nj_08_gts

iTrader: (1)

Part IV: “The answer my friend; is blowing in the wind”

Exhaust

The 2008 Lancer has a very, very, very restrictive exhaust system. But there is good news: Even if you’re new to cars you can upgrade the Lancer exhaust and not worry about breaking anything.

Muffler
The stock muffler on the 2008 Lancer is huge, heavy, and restrictive. Essentially, ANY exhaust you install will help you out in this department. Despite the fact that there are a lot of options, they’re all pretty much the same. Pick the one you like…buy it…install it. This is a very easy mod to do and in this car, it’s worth the money. In general, a new muffler won't affect your warranty, so it's the obvious route to take if you have any concerns.


Catalytic Converter
A catalytic converter (or “cat”) is a container filled with a honey-comb like structure made of platinum and palladium. Those two materials act as a catalyst to convert (hence the name) the harmful things in a cars exhaust to slightly less harmful things (namely carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide). You can buy “high flow” catalytic converters, which are less restrictive than OEM versions. The high-flow cats do the same thing as the normal ones, but just less of it…meaning it will spew more pollution into the air. A high-flow cat will void the emissions portion of your warranty.


Exhaust Header
This replaces your stock exhaust manifold. They are generally less restrictive than an OEM manifold, meaning they spit out air more efficiently. The 2008 Lancer is slightly different than previous models, in that the exhaust manifold on the 4B11 is in the rear of the engine rather than the front. A header is a nice mod that should really help to open up the Lancer (remember, its exhaust is very restrictive). The install can be time consuming, physically painful and the emotional scars will eventually fade with intensive psycho therapy. Also note that you will not be able to sneak up on anybody after installing a header…it can make things quite loud. Installing a header will void the emissions portion of your warranty and possibly the power train portion if the dealer feels like it.


What Is Right for You?
To decide what exhaust parts will be the best for your setup, you really have to have a concrete idea of what the car will be when it’s DONE: Will it be turbo’d or NA? Most of the time, the answer to that question will dictate what kind of exhaust mods you do and also how much time and money you invest.

evo_soul

Its never wise to play with Cats with newer cars, if things start going wrong with your engine there are some cases i know first hand, that a dealer pulled a (well you modified your emissions control system and it thru other things out of wack and we are not going to cover your pistons/warn rings that have been exposed to lean conditions. lol

you bring up a good topic though. if INJEN is bringing out a Header back solution, unless they get it approved by the dealer to to meet certain emission standards (CARB etc..) I am going to assume that it will void some warranties.

Mitsu really turned upgrading our cars exhaust a real pain in the ***.

futurevowner

iTrader: (1)

how would they know if you have the stock exhaust and just put it back on whenever you need to go to the dealer?

evo_soul

hmmm lets inspect that cat, hmm the cat seems kinda clean? lets check how many km are on the car? hmmm everything else has worn down, hmmm i wonder why the cat looks so new? lol

trust me they were not born yesterday they know, with bolt ons, your exhaust system will burn even richer.

Again you can do what you want to your axel back, attach cans to it, stick a banana in it, make it a Quad exhaust, anything. But once you play with the manufacturers Cat there is always the potential of a problem.

Mitsu again dumb, they welded it on purpose, cause they wish to deter modifications while offering a 160,000km warranty on the powertrain.

makes sense to me

nj_08_gts

iTrader: (1)

Well, even if the the dealership didn't know, look at it practically: if you don't do your own scheduled/preventative maintenance, that means you would be swapping exhaust components roughly every 3,000 miles. If you do keep up with the car on your own, though, swapping components starts to make a tiny bit sense...not much though.

Additionally, if you're swapping out parts before going to the dealer it means you're afraid of losing your warranty...and if you're afraid of losing your warranty, you shouldn't get too heavy into modding.

SamT83

Any chance you or someone else could go into a bit more detail on this and what exactly each answer would mean to one's options?

otter

iTrader: (14)

Put simply, when staying N/A, you need some backpressure to maintain a usable level of torque/low end power. You maintain that pressure by sticking with smaller piping and/or leaving in the cat and/or with the muffler. On a turbo setup, the turbo creates all the backpressure, so after the turbo all that matters is getting the exhaust out quickly. The best flow and fewest obstructions possible are best on a turbo setup.

nj_08_gts

iTrader: (1)

What otter said. Sorry about that: Reading over what I wrote, I realized I completely glazed over that.

