monza’s back!
i’m not sure why i ever took them off, but they’re back now!
the monza tips that were on the car when i bought it had been sitting in my garage, begging to be put back on for years. friday i finally got around to it. also i now had an incredible and knowledgeable installer (mike at general muffler in orange). as you can see in the photos, his shop is quite something. and he also works on SAAB’s! hence the connection — bud at J&B. he doesn’t take appointments. you just show up, and if he’s got time, and he likes you, he’ll work on your car. or he’ll just light up another one and keep working on his boat, or hot rod, or just talk with the two old guys sitting in his office having a smoke. friday morning he had time, and maybe even liked me…it’s hard to tell.
after a quick and fun conversation about how all the kids always want these huge diameter pipes, not knowing that it destroys low-end torque because of no back pressure, i assured him i was at his shop because i trusted his expertise. he said that if it was up to him, he would replace from the header back with a 2″ pipe and would GUARANTEE me more low end off-the-line fun. i believed him — and said “let’s do it!”
when he finished, he said to take it on an extended trip around the block and report back.
IT WAS LOUD! louder than it has ever been. i was sure police from neighboring cities were getting calls about it from concerned residents. so i pulled back in and said i’d prefer if it were just a TINY bit quiter. a 12″ glasspack was his solution. he didnt have one in stock, but could have it monday. but monday was too late for me, because i’d been out on vacatin for a week, i knew it would be busy. so i called around and tried to locate one myself. no luck. so i drove on home and tried to sneak in to our neighborhood. that didnt work. car alarms were going off as i drove by.
shortly after lunch, he called, he’d located a 12″ glasspack and it was at his shop now. no questions, and no explanation, i was just glad. but with traffic, i’d never make it up there before they leave at 3…BUT, he said he would be in on saturday, and if i came by, he’d work me in. WHEW.
the drive up there was painful. at anything over 3,400RPMs, the noise was ear-plug-worthy. i was glad i was going to tone it down a bit.
i got up there, he finished chatting with a fellow boat inthusiast, and guided me on to the lift. 15 minutes later and he sent me around the block again for a test. it was PERFECT! loud, but not rediculous. and if i put my foot into it, it got NICE and loud. in other words, i could set off car alarms if i WANTED to, not just all the time.
i paid the man, and headed home. my first stop at the gas station generated another Z story for another post.