Hi all, has anyone ever done an exhaust replacement on a mk1 (hatch not estate) looks like the one on it is from factory. I'm doing the back box and centre section  which I have bought and is in 2 parts. I can't see a joint between the 2 on the one that's on the car and there is the rear suspension beam between underneath the front and mid silencer so looks like i might have to chop it in 2 to get it off. Does that sound right or am i missing something please? I've got paste and a u clamp. There is a double ended coupler on the bit that joins from the flexi / cat so hoping to 're use that. 😁 exhaust is not blowing yet but looks well crusty and parts were not expensive, got klarious parts was about £65 in total. 

Put the parts you've bought in your shed/loft and leave there until the current exhaust fails. "Crusty" doesn't matter.

 

Likely outcome of changing what you've got is having lower quality parts on the car, damaging the front section/flexi during removal of other bits, and generally getting nothing for all your efforts.

 

Yes, the middle and rear sections are one piece from the factory, 

Did mine on my MPI about six year ago. Wasn't too bad. Just used a grinder with a cutting wheel to chop the original system in half.

If you end up needing a new clamping sleeve it's part number 1K0 253 141K

Thanks guys 👍🏼

Wino is right about the standard system, it's indestructible, made of a basic grade of stainless my twenty year old 1.4 16V is still running on the original system it left the factory with, the rear silencer is double skinned and the outer skin does ablate, simply clean it off with a wire brush if the MOT guy complains leaving the inner skin intact.

Thanks yeah sounds like the original is built to a good standard. Might just pop this one in shed and see how it goes. My concern was that it's 17 years old and only done 37k so will have spent quite a lot of its life stood. From past experience with other cars they have a tendency to rot from the inside out as moisture sits in the silencers etc.

This is someone else's pic but mine went in the same place....

 

Edited 30 November, 20205 yr by TMB

14 hours ago, TMB said:

This is someone else's pic but mine went in the same place....

 

Thanks I will give it a proper check and decide if it's worth replacing at this stage. If not euros have a 365 day unused return policy so can always take it back if not needed. 😁

Have a look through the packaging at the pipe profiles at the ends where you'd be joining with coupler sleeves.  I had one from ECP, not sure which brand, with a bleeding great lump of weld seam down one side that was never going to allow a good seal without being fettled.

 

Got my wheel alignment done today and while it was on the lift I got under it and had a good look. Seems to be solid just surface rust, so returned the new exhaust to euros. The guy doing the alignment had a look as well and said it was ok so all good.

My exhaust has done nearly 90k miles and 13 years, which is pretty good for an exhaust. 

 

When the exhaust starts to blow what are the recommended options? Wino said not to buy a substandard exhaust, I agree. You don't want a noisy exhaust (or maybe some people do). I once did a full exhaust change, including catalyst rebuild when I found the lambda/O2 sensor on another car (Toyota Yaris) was welded in place. I found the new exhaust (ECP) didn't quite fit like the old one. The manifold I suspect had been changed as the dealer metal manifold to exhaust gasket was too small. 

 

Can Kwik fit stuff match OEM or is it worth paying for dealer part? Personally, I don't want a noisy exhaust for effects with a few bhp extra.

 

Thanks

An exhaust swap alone will not increase power, babies like to go BWAAAAHHHHHH.

It's basically impossible to improve on the standard system so if you can afford it replace like with like.