Box of shiny things turned up very quickly. Hopefully it will be out of the box and somewhat more permanently attached come the weekend.
That looks very familiar! Shiny, shiny isn't it?
BTW I forgot to mention, I replaced the U clamps with decent ring type SS ones and used exhaust silicone on the sliding joints.
Very shiny :)
Exhaust silicone - is that the orange Loctite stuff? I think I have some of that if it is. Recall using it to service a Webasto diesel heater.
This Loctite? Should do the trick Sloth.
http://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/garage-equipment/head-gasket-exhaust-repairs/loctite-5990-premium-silicone-copper-gasket-maker-sealant
I used this, just cos I had some on the shelf:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Visbella-Silicone-Engine-Temperature-Resistant/dp/B00XLO2R2Q/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1513759275&sr=8-4&keywords=high+temperature+silicone
Yeah that's what I've got - will give it a good smear.
Need to dig out my stash of downpipe gaskets in case one of those is leaking... which brings me to the point of realising I don't think I have a set of new studs :/ arse.
Cut studs from a length of M10 studding?
Last minute BZP
https://www.screwfix.com/p/easyfix-bright-zinc-plated-steel-threaded-rods-m10-x-300mm-5-pack/22257#_=p
Bought some studs from LRDirect - hopefully they'll turn up. Might not need them anyway, but you know what happens if you don't have that part.
I'm keen to hear what these sound like. I'm not in the market myself but a good V8 rumble is always a pleasure :)
I'm looking forward to being able to drive mine again! BMW is quicker but its quite boring really.
OB, do the rear silences on yours when fitted sort of sit a bit diagonally? Ie not parallel with the sides of the car? Just slid the box of shiny bits together on the floor and it looks a bit strange, but I presume its normal...
I’m sure OB did say he did a bit of fettling to get it to sit nice,,
A bit of fettling was required. From underneath it still doesn't sit squarely, but it does fit and doesn't hit anything :)
Silencers do sit at a bit of an angle, but tailpipes are shaped to compensate so everything looks straight from the outside. I also assembled mine on the floor and thought WTF, must have got the bits together wrong...
Excellent :)
If you have any kind of OCD though, you won't want to lie on your back underneath and look at it.
Apart from the centre box section, nothing actually sits parallel to any chassis members :)
Consistency is apparently not something they know of when making these. This one is utter shite. I’m either going to set fire to the underseal on the spare wheel well, or blow the drivers side air bag. And that’s only if I now cut the T piece section to get it to line up with the centre section.
Honestly would not recommend one of these at all. Fettling doesn’t cover ‘cut out whole section and make it properly’. Don’t actually have any stainless pipe or the tig would be being dragged out to do so now. Instead I’m about to work out how to bodge something together to be able to drive home and dump the bastard car till next time.
Don’t suppose you have any pics of how yours sits at the rear section OB?
Yours must have been even more of a Friday afternoon one than mine!
I don't have any pics I'm afraid. Sounds like you've had the same issues that I mentioned in post #29, but worse. Getting mine to a point where it wouldn't hit wheel well, panhard rod, or burn the bag involved manipulation of all of the sliding and rotating joints to find a sweet (ish) spot and some bending of the mounting arms.
I'll be back up the workshop mid next week so will take some pics then- probably too late to be any help though.
It's not a stainless system but I got one of these earlier in the year: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F262391772282
It fit perfectly with no fiddling needed. They have cheaper options available if your car is older than mine (different requirements for the cats, even cheaper if you don't need cats at all) and cheaper if you join their "trade club" amd buy direct from them instead of ebay.
The packaging on it said Allmakes.
Friday afternoon? The worker that made this one must have been steaming before they even clocked out for the day!
Just got home for the day. As it stands, I currently have one back box and the other side of the T piece has a plate welded over it, as the pipe work to the drivers side box was just not acceptable.
The mid to rear flange on the mid section had to be cut off and rotated, which means it now lines up with the rear section and clears the diff and harmonic balanced thing when the suspension is down on the bump stops. Unfortunately, the T piece itself does bloody not. The diff will push it into the body somewhat, which I can see being unforgiving if the EAS decides to dump me onto the stops at speed.
So the whole rear section needs cutting up and making again, once I’ve ordered some stainless pipe and various bends.
So long story short, if you’re looking at buying one of these and don’t mind potentially cutting it all up and having the means to weld it all up, great. If not, don’t.
I agree with you on the "not recommend" for this kit Sloth.
There's something strange about the inconsistencies in manufacture. It looks good, spread out on the floor, but that's no good if the bloody thing doesn't fit the car.
I haven't had to do any cutting on mine (apart from the mounting rods) and the T section doesn't foul anything (although the transverse bit doesn't sit level) even with the suspension deflated. I've had all of the air out of the rear bags and it sitting on the bumps at the back this week while doing an experiment in fitting rear trailing arm bushes without removing the arms and the exhaust didn't hit anything.
I'll be cutting and welding mine in the new year as I think it's too close to the air bag- about 3". I have heat wrapped it though, and checked it after a thrash and idle cycle and there's not much radiated heat at that point.
Looking at this handy pic, I think the gap between the airbag and the pipe isn't so bad if you have 3" or so.
My problem was I either had the gap between the pipe and the bag OR I had a gap between the pipe and wheel well underseal. But in either position, when joined up to the centre section, the tailpipes were all over the place.
Guess it was made on a cheap CNC 2D bender. Manually setting the twist and distance where the bend plane changes gives lots of room to get it wrong.
Never got the economics of this smallish production aftermarket stuff. I've thought that the speed and accuracy of a proper 3D bender would squeeze 2D tech right out of the market despite the higher cost of the machine.
Clive.