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Bryan Irons photos
Corsa Performance
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Bryan Irons photos
1 Corsa Performance
Corsa’s attention to detail and quality control is nothing short of astounding. The airbox draws air in from the factory fender opening, but also from in front of the fender opening, which is a good source for cold, fresh air.
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“So, what makes a Donaldson filter so great?” Glad you asked! These chambers create a massive surface area to filter the incoming air. The larger particles drop to the back of the funnels and do not hinder the ability for the filter to perform at peak efficiency.
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The corrugated nature of the factory setup is not designed for performance; it’s there for noise reduction and happy retirement homes.
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4 Corsa Performance
Take care when removing the Inlet Air Temperature sensor, as it will be reused.
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5 Corsa Performance
Once the main box is dropped onto the factory mounting studs, the filter squeezes into place.
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A Philips screwdriver and an 8 mm socket got us to this point while the SPL100 penetrating lube from ProLong worked on the exhaust bolts.
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With typical exhaust installation, we talk about fitment and alignment. To be honest, we lubed the factory rubber hangers and plugged all the parts together and bottomed them out allowing for a perfect fit. Remember to reinstall the grounding strap as shown here.
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8 Corsa Performance
After aligning the tips, we torque all the band clamps to 45 lb-ft using our calibrated trigger finger and preceded to scare roaming cats and snot-nose teenagers at will. Gotta love this job!
Story & photos by Bryan Irons
Strapping on a bunch of angry with Corsa Performance
Nothing, but nothing gets the blood flowing through our tiny brains and saliva pouring out of our toothy grins like the sound and feel of a performance exhaust system… it gets even better if it’s strapped to a motor that can use it. The problem is finding a complete system that won’t make us look like the lame dad who’s trying to keep “cool” when picking up the kids, but can still hear all 350+ hp of our Low Down Dirty Dodge (LD3) echo through the buildings downtown when assaulting the go-pedal.
We searched long and hard for complete air management system from intake to tailpipe that has the sweet sound of a hot rod tire shredder and gain us a few extra butt-dyno ponies at the same time. Corsa had us set with a complete cold air intake system and a full stainless steel cat-back exhaust designed to bolt in with only hand tools and an empty carport.
Starting with the Cold Air Induction system, the heavy walled plastic parts and use of the factory mounts were a nice change from some the hack-and-slash systems we’ve used in the past. What really impressed us was the Donaldson PowerCore dry flow air filter. Donaldson is a name primarily used in heavy industries like air compressors and large displacement engines. The PowerCore filter itself is a unique piece as the air is funneled down through many small tubes and through the filter media. They are capable of holding almost two-times the dirt of a conventional filter of the same size. The filters can also be cleaned - once they do eventually fill up - at a number of professional filter cleaning companies for a few clams while you wait. The blue colour is a special layer that is put on their top shelf filter units. Blue nanofibers attract the smaller dust particles that the main media could miss.
The entire exhaust system is North American made; from the Canadian made stainless steel piping, to the USA fabbed and brushed stainless muffler. Our system starts right where the factory garbage can sized muffler starts with a single 3-in pipe in and dual 2.5-in exits. Without any baffling or padding in the muffler, there are no components to break down over time meaning the system will sound and perform the same on km 0 as it does 200,000 km from now, and will still be in the same shape.
Installation consisted of lubing the factory rubber hangers with ProLong and sliding the system together. The stainless band clamps secure the system in leak-free fashion once you put some never seize on their bolts. This is the first exhaust system where we didn’t have to tweak, tap, bend, grind, maul or mutilate any piece to get it all to fit. It was as simple as bottom out every tube, set the tips where we liked them, and torque all the bolts to 45 lb-ft.
Once complete, starting the truck made us giggle. Seriously. Giggle. Out loud. In public. The raspy V-8 noise was hushed and not much louder then stock, but the sounds brought us back to V-8 track day events. Mmmmm…. We took a few notes we’d like to share at this time; even with the back window open cruising around, the sound was pleasant and muted until we got to the half-throttle mark… then watch out. After being whipped, the throaty bark made it hard to get out of the throttle before we were facing an “excessive speed” ticket. But other than the lashings, the system kept to its Dr. Jekyll demeanor.
Corsa has been pushing their “No Drone” technology at the forefront of their marketing… we were skeptical. How could a system that behaves so mildly under part throttle and so gloriously violent when mashing the gas not rattle a cab to pieces and taking our fillings with it? We have no answer to this question, but rather bow to their exuberant experience. Even with 8,000 lb of trail pig strapped to the back of the rig while heading up grades, no bondo loosening or eardrum vibrating sensations occurred. Corsa truly has earned their reputation in the automotive industry.
Corsa – www.CorsaPerformance.com
ProLong – www.ProLong.com