Hey,

I need help with my TurboXS down pipe. I guess I have had it installed for a little over two weeks now. When I got it in the mail I had my mechanic install it for me the next day. It was great when I first got it put on until early last week.

Around Tuesday last week (27th) I was driving around and when I would accelerate I could smell exhaust. At the time I thought it was cars in front of me, so I blew it off. Later that night when no one was on the road I would accelerate under boost and I could smell it again this time with no one in front of me. When I got home I stood over the hood and I could smell exhaust coming from the vent. Wednesday I took it back up to my mechanic to have him look at it. He checked the DP bolts and they were still tight and he said everything "looked" ok. Friday comes along at it is still bothering me, so I go back to my mechanic and asked him if it could be a bad gasket that goes between the doughnut gasket and the O2 housing and he said "it could be, I dunno. Bring it by early Saturday morning” So I take it Saturday leave it there till 1pm, but he hand no time to look at it.

Anyway, fast forward to Sunday (2nd). My friend and I put my car on ramps, pull the down pipe off and look at the gasket and they doughnut. Sure enough, you can see where there was exhaust blow-by from the round gasket by seeing black "jets" on the doughnut gasket's metal top. Also the round gasket was completely disintegrated and only the metal frame was left allowing the blow-by. So we take a gasket from my friend’s old cat from his EVO, cut down the “dog-ears” and put it on the down pipe and bolt everything back up. We also noticed a large ¼ inch or more gap between the down pipe and the cat. We had a hard time pulling the cat and exhaust system towards the down pipe. After the Down pipe was bolted up, it hung a little lower than before and was actually bumping the back lower support bar. We tried everything to get it off but to no avail. Anyway, so we took a Test drive around, and it seemed there was no more smell. WRONG!

Earlier tonight (3rd), I was driving around testing it out, and when I would accelerate in 3rd gear under boost I could smell the exhaust again. Only this time the exhaust leak would occur under heavy boost whereas before it happened every time I accelerated.

My problems:

· Exhaust leak, exhaust leak!.

· Hits back lower support bar with spacers

· Large gap between down pipe and catalytic converter before bolting up (problem?)

I really want to like this down pipe but I think it is plagued with a few design errors. I believe that the O2 Housing -> Round Gasket -> Doughnut Gasket area is a bad design. It may have something to do with the Down pipe falling short from the cat. Add this to when you have to pull the cat to the down pipe or vice versa it causes the Down pipe not to apply enough pressure to the gasket at the o2 housing. This also probably causes vibration in this area speeding up the disintegration of the gasket material further allowing exhaust blow-by.

Did I get a bad down pipe? Has anyone had problems with theirs?

Thanks!

 

Hey man,

Give me a call tomorrow.

Thanks,
Jermaine@turboxs.com
www.turboxs.com
301-977-4727

 

I might have to give you a call too, not sure yet, want to remove the pipe and try to re-install it first to see if I made a mistake.
I put my pipe on few days ago and couldn't clear any of the braces with or without spacers.

 

I had some similar problems with mine as well. I just didn't say anything, as I thought it was "supposed" to be like that.

The problems I had was more with the spacers than anything else. The DP came with 5 spacers, two small ones, and three large ones. I installed the DP, same problem with the cat having to be pushed foward, and then tried to install the subframe rods.

I started with the rear one and saw that the two small ones would cause the rod to hit the dp. I then proceeded to use two of the larger ones, and it had less than an 1/8" clearance . I knew that when the motor torqued over, it would rub or vibrate on the rod.

The front ones weren't even close. I ended up having to go down to a local machine shop to have 5 new (longer) spacers made. I got home and then had yet another problem. The bolts were now too short in the back. I took a ride to a hardware store and bought 5 new bolts, and lock washers.

All in all, I am please with my dp, but the extra 40 bucks of hardware sucked big time.

Oh yeah, and mine isn't leaking, but I still agree that maybe it could be a design issue, but I still prefer TXS over everyone else.

 

strange i had it hitting the second support bar .Then i took it back to get reset. It doesnt hit now but there is a leak up front somewhere. And I am almost positive its Downpipe that moved off that doughnut gasket again. Under hard accerlation i can smell it . So whats the solution. Is this design flaw or a installation error.

 

Like I said, I will take mine off first and try to reinstall before I make any judgements but so far it doesn't clear any bars and it's not even close. And I only got 3 spacers.
I bought mine when it just got out, it was on of the first ones.
My problem was also a gap between the cat and the DP and the holes wouldn't match up perfectly so I had to loosen it a bit up front to get it mounted to the cat but now it seems it's way off from the bars.
I'm also thinking about putting stock springs and bolts up front and see if that helps get rid of the clearance issue.

 

Out of curiosity, are the three spacers for the downpipe flange so it will hold the donut and everything in place? That should keep everything in check, then the two 1/2" or so spacers go on the rear downpipe...

Only making an educated guess..

 

I'm running the TurboXS dp and I'm also having some issues clearing the stock lower arm bars. In fact, it's not even close to clearing. The 5 spacers I received with the dp won't push the bars out far enough to clear. I also have a Version 2 Cusco brace and the dp won't clear that either.

I suppose I'll have to have some spacers fabricated to work with the Cusco setup. It's sort of irritating, but what can you do? I just can't believe how far off it is. I'd say I'd need probably 3/8" to 1/2" more space for either brace setup.

 

Jack, the 3 spacers I got are not for the flange that goes to O2 housing, it's for the lower bars. The pipe comes with custom bolts springs and huge spacers on them to put instead of stock to press on the donut gasket. I kind of think that that actually might be part of the problem and I'll try stock bolts/springs.
I seriously started thinking about getting a 2nd car after this, a cheap Civic or so, so this car can stay in works while I have something to roll to work with. Taking everything on and off all the time is a b1+ch.

 

yeah.. I hear ya, partly the reason that I have another car (A crappy saturn) but also the main reason I build in parallel (I have another head, engine block, turbo, etc..)

 

i had problems with my downpipe as well.

the person who installed my DP actually bent the tie-bars slightly so the DP would clear.



did anyone figure out a way to "raise" their catback so it would fit more flush with the bumper?

 

Katboy Exhaust hangers fixed it for me. http://www.rallysportdirect.com/shop...roducts_id/543
They are made of polyurethan so they won't sway or strech. It stopped my dp from clanking on the cross bars. I dunno if it would fix your problem.

Ben

 

On the similar topic, does anyone know what size bolts are those that go to the hangers at the end of downpipe?

 

I also had problems installing my downpipe, not sure if I have a exhaust leak or not. Would a exhaust leak be over whelming? And you would surely see it if you had one?

 

you would more likely hear it.. when I had an exhaust leak at my downpipe/O2 housing, you could see it escaping, but it was really loose at that point.