Mullet's Metro Project

[Johnny Mullet]

Now that the frame has been finished, I am running out of things to fix right now so I got bored today and decided to make the exhaust appear to be bigger than it really is. This is not an economy mod, but an appearance mod for the car. That tiny little tailpipe on this car makes the rest of it look weak (well, whatever, it is weak), so time to change this and turn it into a "sheep in wolf's clothing" so to speak.

Here is the stock 1 1/2" pipe that comes off the muffler...................



I did not want to cut it since it's part of the muffler and adding a tip is almost impossible because it would stick out too far. I wanted a clean look without modifying the muffler.

I took a piece of 2 1/4" leftover exhaust pipe from the shop scrap pile. I set the bench grinding saw to a 45 degree angle and cut the pipe. I then ground off the rough edges from the cut and held it up to do a visual inspection with it on the car. I set it center with the bumper cutout and tack welded the pipe in place like so................



This allows me to remove it if I ever have to for some odd reason and the last edge of the muffler pipe can be cut so it looks stock again. Here is the after pictures............





Scrap exhaust pipe = $0.00
Total time = 30 minutes

Total cost = $0.00

[bennelson]

Love it! Now crank some V-8 sound effects through the sound system and have a very macho eco-car!

[Johnny Mullet]

I will have to note that the headlight swap to the "Bucket Style" did show a 1.5 MPG decrease according to my log. This is no big deal since the future grill block will compensate or even improve it more.

The best part is that these lights are way brighter than any "composite" headlights I had on any vehicle. The last car I owned with sealed beams was in the early 1990's. The sealed beams that RacerX sent me were fine, but I decided to go ahead and replace both with some brand new Wagner Halogen Long Life lamps and wow! What a difference! I could crash a Boeing 747 if I was going up a hill with the high beams on

New headlamps = $7.95 each
Labor time = 20 minutes

Total cost = $16.00

Maybe if I get the time, I could start at page #1 and start adding all the cost of parts I have in this car including the purchase price of $75.00 for the car. I updated all the posts with labor time and price of parts. Then add the labor time and see what it would have cost me for a shop to do the repairs at $70.00 per hour and see how much I am really saving by doing all the work myself. I am a little tired right now to do all this adding. Maybe later.

[RacerX]

WOW, I didn't think it would make that much difference. I should have some left over lexan layin around some where if you want to make covers for them.

The tail pipe looks great....I gotta thing for tailpipes...Why I don't know but I'm going to do the same thing to my metro as I did to my Riv. I think there's a pic in my album of the Riv. I'll make them functional...It'll make people think a little until they realize what I did. Big tails are a nice touch

[bbjsw10]

Originally Posted by Johnny Mullet

This is no big deal since the future grill block will compensate or even improve it more.

purchase price of $75.00 for the car.

Good to see you are thinking of a grill block, should definitely make up for the headlights and then some.

$75 WOW I thought I got a deal.!!??

Originally Posted by RacerX

The tail pipe looks great....I gotta thing for tailpipes... Big tails are a nice touch

This doesn't involve soft music and K-Y does it?? I just hope you file the burrs off first....... Just messing, you know we like ya.

[RacerX]

[QUOTE=bbjsw10;49448]
This doesn't involve soft music and K-Y does it?? I just hope you file the burrs off first....... ]Google

I was smiling as I read that...... until I got to the Burr part....Damn

[Johnny Mullet]

This is going to be an experiment. I heard all the arguments of having a cold air intake compared to a warm air intake and decided to test the results myself with a simple mod. Most Metro owners remove the plastic air duct to the air filter housing to leave it open for better flow and warmer air from the engine compartment. I also did this to my car, but was not really tacking fuel consumption way back when I first got it. I did however notice you could hear the throttle better with it removed for that "feel" of more power, but none really noticed in my opinion.

My original ducting is long gone except for the air filter housing snout, so I decided to put to use some flexible ducting I found floating around in my garage at home by installing it like an aftermarket cool air intake. The air intake has been switched from the warmer engine compartment back to the original location inside the passenger fender. I will see if I get any gains or loss in MPG, but you know how that goes. One windy day can mess everything up.

Here are the pictures.....................





Flexible hose = $0.00
Hose clamp = $1.00
Labor time = 30 minutes

Total cost = $1.00

[Formula413]

I'll be interested to hear how this turns out. I would like to run a WAI at least in the winter, but it would be a huge PITA with my car because of the location of the MAF, the filter, and some vent hoses, as well as a general lack of under hood space.

[MetroMPG]

You probably know my results. None! No measurable difference. But I left the WAI in place, drawing heat off the exhaust manifold actually, because I liked the theory.

Originally Posted by Johnny Mullet

I will see if I get any gains or loss in MPG, but you know how that goes. One windy day can mess everything up.

Thank you for being aware of the challenges of testing stuff properly and for saying it out loud.

[justpassntime]

Like the exhaust idea. Looks much better than the garbage can sized pipes you see on some cars. And costs much less. Liked the light mod too. Cheap, easy and worthwhile.

Your a lot like me, can't leave nothin alone, gotta be improving something all the the time. Most of the stuff I put on my car either came off the scrap pile or wrecking yard. It all went on a free car so why spend a lot.