SamT83

Simple enough concept, thanks guys.

Al Bundy

Has anyone with an aftermarket exhaust noticed improvements in fuel economy?

To me it seems intuitive to think that by freeing up a couple horses you would require slightly less fuel during normal driving conditions, but then again I thought the same about installing an SRI and haven't noticed any significant difference since making the swap

nj_08_gts

iTrader: (1)

Don't know about fuel economy personally, I don't much keep track of it. When it's empty...I fill it and when Achmed swipes my card...money comes out.

yitzac1990

iTrader: (16)

So about all the warranty stuff. I talked to my dealership and they said replacing the muffler will void any warranty dealing with the powertrain, same goes for the headers and the intake. Is anyone elses dealer this strict, or is that just standard policy? Maybe you should revise what you say about adding stuff like this, nj_08_gts! lol

MasterAK

A muffler doesn't automatically void the powertrain warranty. If there is a connection betwwen the muffler and a powertrain problem that you may have than it's another story, so basically if something breaks because of your muffler (unlikely) they wouldn't cover it. They just want to scare you thats all.

evo_soul

Talking about the Exhaust
Here is what I want you to do, Go back to that dealership and get that statement right there in writing. If you get that, I will march up the stairs of of Mitsu HQ myself to dispute it. Point is, it can not void your warranty before a failure. Any failure of your car warrants an investigation. Of all the components in a powertrain its hard to nail the exhaust as the point of failure, and to have a level of certainty that you are confident that it is the cause.

An intake is more likely to damage your intake (potentially) than an exhaust. More can go wrong with an intake in theory than an exhaust. You can have no exhaust and the car will run fine. Of couse the lack of TQ may cause additional strain but the point is, your car will let you know right away if there is something wrong with your exhaust system, this is what the sensors in your exhaust manifold (Fed vs. PZEV) and cat are for. of couse emissions is the primary purpose, but your car is very good at detecting when something is out of wack.

Getting to the header

The same rules apply, with the PZEV the dealers ability to point the finger of failure at the header is higher because there is Emissions equipment that you are NOT SUPPOST TO PLAY WITH, PERIOD. with the FED, to my knowledge there are no emissions control sensors located in that second. What this means is, so long as your emissions control equipement doesnt have a problem with your upgrade you should be fine. Its also important to let your dealer know about the upgrade, it goes against what people think. But it is wiser to demonstrate your cars conditions while everything is running smooth and nice. Instead of avoiding coming into the dealership and only going in when something serious is wrong. I even recommend getting your Mitsubishi dealership to be the one to install it. If one dealer is talking smack about warranty go to a different one. The point is you want them to install it, and run it and see no problems.

Personally if I owned a dealership, the one thing I would drill into a customers head is, if you tune your car up with aftermarket stuff, you better bring that thing in for regular service, and even increased inspections. You can catch failures before they happen. All the signs are there, inspecting plugs, your manifolds visually, regular oil changes, improved quality oil. Its common sense. But I love the guy that says my car failed but you ask them if they maintained it or even inspected the car regularly they say no, or they brought it in to the dealer but no idea what they do.

You just invested $30,000, treat your car like its worth that much. some peole just treat it like a rented mule.

fuz_dnz

iTrader: (4)

You're right about the exhaust part. My dealership told me I could modify the exhaust all I wanted, it wouldn't void any warranty. However if the exhaust would break or run into problems they would obviously not cover that part. I've installed an exhaust about a month ago but haven't gone to the dealership yet. I'm pretty sure they won't tell me anything since the first time I went I had my RRM short ram intake along with my aftermarket rims. Other mods like RRM lowering springs and RRM pulley were not that visible.
A friend of mine who works there even told me they had a guy with a huyndai tiburon come in with all sorts of mods and still get service. (I forgot what mods ) but I know it was serious mods since I was talking about my short ram intake. It definitely wasn't a turbo though.

Anyway the only reason why I go there is for an oil change and the inspection every 3000 miles. I guess as long as nothing goes wrong with my car they will keep on ignoring my mods and give me my free oil changes. But I'll know for sure what they're all about once I run into a problem.