Hey everyone,
So installed the Pfadt products and the SW Headers listed above in thread at a friends shop he works at. Talked with his boss and he let us come in on a Sunday and use the lift and all tools to get the job done and it cost me absolutely nothing to do the work with my bud. So here we go with some crappy pics since I forgot the actual camera at home, so I apologize in advance for not having the "best" pics
Car up on the lift
Differential out with the new bushings in place... BIG DIFFERENCE!
My buddy posing with the whole rear end out, about to start on the subframe mounts and rear arms.
Pic of the rear end subframe mounts, heavy rubber things
One of the OEM subframe mounts knocked out, POS compared to the Pfadt Solid Subframe Mounts
Preview of what's going on
Solid mounts going in
All solid Subframe Mounts installed
Trailing Arms and Tie Rods being attached to rear end
Cool view thru the exhaust hole in diffuser to see the rear end getting close to being attached!
Buddy giving a thumbs up getting rear end ready to re-attach to all links and frame
Another snapshot of the mounts and arms under the car
A great view of the subframe mounts and trailing arms and tie rods under the car attached.
Solid Subframe Mount
Trailing Arm
Amazing view of the Pfadt products installed on the Camaro
Another great view of the Pfadt products installed. My buddy was freaking out on how SICK this stuff looked... said it looks like it should be on a Lambo lol.
OEM Engine Mount
OEM Engine Mount
Pfadt Engine Mount
Pfadt Engine Mount
OEM mounts out of the car, HEAVY ass rubber paperweights lol
Pfadt Engine Mounts installed
Close up look at one of the mounts
Stainless Works 1 7/8" Headers
OEM Headers and Cats....see a difference
Starting to get the SW headers in
View of the underside of the headers coming down
The wonderful merge spike in the headers
Couldn't help but get another nice view of the Pfadt Solid Subframe Mounts, Trailing Arms and Rear Tie Rods
Connecting the off road pipes and stock catback to the headers
Headers all said and done
All in all it was a GREAT Sunday morning/afternoon. My buddy and I did the Pfadt Diff mounts, solid subframe mounts, trailing arms, rear tie rods, engine mounts, SW headers, and the skip shift eliminator in 8.5 hours with a couple 5-10 min breaks for some beverages
I learned alot about the car still being somewhat new to all this and it's a great feeling knowing that you did the work yourself and you take a little extra pride in it as well. Of course, the money savings of doing it yourself are great, cannot imagine what this would have cost at a shop
So the drive home was a little rough obviously. The car shook a decent amount due to the engine mounts and the diff mounts but since then, about 2 weeks, it has really died down and feels great. I still get some vibration when starting from a stop in first thru the engine mounts and differential but it keeps going down by the day. If anyone is nervous about making the engine and diff more solid, there is nothing to worry about - Chase at Apex is completely right that it goes away with some time while it "settles in." I couldn't be more happy with the outcome and do not regret it at all going more solid for the engine and diff mounts, would do it again in a heartbeat. Should def help plant that power to the road better without all that movement from the OEM mounts.
I really haven't had a chance to get on it hard since I didn't have a tune done right away to see how the rear end did on hard launches regarding wheel hop etc... but I can tell you it is an amazing feeling having that rear end solid like mine. FEELS GREAT! I CANNOT SAY THAT ENOUGH! There is no more play and rocking when it comes to movement back there and so far it is the best mod out of that day, those solid subframe mounts are DEFINITELY worth the price and you won't be disappointed!
Even without a tune yet, the new Stainless Works Headers 1 7/8" w/ Off Road pipes sounded great with the stock catback and had a nice growl to it when cruising.
The only downside I had after all this was being stupid and not realizing we had to drain the differential to change the bushings so we had to reuse the fluid we drained (don't worry, put it in a clean container) but I have a little gear whine now but I have since bought some Royal Purple 75W-90 Diff fluid that will take care of it. Read many posts about how changing the fluid definitely helps with that. Also, when we drained the diff, it was NASTY!!! Silver sledge everywhere like you read if you search diff fluid, so if you haven't changed it out back to some new OEM fluids or RP or something, CONSIDER IT. I still need to put my RP in, but will get to it eventually
Hope you enjoyed the pics, again sorry for the quality
Tune to come soon!!!!
Jesse