Hey guys I noticed today that my car sounded different coming home from a short drive I did. The car sounds like an old car with a hole in its muffler. From what I can tell I hear it by the back of the header and it seems to have a vibrating noise as well. My guess is the bolts must have come loose in the back. My question is, is it ok for me to just try to hand tight the ones I think are loose or is there a sequence that should be followed to seal the header properly. Also is there a way to prevent this from happening again. I heard the stage 8 bolts work good but I wanted to see if just tightening them up would work just as well. Out of curiosity is there any damage being done if I drive the car like this without boost to get to and from a shop/store. Thanks again, Wish this didn't happen but I guess just something to deal with

 

I believe you will be safe, if you use a star pattern, inside out, to loosen and tighten. If there is a sequence, I think it would be this... similar to head bolts. If its not required, you were just a little too safe. No harm in doing it...

John

 

hmm well i found one of the bolts loose on the back side, i tightened it up but I am still getting the exhaust noise, maybe i didn;t do it enough ?anywhere else i should look at

 

ok i went back and did some more investigating it looks like there is a leak somewhere between the downpipe and test pipe. It looks like my installer welded it together which seems odd. I will take it to the shop this week and make sure that it is what it is. wish me luck

 

well just an update i did find the leak a weld between the test pipe and down pipe broke. If I get it welded again will this happen again? Would it be better to put on a flex pipe between the two pipes?