Tubi Exhaust

[Gale]

I just received my new Tubi exhaust today. I have read that they tend to be too close to the rear valance with possible melting / and one side is not centered in the body exhaust notch.

Before I have it installed are there any adjustments that I can make to correct these conditions?

Can anyone give me specific help? Especially in inches that adjustment is needed and if is drivers or passenger side.

Have any of the later Mfg Tubi's been factory corrected for these flaws so no adjustments are needed?

Thanks for any help and or information.
Gale

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Gale,

Let me see if I can address some of your questions.

1. The right side is close to the valance, but the Tubi tips are far from the heat, since they exit the exhaust at the center and then have a good length of tubing before the tip, so I have not seen any "burning of the valance". Mine was actually touching the valance at one time, and still no burn.

2. As far as alignment you are correct the left tip is off center and a little crooked. You can bend the hangers on the right and left side to try to help this, but each car is slightly different, so you will have to install it and check it out. To start with you can raise the rear right hander rod 1/2", tp lower the right tip, then lower the left rear hanger rod 1/2" to raise the left tip. It is stainless, so you will probably have to heat the hanger rods to do this. There is a little trial and error here. It will not be perfect, so don't waste alot of time trying to get it perfect. If it is close that is the best you will do, in my experience, unless you have the tips cut off and rewelded.

3. Tubi has not addressed any of these issues. I have personally sent complete documentation and pictures to the Tubi rep (Tino) and Tubi has ignored ALL of it. I did an install a few weeks ago, I had installed mine over a year ago. The new one was EXACTLY the same as mine was. (I have SN 0000010 and this was SN 0000400, if I recall)

4. There is one other thing you will need to do. The flange that mounts to the cat on the right side is incorrectly fabricated. Actually is it the pipe inside the flange that is wrong. I have had to modify four of them so far that I have installed. If you look into the flange you will see that the inner pipe is cut so one side is flush with the flange. NO GOOD. The pipe must be inset at leaast 2mm, I cut them with a dremel to a 4mm relief. This is due to the fact that the catalyst has a lip that sticks out into the flange when you assemble it.

If this mod is not done, then you WILL have an exhaust leak on that side. You can private me at larrybas@ optonline.net and I will forward you some pictures from my home. It is hard to explain is words, but once you see the picture it is obvious.

Oh, left = driver side, right = passenger side


HTH,
LarryB

 

[Russ]

An alternative to bending the hangers is to use shorter rubber isolators on the two left (driver side) mounts. The OEM isolators have holes 2" apart, I got a pair from Pep Boys that are nearly identical except they have holes 1.5" apart. They are Marwil Products No. 511179 and cost about $3.50 each. This levelled my Tubi pretty nicely. It's still not perfect, but at least it's now straight enough so that it doesn't draw attention to itself.

 

[rowr]

Larry,

The flange issue was something I noticed on my Tubi when it arrived, but I didn't know if it would be an issue after the install..
I guess it is.

In your experience, how bad is the exhaust leak? Worth taking the whole unit off and grinding out?

Thanks,
Charles

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Russ,

My memory lapse. I forgot about your replacement hangers!! They do work pretty good.

Charles,

Since yours is mounted, how does it sound to you? I cannot stand exhaust leaks, so I would not live with it, some folks may be OK with it, or consider it "normal".


HTH,
LarryB

 

[prolego]

Thanks to all for the help. I had my Competch headers and Tubi exhaust installed today.
The surprising part is that using the original hangers my exhaust looks great. Things are centered and just the right distance from the valance.
I did notice that my serial number on the exhaust was 000097.
Which I assume was one of the earlier ones made? Did something happen to the production process or jig after a certain point in manufacturing?

I did the 4mm recess on the one side where the pipe was flush with the flange. I had forgot how tough 304 SS is. I went through several metal cutting bits, 4 grinding stones, several cut off disks, and ended up smoothing everything out using a stone I use to sharpen my lawnmower blades. Taking about 2 1/2 hours total.

I am now happy that my NSX has a voice. Much to my surprise it was not as loud as some had indicated. Nice mellow sound at startup and idle. Not much louder on the highway until you accelerate. The harder you push it the louder it gets.

I will have no trouble with my neighbors complaining unless the car and I get excited and hit the gas too hard.

Thanks to everyone. I will post some pictures as soon as I get them developed and scanned.

I was impressed with the facility and mechanic recommended to me by someone on the web. I live in NE Oklahoma and was concerned about finding someone in the area who could be trusted with my baby.

I will be glad to recommend the shop and mechanic to anyone who wants to know.

Bye for now. Until I get pics ready!

 

[gheba_nsx]

Glad you like it! I also think that the sound volume is perfect... not too loud and not too quiet!

FYI number 0087 should be the newest one! Mine was bought 13 months ago and was numbered 0027...

