was intake honk when I got into the throttle. This morning in the parking garage with the windows down I could hear a bit more growl than stock. I may, probably won’t, but I may try removing the center muffler to see what it sounds like with just the “turbo muffler” in place. I know a TM is just a tad louder than a stock muffler but not so loud as to be obnoxious, like the glass pack was. Basically, I'd like to replicate the zorst I had on the Scooby-Doo. I had them replace the whole pipe from the catalytic converter back and put in a single “turbo muffler.” I'd step up half an inch on the pipe size at that time as well. We’ll see. It is kind of a big step. I need to hear what it sounds like from the outside sometime before making a final, final decision. On another note, the intake honk sounds really good! Now I just need some decent wheels and I'll probably call the car “done.” I did notice something the other day while driving the Pimpmobile that I do miss, the tinted area at the top of the windshield. I'll probably have a strip of tint added to Matilda in the near future. At one point when the car first arrived, John said something about “blacking out” the chrome in the headlight buckets. I need to ask him about that again. At the time I didn’t think I'd want to do that, but thinking back to the pictures of the Velox wheels, the chrome stands out a bit too much. John, thoughts? Well, I'm just about through with y’all today. Perhaps I'll be back later but don’t hold your breath.