993 Fabspeed X-pipe and Walrod Bushings Installed

Knocked out a little project today on a buddy’s 993 today. On the chopping block was to install a Fabspeed X-pipe as well as front control arm bushings ala Chris Walrod.

Mmmm pretty. The Fabspeed system has sport cats you can swap out for straight pipes. Remove a couple of clamps, and make the changes in a matter of minutes.

The old cat section. If you look closely, you might see why we are changing this out. See it yet?

How about this: Driver’s side.

Annnnd the passenger side.

Now do you see it? Long story about this one and why it was installed on the car……..no time for that though.

Main pipe installed.

And for now the cat bypass pipes…..track event this weekend 🙂 After firing the car up, it definitely has a deeper throaty sound to it, but not overpowering like I thought it was going to be.

And then it was on to replacing the front control arm bushings. These were designed by Chris Walrod, and it is a great replacement option. He can be found on Rennlist, and I believe they can be acquired through Fister-D Motorsports as well! There are 3 bushings on each control arm, and included is a bottle of super sticky goo for installing and lubricating the bushings.

So now we have to drop the control arm out.

Some guys remove the outer ball joint, but you mess with your caster setting to do so, so I just popped out the ball joint from the spindle. Much easier and quicker if you have the right tool.

Long story short, but the new bushings installed. There is a lot of hammering with a chisel, torching, sawing of old bushings, cleaning with a sanding disc and scotbrite, etc to get the old ones out. Piece of advice. Throw away the hacksaw. Break out the sawzall, just go slow. Not only to you have to get the through the rubber bushing, but also the outer metal sleeve of the bushing. You will thank me later. Then you press the new bushings in. Some do this with a c-clamp, but I found you can just put your weight into it and push the bushings in by hand. Any additional persuasion can be done with a dead blow hammer just fine.

Ready to go! Nothing like getting it done 12 hours before a DE event. Let the testing commence.

About porschedoc

The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it. Ok, for those that can't figure it out, that is actually not my profile, but that of Dr. Evil's profile from Austin Powers. Though chestnuts are indeed lazy, you can't argue with that.

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2 Responses to 993 Fabspeed X-pipe and Walrod Bushings Installed

Cameron Jones says:

September 29, 2011 at 1:02 am

Nice work Doc!

I am about to attempt this myself as home DIY. I just bought the Fabspeed x-pipe and I’m bringing it back to London with me in October on my next US trip. How difficult was it getting the old Cat pipe off? did you have to use angle grinders or anything? I am a bit nervous about getting it off http://s927.photobucket.com/albums/ad117/cambjones/?action=view&current=2011-09-15_15-44-06.jpg

Any tips?

Cheers

- porschedoc says:
  
  September 29, 2011 at 7:56 am
  
  Nah, pretty straight forward. If you have rusty bolts and they break, no big deal, you will use new hardware anyway. Good luck!