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Bear with me on this review-I installed the Down pipe a year or so ago and this review is spured on by my recent install of an EGR Tube and switching the ATR wastegate for a Tial unit.
Out of the box this was a nice looking piece, but for all it's beauty it does not take into acount those of us who must run emissions stuff.
1) Remove the exhaust elbow and O2 Sensor-It is replaced by the downpipe.
2) Remove the turbine housing and send it out to have the wastegate hole enlarged (I did that about a year ago and don't remember the size off hand). The supplied instructions mention the size that the opening must be enlarged to.
3) Remove the factory down pipe and catalytic convertor.
4) Remove the factory wastegate acuator-It is replaced by an external unit.
5) After you get the Turbine Housing back from the machine shop, put it back on the turbo and remount the turbo to the manifold.
6) Remove the EGR tube and adaptor fitting from the engine. If you do not intend on using your EGR system, then get the appropriate size pipe plug and install it in the exhaust manifold. Also install your choice of EGR block off plates on the upper intake manifold.
7) Intall the ATR wastegate (or what ever one you choose). A Tial 35mm wastegate will fit in place of the ATR unit on the downpipe because the two units share the same bore spacing. One word of caution-with the tight clearence issues, this is not a place to get fancy and use allen head bolts. I used the Tial 35mm on my pipe. I didn't like the performance of the ATR piece. After asking around, I was informed by some engineer types that the design of the ATR piece does not let it seal well at low boost levels. Instead of having the valve seat against a bushing (like the Tial design), the valve in the ATR unit seats against a recess cut into the flange. The only modification you will have to make is to purchase some new bolts cause the one supplied with the Tial piece are Allen heads (see comments above) and a little to short to install with the ATR flanges. Info on the Tial wastegate can be found at www.tialsport.com
8) Test fit the Down pipe on the car to make sure there are no clearence issues. At this point I had to clearence the bottom of my firewall for the pipe to fit. You could also heat the pipe flatten it to get proper clearence (hindsite is 20/20). As far as lining up under the car goes-lined up perfect with the factory Y-Pipe. To make the connection to the Y-Pipe, I cut the end off my old Sac Mustang Down pipe and had it welded to the end of a Dynomax 3" Catalytic Convertor and used the supplied (with the ATR pipe) exhaust clamps to attatch the ATR Downpipe to the cat.
9) Use the supplied mount to hang the pipe from the trans crossmember.
10) Bolt the Down pipe to the Turbine Housing. There was no supplied gasket, so I made my own one from a sheet of graphite material.
11) Install a new O2 Sensor in the boss in the ATR Down Pipe.
12) If you need to run an EGR tube-You can modify the EGR Tube with two 90 degree brass elbows from Home Depot (an Inverted Flare to 1/2" Pipe Elbow and a 1/2" Pipe Elbow). To find the right size I just took an EGR Tube and the adaptor fitting to the store with me These fittings are used to move the EGR Tube up above the wastegate and replace the step down fitting that adapts the EGR tube to the exhaust manifold. If the EGR Tube adaptor has a restrictor oriface, then take a 1/4" pipe plug and plug up one end of the 1/2" elbow. Drilling a 9/64" hole will duplicate the function of the restictor. Then use a 87-88 Turbocoupe EGR tube (it's shorter height works great here) and you heat the tube and twist it forward where it comes around the left side of the head , then heat and twist the tube just above the flex conduate looking head shield till it lines up with the EGR valve.
As soon as I get the pictures developed. I'll scan them and post them up.
This is about as good a solution as I could come up with since I was not about to make an EGR Tube out of electrical flex conduate(like a local exhaust shop proposed).
13) Hook up the lines from the boost control unit-however you have your system set up.
Now start engine and listen for leaks.
Out of the box this was a nice looking piece, but for all it's beauty it does not take into acount those of us who must run emissions stuff.
1) Remove the exhaust elbow and O2 Sensor-It is replaced by the downpipe.
2) Remove the turbine housing and send it out to have the wastegate hole enlarged (I did that about a year ago and don't remember the size off hand). The supplied instructions mention the size that the opening must be enlarged to.
3) Remove the factory down pipe and catalytic convertor.
4) Remove the factory wastegate acuator-It is replaced by an external unit.
5) After you get the Turbine Housing back from the machine shop, put it back on the turbo and remount the turbo to the manifold.
6) Remove the EGR tube and adaptor fitting from the engine. If you do not intend on using your EGR system, then get the appropriate size pipe plug and install it in the exhaust manifold. Also install your choice of EGR block off plates on the upper intake manifold.
7) Intall the ATR wastegate (or what ever one you choose). A Tial 35mm wastegate will fit in place of the ATR unit on the downpipe because the two units share the same bore spacing. One word of caution-with the tight clearence issues, this is not a place to get fancy and use allen head bolts. I used the Tial 35mm on my pipe. I didn't like the performance of the ATR piece. After asking around, I was informed by some engineer types that the design of the ATR piece does not let it seal well at low boost levels. Instead of having the valve seat against a bushing (like the Tial design), the valve in the ATR unit seats against a recess cut into the flange. The only modification you will have to make is to purchase some new bolts cause the one supplied with the Tial piece are Allen heads (see comments above) and a little to short to install with the ATR flanges. Info on the Tial wastegate can be found at www.tialsport.com
8) Test fit the Down pipe on the car to make sure there are no clearence issues. At this point I had to clearence the bottom of my firewall for the pipe to fit. You could also heat the pipe flatten it to get proper clearence (hindsite is 20/20). As far as lining up under the car goes-lined up perfect with the factory Y-Pipe. To make the connection to the Y-Pipe, I cut the end off my old Sac Mustang Down pipe and had it welded to the end of a Dynomax 3" Catalytic Convertor and used the supplied (with the ATR pipe) exhaust clamps to attatch the ATR Downpipe to the cat.
9) Use the supplied mount to hang the pipe from the trans crossmember.
10) Bolt the Down pipe to the Turbine Housing. There was no supplied gasket, so I made my own one from a sheet of graphite material.
11) Install a new O2 Sensor in the boss in the ATR Down Pipe.
12) If you need to run an EGR tube-You can modify the EGR Tube with two 90 degree brass elbows from Home Depot (an Inverted Flare to 1/2" Pipe Elbow and a 1/2" Pipe Elbow). To find the right size I just took an EGR Tube and the adaptor fitting to the store with me These fittings are used to move the EGR Tube up above the wastegate and replace the step down fitting that adapts the EGR tube to the exhaust manifold. If the EGR Tube adaptor has a restrictor oriface, then take a 1/4" pipe plug and plug up one end of the 1/2" elbow. Drilling a 9/64" hole will duplicate the function of the restictor. Then use a 87-88 Turbocoupe EGR tube (it's shorter height works great here) and you heat the tube and twist it forward where it comes around the left side of the head , then heat and twist the tube just above the flex conduate looking head shield till it lines up with the EGR valve.
As soon as I get the pictures developed. I'll scan them and post them up.
This is about as good a solution as I could come up with since I was not about to make an EGR Tube out of electrical flex conduate(like a local exhaust shop proposed).
13) Hook up the lines from the boost control unit-however you have your system set up.
Now start engine and listen for leaks.
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