Pipewerx 3" downpipe and 3" exhaust

[Jamo]

Most know i've struggled to get the exhaust situation on my car resolved.

After buying the excellent 3" downpipe from Lind4hl I decided to to use a different turbine outlet which meant I had to get a custom system made to the car.

On the 13th I travel through the snow up to Pipewerx to remove and rework the exhaust system built by the previous owner and Longlife leeds which was far from the standard I desired.

The basics were to fit a 3" downpipe ( made on the car not a generic design ), 3" flexi, 3" centre centre section with 034 sports cat to mate to the 3" RS2 Milltek exhaust on the car and the wastegate pipe was increased to 2" with a 2" flexi piece.

They also removed the turbo and we changed the hotside from the 2.5" outlet on the hotside to the default Garrett 3" housing outlet. ( This means the exhaust is a true 3" system from turbo to tail with no reducing cones)

The stock Audi flexi is a bit of a weird design, it has a solid pipe through it which is about 1" in size before venting into the downpipe, very restrictive.

They also manage to resolve the sticking out tailpipe that plagues a lot of installed Milltek system and on seeing how easy they resolved it with a little time and care I can't understand why Longlife did not correct it on original install

The guys there were uber friendly and i'm very happy with the results, it fits like a glove being very tight to the body with a new custom centre mount was welded in which means the exhaust is not going any where or allowed to twist.

All the pipework were sleeved or slipknots with the sleeves being MIG welded together.

Some purist will want TIG but I am not bothered as the results are of a high standard.

The drive home was great, no increase in noise or boom from going from the twin piped centre section and the pickup is a lot better and smoother.

Can highly recommend them for anyone that wants a custom work or system.

Advice I would give is I supplied my own flange for garrett 3" 4 bolt output take this into consideration as they don't stock them ( The OEM flexi provided the flange for the wastegate )

[lind4hl]

Sounds great Jamo, we want pics!!

Edit: thank you for the kind words

[Jamo]

Heh, o.k some pics in no particular order

I woke up at 6.30am and my car was under 2 inches of snow , still I decided to make the journey and it was still snowy 100 miles north of home



The works van, I love the BBS rims



This caught my eye, bet the dubbers would love this on their tail pipe



In the workshop was a Golf MK1 project. Turbo 16v engine with Audi TT gearbox, 4wd with haldex rear diff. It's going to be a monster

[lind4hl]

Wicked exhaust mani on the golf

[Jamo]

Got the old girl on the ramp



Off with the old system



Here is the Milltek / Longlife system on the floor



Centre Section cut and removed



The middle box pipe was then opened to allow it to sleeve the new 3" centre section

[Jamo]

Work then started on turbo removal, we had to remove the studs from the exhaust manifold in the end as the turbo hotside is so large it won't come of the normal way. Terrybullwon is having nightmares at this point as we had the same issue last time





Turbo off and on the bench, change of hotside



Back in place with EGT in the hotside as per Repo instructions

[GazzaG60]

im off to see ian in a few weeks to fit me a cat.

intake on the golf is a little different. still on the dizzy though. its very similar in spec to my mates. he's done 16v with tt running gear. his has the original look still from the outside though.

[Jamo]

Exhaust mock up then began, exhaust was custom made to fit the car so it had maximum clearance around the block



Downpipe taking shape



You can see from this pic why the CV heatside needs to be removed to fit a 3" downpipe but it can be replaced once the fitted

[Jamo]

Work began getting the system mocked up:



Cat and Flexi



A very important part for me, they managed to get the tailpipe to a level where it won't rip my shins off when going into the boot anymore

[Jamo]

System was taken off and then welded up







Finally they installed a extension to the lambda probe so when the wideband is fitted it will see less heat. As I will be running VEMS I only need one probe point no point having two.

[Jamo]

The best bit is no knocks or bangs on the car like the old system, with the new custom centre mount and rubber the system is totally suspended.

One interesting thing is my idle vacuum has now gone from -0.5 bar to -0.6 bar

[PaulJ]

Looking Good

I done something similar but the company I used in Falkirk managed to drop
a screw driver bit down the inlet pipe which I later found in the intercooler when
I put on the reverse inlet and you guessed it damaged some of the veins on its way
through the turbo. The Milltek was not the greatest of fits out of the box and looks like some of the pipes are welded into the boxes at the wrong angles forcing it to
hang down further than it should. Also managed to fit a 3" flexi in the downpipe...just

What size is the Turbo as I know a 3071 is a mighty tight fit, Who supplied ?

Cheers and keep the pics going

Paul

[Jamo]

It's the centre box which affects the back box and pipe position with the Milltek you have to make sure the centre box stays central or else it pushes the back box out.

The turbo is a 3076r with a .82 hotside so larger than a 3071r. It was purchased years ago in 2004 / 2005.

ATP and AET are good places to buy the turbo but I digress from the original subject

[PaulJ]

Underneath looks good as well, Does it go any better with less restrictions ?

Another couple of things that others may want to try

Use of banjo fittings for the water made life a whol lot easier with the Garrett
Aerospace hi temp nuts for holding the turbo to manifold allow a 12mm spanner to be used and don't bother with the 034 fitting kit, just get the oil line as non of the rest
are easy to fit and the water return will probably leak

Paul

[Jamo]

Pickup is a lot better it's hard for people not to think it's a placebo effect but you can tell in smoothness of the way the engine pickups from low revs

This is quite pleasing as I also went from no cat to sports cat

I believe a lot of it is down to the fact is the system is now completely 3" throughout, there are no transition in sizes so smooth flow also having the garrett housing with the 3" outlet helps. Back pressure is now greatly reduced.

I've never been happy with the solutions i've seen for 75% of 3" downpipes connecting to the 2.5 outlet of turbo's like the RS2 or K24 ( replicated by Garrett for their KKK compatible hotside. ) Most don't use a cone transition from 2.5 to 3