 

[Acura NsX Pilot]

After a sunday drive two weeks ago with two other fellow nsxers ...... i think that the sound of the tubi is alot louder then what we hear in the car .... i was behind Russ n Perio kid and never realized how loud this exhaust was .... But i still love it and think its the best exhaust for the X.Im sure there are louder exhaust out there for the X and im not sayin that the tubi it too loud.....im just sayin its louder then what i had originally anticipated when i first installed it......some people have said that the sound changes as it breaks in.....i wonder if this is what has happened.

 

[huckster]

i think so. Mine only has 1000miles on it and already sounds louder to me than when first installed.

 

[vincent]

i bought the new tubi exhaust last week with the s/n 47. The flange was bended and the right side fabricated wrong, the inner pipe is up too high. sent it back to the distributor, and got the new exhaust with the s/n 38 then again, the right side is causing the same problem. i wonder what is the newest s/n, i would think that tubi may already fixed this problem with the s/n in the higher range. any of you know what is the current s/n please, a close guess would help. thanks!

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Vincent,

That is the way it is. I have not seen any indication of changing it on Tubi's part. You mentioned the flange, if you are talking about what I refered to above it is an easy fix.

HTH,
LarryB

 

[prova4re]

Hey Larry
Is the exhaust leak noitceable when you have it on a lift?
Can you feal the air comming out were it joins the cats?
I mounted mine I dont think there is a problem but I havent got a chance to compare it to another one yet?
Thanks Brian.

 

[Larry Bastanza]

The easiest way, besides hearing it, is that you will notice when cold you will get some moisture dripping, at least in the cool days in the east!! It is on the passenger side flange, where the cat and Tubi flange mate together. You can see thatis just does not seat flush, even after you torque it down.

HTH,
LarryB

 

[D'Ecosse]

4. There is one other thing you will need to do. The flange that mounts to the cat on the right side is incorrectly fabricated. Actually is it the pipe inside the flange that is wrong. I have had to modify four of them so far that I have installed. If you look into the flange you will see that the inner pipe is cut so one side is flush with the flange. NO GOOD. The pipe must be inset at leaast 2mm, I cut them with a dremel to a 4mm relief. This is due to the fact that the catalyst has a lip that sticks out into the flange when you assemble it.

I just installed my new-to-me Tubi this evening & fortunately remembered this issue - it especially came to mind when over at my friend Hoover 's shop http://www.turbohoses.com

We discovered the evidence of leaking one of the flanges (lot of carbon) and more critically it was patently obvious the flange was bent!!! - since the gasket could not sit into the recess, the original installer just kept cranking on the bolts in attempt to get it seal & bent the flange over (to quite a degree!) since they could not sit flush to each other.
Hoover's neighbour (Dave, another fine gentleman!) heated up the flange with a torch & straightened it out. Then back in Hoover's shop we cut out some clearance on the end of the pipe inside the flange with a dremel.

The next step (close your eye's Tubi aficionados & perfectionists) was to cut off the dual tips - these just won't fit with the '02+ rear & I'd rather have that with single tip anyway. Quick rip with a sawzall & it was all over in a flash - not even an anesthetic required.

Brought it home & it bolted up a treat - I noticed the bolts are a LOT more accessible than with the Comptech it replaced.

Tested it out & is leak tight. Now just need to get my new tips, then have it tack welded on the car & pull it off for the final finish weld.

So far I'm delighted with the plan & execution so far.

A huge debt of appreciation to Hoover - I dropped in completely un-announced for essentially what was intended to be a planning session - before I knew where we were we were heating & bending & dremelling & cutting! Fabulous guy - a great asset to the local NSX community - next time I'll try not to abuse his terrific willingness to help & I'm embarrasses because I (inadvertently) took advantage of his reluctance to tell me to come back when it was more convenient & pre-planned!

Thanks & Sorry Hoover!!!!!!! - much appreciated!

I have resurrected this so all Tubi owners are aware of this issue. If you have an older original design Tubi & this was not done at time of install, you will most likely have a leak at that flange - good idea to pull it off & have it addressed.

p.s anyone want to buy some original genuine Tubi Dual Tips?

.

 

[rowr]

I think I left Hoover's shop a little before you arrived...took up two hours plus of his time, but learned a huge amount about FI practice and theory that I never thought of before. Hoover is an extremely knowledgable gentleman, backs up his designs and applications with the math, and as you mentioned, a real asset to the community...but I digress..

Good advice about the flange fix..as you stated, wrenching on it to fix the leak will bend things that shouldn't be bent. I had to do the Dremel number on mine (#29) and it made a big difference.

Can't wait to see and hear your project..will it be ready by this Saturday for the meet?

But you cut off the tips? Sacrilege sir, sacrilege!:biggrin: Twenty lashes with a wet noodle!