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147 1.6TS Stainless Exhaust

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147 exhaust
2K views 7 replies 3 participants last post by  Fruity 
#1 ·
I've just bought my old 147 1.6TS back off my brother and had it up on my father in law's lift to do an oil change and once over at the weekend. The back box is very corroded (probably not helped by all the flooded roads recently) and I could stick my finger right through it, the rest of the exhaust is looking a bit ropey too.

I don't want to put too much money into the car as I'm not sure how long I'll hang onto it, but it seems like a lot of faff to change the back box for another cheap steel one (~£60) when I could get this* stainless cat-back system for £175 and not have to worry about it rusting ever again. A slightly improved sound, look and possibly performance would be a bonus, but I don't want anything obnoxious.

*Link removed due to first post, it's '2.5" STAINLESS CATBACK EXHAUST SYSTEM' from 'performance-motorsport-parts' on eBay.

Has anybody got experience with this or a similar exhaust, or is the price too good to be true? I've seen some good reviews or the CSC from EBspares but the back box alone is £264 + shipping.

Grateful for any advice and opinions, cheers.
 
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#2 ·
So, i took the plunge and bought the exhaust... well not quite as that particular listing went back up to £349 but there was a nearly identical listing, except this included gaskets and bolts from a a different seller for £200 inc. delivery. I'm convinced it's the same company behind both listings though - Jap Parts Europe Ltd based in Manchester.

I ordered 10pm Wednesday evening and it was sent Parcelforce 24hr on Thursday morning with tracking, so I can't complain about that. This is what I got on Friday morning:

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It all looked very good quality- neat Tig weeds, no wrinkles in the bends, and smooth finish on the machined flanges.

The old exhaust was easy enough to remove with the use of an angle grinder, the only hiccup was shearing a bolt on the joint by the cat, where the new system meets the old. As the bolts thread directly into the flange on the cat side, I had to drill this out, and as the lamb sensor was right behind it I had to remove that as well to avoid drilling into it. The lambda sensor took a lot of leverage on the 22mm spanner to get it free, but eventually it did come. As I had to drill out the remains of the bolt, I decided to do drill both to 8mm and use M8 thru bolts with nuts (and some copper slip).
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The flanges along with the pipe itself were larger on the new side than on the cat side. Helpfully there are slots on the supplied joints so the bolts could line up, and with a liberal helping of Holts firegum I'm confident that I achieved a good seal.

The rest of the installation went very quickly with the help of a lift and a transmission jack to take the weight as I tightened everything up. The new system fitted well, and the only tricky bit was fitting the offside rearmost rubber hanger- I just had to pry it off the chassis side in order to get it reach over the end of the new mount in the end.

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The only potential issues I've found have been that in the middle section the new system sits a bit lower than the old one, and that the top of the tip just touches the inside edge of the bumper. I'm not sure what I can do to tweak these positions - I might look into getting different length rubber hangers.

Overall I'm really pleased the purchase- after initially being sceptical due to the low price and multiple eBay shops from the same company, it seems like a good quality product.
 
#3 ·
I would be interesting to know how it sounds. Hopefully the 3 cats will take enough edge off the noise and I think it should be ok. Sporty without being deafening. Try Ford type silicone rubbers as they are a little longer.

Good work- especially the drilling as it would have been tough.
 
#4 ·
Nice...but the anal side of me could not live with that tailpipe not being in the centre of that rear valence cutout! Took me ages to get my tailpipes in the centre of the cut outs both sides on my 159!
 
#7 ·
So a bit more of a long term review: overall not too bad although it does drone a lot in the middle of the rev range. Once you hit 4k rpm (which is approx 80mph in 5th) it's fine, but getting there sounds like a very loud hairdryer. Maybe the volume was inevitable and I should have steered clear of this type of exhaust, but I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to quiten it down a bit.
 
#8 ·
Without resorting to an exhaust specialist to fairly expensively modify it, you could try something like this;

This sort of thing has been used in motorcycles for a number of years. I guess you could shorten it if it becomes too quiet. Perhaps not ideal but it will work but also somewhat change the sound.
 
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