[Mk2] [Turbo] Fitting XS-Power Motoria Style De-Cat Downpipe

[Spittinflames]

Nice write up but that pipe will crack, I'll put money on it.

[JeffD]

Nothing - just unplugged it from the elctrical end and left it in place on the old cat so it was removed along with it. Not 100% sure but I think its just a post cat temp sensor and mo longer needed.

[tommy-c]

Good write up, am in the middle of this as i type, have got every bolt cracked off, out APART from the cat support bracket on the passenger side, this is the only bolt causing me grief.

Any tips?

[JeffD]

Do you mean the bolt holding bracket to cat housing or the 2 bolts holding the stay to the block?

If you mean the 14mm bolt to housing I undid this from underneath the car - make sure you use a good quality spanner and some wd40. IIRC I placed spanner over nut and using the palm of my hand/fingers made sure the ring stayed over the end of the nut then tapped the other end of the spanner with a 5lb lump hammer to overcome the initial resistance. Once a bit loose spary some more wd40 on then wind it back in to carry the oil inside the thread then wind it fully out.

Memory is a bit vagure now but if you can fit a socket in there that would do it especially if you have the irwin bolt grips :-)

[tommy-c]

Yeh thats the one, think i need to go out and find a hex ended spanner that i can fully fit around it (only have multi fit end) and do as you say and give it a whack.

Really annoying though as have managed to undo every single other bolt and im just left with this one

Cheers Jeff

[JeffD]

Spittinflames said:

Nice write up but that pipe will crack, I'll put money on it.

XS-Power downpipes have had a bad rep in the past and thsta why I bought the dearer Motoria one for £135 (£155 now) instead of the cheaper one for £80ish. According to the advert (and I quote)...

STAINLESS STEEL 3/8TH THICK FLANGE TIG WELDED 2.7MM THICK PIPE - WILL NEVER CRACK

http://www.xs-power.co.uk/index.php?mai ... cts_id=245

so if it does its going back for a refund :-)

[JeffD]

Ah Tommy - I know what your going through! :-( Every bolt on mine was a battle - makes me laugh when people claim they can take them off in half an hour or whatever....maybe so if its been off before but if its the first time of disassembling its a pig of a job - rewarding once done though as turbo picks up much quicker :-)

[Blue_5]

Finished fitting my decat pipe yesterday- was really only fitting to try and diagnose a boost problem - so only bought an ebay cheapy pipe as wasn't sure if the cat was the problem, so didn't want to spend money i might have needed for a new turbo - happily it seems the decat has done the trick, so when (i suppose not if!) this pipe cracks i'll stick on a quality one.

Someone must have been in before me at some point, there was only one bolt on the cat end of the drivers side stay, and all bolts bar one came out without a fight. Only one was, you guessed it, passenger side stay bolt!

Managed to round it off very easily, even with being very careful anmd using good quality spanners! Anyway, my top tip is to take off the engine mount right next to the bolt, as you have very good access to all the bolts (although I suppose as long as there not siezed - I was lucky mine were in good nick).

Anyway, with this removed I could get a six-sided 14mm socket on and it came off without much of a fight! Oh, and had to take off the oil cooler for access, if i remember the middle bolt is 30mm, the two coolant line bolts are 10mm, then it can be moved to the side.

Anyway, all on and now just need to check for wastegate fouling. And considering ive now got a straight - through 3" system from the turbo back - god its LOUD!

[toxo]

Jeff - have your turbo nuts stayed on? The nuts are supposed to be single use - when you get them new from Mr T one end of them is oval to make them bite down onto the stud properly, there have been a few threads on here where people have reused the nuts to find them coming off weeks later. I didn't take the risk when I did mine and got new studs, nuts, gaskets etc for everything...

[JeffD]

Hi Toxox

So far! LOL

If you click on "Turbocharger System" on this link:

http://www.mr2-tech.com/bgb/mechanical/ ... system.htm

And scroll down to page TC-8 and everything markked with a diamond is re-useable part". I think your talking about the 6/7 nuts between the downpipe/turbo elbow and the turbo outlet. Ive re-used mine but they are supposed to be torqued up to 64NM which Ive done to all I could fit my torque wrench on. The only nut I have my doubts about is the very bottom one nearest the front of the car due to the design of the XS-Power downpipe I couldnt even fit a ring spanner over it so have had to tighten it up as much as I could with an open ended spanner :-(

Theres no mention of "locking" the nuts on on page TC-15 when re-installing the elbow....

The Oxygen sensor and the turbo outlet/downpipe gasket were replaced.

Is that what you mean?

Regards Jeff

[ferrit]

Good write up mate

[tommy-c]

Ended up taking the engine mount off which was enough room to get a socket on.

Jeff - Submit this to the Knowledge Base, seen you have done a few other write ups aswell which would be a good addition.

Here is a write-up on how to submit a write-up lol
http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/kb.php?mode=article&k=120

Top stuff anyway Jeff

[JeffD]

Cheers chaps! :-)

Always a bit hesitatnt to submit articles to KB in case Ive dont it completely wrong! LOL

[stealth]

Good write up, very helpful.

Only problem is I cant get a socket on the nut as there is not enough space. How did you remove it?



Cheers

[Dale_V]

you have to get a swan neck spanner with a deep offset on the neck, its awkward to get off, but its do-able

[stealth]

No I dont, but I may do tomorrow

Thanks

[JeffD]

As Dale said a swan neck spanner is the jobby :-)

Pretty unusal piece to remove really as itrequires a variety of techniques and socket combinations to get them all out! :-(

[stealth]

Cheers for the advice

Got it fitted, and I now own some shiny new tools

[Dean_82]

As Dale said a swan neck spanner is the jobby

Pretty unusal piece to remove really as itrequires a variety of techniques and socket combinations to get them all out!

Any pics of this spanner Jeffd? Its I've seen two different styles of swan neck spanners on ebay

[Dean_82]

bump