Well I guess this explains the problem!!...

[Greddy-Matt]

As some of you may know I've been having no end of problems diagnosing the lack of torque and pull my tubby has at the moment and even tho everyone who's driven it says it feels fine I had a niggle something was up and its been driving me nuts!!

Last night I noticed that my heat wrap on my downpipe was looking a little toasted. I Unwrapped the top section and look what I found!




The Aussie downpipe is cracked all the way round with a good 2/3mm gap underneath!! Its held on by bout 8/9mm worth of material at the top

I guess that would explain both the lack of torque and top end pull plus the fact that i get smoke from under the car when its stationary??

Anyone seen one crack like this before??

Matt

[mr2rev3]

My old aussie downpipe cracked in exactly the same place and again just down from it, cant remember about the performance though as was like it when i got the car so changed it straight away.

[Greddy-Matt]

What did you end up replacing it with, I don't want it to crack again!

[mr2rev3]

I ended up getting a japspeed one as was the only one i could get the next day, although i got rid of the car now so cant say how its held up.

If i was to get another though it would be either a berk or one with a flexi in so shouldnt crack.

[Greddy-Matt]

Cheers I'm hoping the exhaust wont fall off if it fully lets go?

[mr2rev3]

I wouldnt like to say, i dont think it should but i know there only held on by a few brackets.
May help if you can take off some of the heat wrap as wont put so much stress into the downpipe then.

[Peter Gidden]

I guess that would explain both the lack of torque and top end pull

IMHO, no. Unlike N/A engines, turbocharged engines do not use the post-turbine exhaust system for any useful purpose, so no reason why the crack would have any detrimental effect (providing it wasn't interfering with flow of gas over O2 sensor and even that depends on whether the ECU is in closed or open loop).

plus the fact that i get smoke from under the car when its stationary??

Probably.

[toxo]

Cheers I'm hoping the exhaust wont fall off if it fully lets go?

Don't think your exhaust would fall off, the silencer & pipework is held on with 2 mounts below the boot and 1 on the rear subframe. However between the rear subframe and the bottom of the downpipe you've got the flexi, and if the downpipe completely disconnects itself then all the weight of the downpipe and the join -> flexi pipe will be on the flexi which will probably give in. Presuming your downpipe doesn't have some kind of support bracket connecting itself to the block like the factory cat does (but then if it did it would've been less likely to crack).

[Razor04]

berk tech downpipe with flexi section from gts chris £120 i think, best de cat for the turbo

[lockys96]

good spot, u dont want that going

[Quigonjay]

looks like mine after i had a little off road excursion a while back
got it welded and fitted a brace, been fine since

[cantfindausername]

My Aussie did that even with the bracket. Welds just aren't up to it. Fensport were good and replaced it though. But sold that straight on as car was off the road for the project. F**k that was a long time ago now!

I think a flexi section downpipe is the only way that its gonna last a serious amount of time longer than a "solid weld" pipe.

[Greddy-Matt]

Thanks for the advice guys, looks like I'll be ordering up a new Berk one if GTSChris has them in stock

Peter, would the crack contribute to the car over fueling? If so that would cause the car to feel a bit lackluster right?

[jimGTS]

moral of the story, dont heat wrap it, lol....

this is what happened to mine....

now this setup was loud as anything!!!!

[Greddy-Matt]

Mate that is impressive

[Slarty]

FYI and possibly a bit late!!

Aussie DP's should never be heat wrapped.

They already have HPC and are mild steel. The wrapping only serves to make the DP fail, and as such, wrapped Aussies aren't covered by warrenty.........

[Greddy-Matt]

Oh....
Well i bought the car with the pipe already installed and wrapped (same as both interooler pipes). Oh well I won't be wrapping the next downpipe, I'd rather it lasted a little longer over a few extra bhp.

BTW what's HPC?

[nuttasie]

heat protective coating.I think lol.

[cantfindausername]

Do you really get that much BHP from heat wrapping a downpipe?

[Greddy-Matt]

I think it'd be more suited to high power cars? Keeping the waste gas hot and less dense + keeping heat out of the bay.