99 or 900T header pipe?

in article snipped-for-privacy@uni-berlin.de, Dave Hinz at snipped-for-privacy@spamcop.net wrote on 26/10/2004 19:50:

... Not sure about cats Dave - we don't have to have them here in the UK until a car is as new as a 1993 model! Any older than that and we whip them off in a flash, replaced with straight pipe :) Are you taking about what I would call a downpipe? The pipe from the turbo that drops down under the car to meet the catalytic converter?

IIRC, the 99T exhaust manifold meets the charge pressure regulator (which the turbo exhaust side also meets) and the exhaust drops off underneath. I'd be very surprised if a downpipe off a 900 would fit - the turbos were different (no charge pressure regulator, sadly) and the downpipe came out sideways and then dropped down.

It is possible that if you took the exhaust manifold, turbo and downpipe off a H type, it'd all fit together. You'd lose that nice walrus sneezing sound though :)

Paul

Hi Dave,

You may be able to exploit the fact that the 900 header is 50 mm longer than the 99 and add the necessary extra bends.

I did just that several years ago when I fitted a 81 900-turbo to my 99. Using a hacksaw and 2 trips (i think) to a local welder I managed to fit the entire exhaust system that came from a 81 900 on my 78 3 door 99-GL.

But the result was ugly and didn't give enough clearance from the body so the next summer I bought a Starla unit that certainly will outlast the car. I believe however that a 3'rd adjustment would probably have given enough clearance to be usable, and as I understand you are not quite in such a hurry as I was...

Note that this job did not involve a catalytic unit. All I did was basically to replace the two front 45 degree bends with a 90 degree one in the proper location. I suppose the cat will introduce additional problems.

Frode