A little alignment is needed here too the pipe inside is offset and as you can see in the next picture with the exhaust manifold installed that the flow of exhaust gases will hit the end of the pipe and not only restrict flow but will create a hot spot that could ignite the fresh air/fuel charge coming into the engine.With the exhaust manifold installed into the pipe I discovered more flow problems, It is hard to see in this picture but where it is dark from 2 o'clock to about 7 o'clock the fit is perfect, from 7 o'clock to 2 o'clock where you see the shine metal is where the pipe would stick into the flame and create a flow restriction. If you think this looks bad you should see the mismatch and casting flaws in a stock Honda Pilot cylinder :-)
So far I really like the pipe after a real close examination of the ceramic coating I found no flaws and the stuff looks pretty good, other than a few alignment problems that will be real easy to fix and I consider to be normal, (every pipe I have seen has this problem) you should see the inside of a DG or FMF pipe! I am happy and cant wait to install it on my Pilot to see if it performs as good as it looks. Stay tuned in a week or so I will have a update including pictures that show how well it fits on the Pilot and will let you know how I like the performance. Update: I made the flow corrections Click here to see. (3-11-01) Update: Installed Pictures Click here to see. (3-21-01)