Turns out I couldn't get the old inserts out of the side pipes without cutting them close to the rear end plate of the inserts. Once I did, I had to separate the insert core from its end plate. I couldn't get the end plates out, so I cut numerous radial slots from the core to the side pipe shells and hammered each pie-shaped section flat, or as flat as I could get them - creating an opening at least 2.5" in diameter. With the exception of the end plates, the old inserts came out okay, though I had to take a large rod to push out the fiberglass packing. Interestingly, I discovered the inserts were reversed - one had the louvers facing the collector, and the other had the louvers facing the outlet. Bizarre.
The Patriot augers were a bit snug, and as I've seen elsewhere, I bent the edges rather than grinding off extra material. I also used a smaller section of tubing through the auger cores to join the pair in each pipe end-to-end, held in place by 1/4" bolts through the cores. They're in now and sound good and, quite frankly, quieter on the road than I thought they'd be. When idling or at low revs they're certainly a bit louder and less mellow than the old inserts, though they tend to rattle a bit. I'm going to pull them again and straighten some of the bends I put in the spirals to snug them up in the side pipes. I'm also going to pull the tubing from the middle of the cores to allow a bit more flow, and it will be interesting to see what that does to the volume and tone.
The bottom line is I like them, but they still need a bit of tuning.
BTW, the slip connector on one of my side pipes had anti-seize in it, and it was MUCH easier to get apart than the one without. I applied anti-seize to both when I re-assembled them, and it helped with that as well.
Just for kicks I started the car when I had both side pipes off (have to do it, right?), and wow, was that ever freakin' loud. I guess I should have expected that with an open collector 4' from my ears!
Finally, I used band clamps (
http://www.summitracing.com/dom/part...3279/overview/) to join the severed sections of the side pipes. They're under the heat shields, so somewhat hidden, but I'll need to assess my options longer term. I may go with some of these:
http://www.summitracing.com/dom/sear...g&autoview=SKU
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