Down Pipe welds - Shocking or not?

[Rob P]

Guys, looking for some feedback after being under the car today and spotting the poor state of the welding on the Downpipe from the Turbo to the exhaust.

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Is this a straight forward replaceable part or does it need someone to manufacture me one
Rob P

[Steve A]

Hmmm a view from the top please

[Andy_J]

Looks like and aftermarket 'upgrade' down pipe.

[Steve A]

Looks like and aftermarket 'upgrade' down pipe.

The welding looks very DIY I'm interested to see the turbo end

[lotusflasherman]

Looks like and aftermarket 'upgrade' down pipe.

The welding looks very DIY I'm interested to see the turbo end

That's not welding, it's 'sticking it together with slag'. It's either DIY or done by the apprentice without supervision.

[Enright]

I have one or two standard originals that I wouldn't mind parting with.
Do you want me to bring the best along on Sunday and you can make me an offer if interested?

[Rob P]

I have one or two standard originals that I wouldn't mind parting with.
Do you want me to bring the best along on Sunday and you can make me an offer if interested?

Trouble is the Turbo isn't standard so not sure whether they would be suitable. The exhaust is sound just looks like a dogs dinner with that welding. I'm probably being picky but trying to get round to a few jobs before I take it to Italy in September.
Plus it is looking less likely that I will make the serpentine run due to other commitments such as an en-suite that needs finishing

[dapinky]

Rob,

I have to say that you're not the first person who thinks your pipe has cr@p welding.....

I told Paul it wasn't great when he first got it!

Unfortunately, I think the issue is that the pipe is stainless, but the MIG wire was mild steel - which will stick, but the 'filler' will corrode deminishing the whole piece.

From the best of my recollection, the welding was reasonably solid (anyone who has seen my own welding ability will tell you that I can always get 'solid' but not always 'pretty') and was 'as supplied' for the turbo upgrade.

It may well be worthwhile to take it to someone who has the correct MIG wire and shielding gas and ask them to cut/rejoin the offending piece??

[Ian T]

I'd TIG that to be on the safe side. Stainless MIG does work but seems harder to get the right temperature with any control. I'm similarly reliable at making 'strong' welds but not quite so reliable at making them 'pretty'.

I agree though, if you were to cut, strip and re-weld it, you might get a better finish using the correct filler, but my guess is that the pipe is pretty well contaminated not and without cutting out a couple of mm of what's there and re-joining it, you might not really get rid of the mild steel and be not much better off.

If it's not causing problems, just put up with it until a better exhaust comes along and then replace it?

[Rob P]

Guys I'm looking for some advice please.
As part of the current sump replacement work I have dropped the exhaust from the front joint, as this topic showed earlier the downpipe from the turbo was welded in a couple of places and the welds were pretty shocking. I am now thinking of replacing this but looking at the next section that has taken quite a battering and so I was contemplating having a whole one piece section made up to replace these two. Question I have is what is the little section with the wire mesh?

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I have a friend who in turn has a friend who I believe works in the Exhaust pipe industry and may be able to make a new pipe but I wanted to be able to advise him on what I wanted to get a quote before taking the whole pice off and taking it over to him.
Rob P

[Steve A]

The wire mess section is used because it is flexible (which is a good thing), you can buy them separately just google flexi exhaust joint.
I have incorporated one into my system (look through my posts and you will see).

[Rob P]

The wire mess section is used because it is flexible (which is a good thing), you can buy them separately just google flexi exhaust joint.
I have incorporated one into my system (look through my posts and you will see).

Cheers Steve
I was wondering if it was a de-cat piece but flexi exhaust pipe, that sounds like a sensible idea so will see if I can ensure one is incorporated in the replacement piece
Rob P

[Steve A]

The wire mess section is used because it is flexible (which is a good thing), you can buy them separately just google flexi exhaust joint.
I have incorporated one into my system (look through my posts and you will see).

Cheers Steve
I was wondering if it was a de-cat piece but flexi exhaust pipe, that sounds like a sensible idea so will see if I can ensure one is incorporated in the replacement piece
Rob P

It's a common thing to use the hard bit is tucking it out of the way

[GeoffSmith]

AKA sump guard!

Rob, I'm pretty sure Paul put a Peco on and it looks like a Peco=Cybox front section who are just down the road from you...

[Rob P]

AKA sump guard!

Rob, I'm pretty sure Paul put a Peco on and it looks like a Peco=Cybox front section who are just down the road from you...

Thanks Geoff,
Yep that looks the part, Cybox are based on the Wirral which isn't too far away, will give them a bell on Monday if I don't hear back from my exhaust friend.
Rob P

[Rob P]

Rob,
I have to say that you're not the first person who thinks your pipe has cr@p welding.....
I told Paul it wasn't great when he first got it!
Unfortunately, I think the issue is that the pipe is stainless, but the MIG wire was mild steel - which will stick, but the 'filler' will corrode deminishing the whole piece.
From the best of my recollection, the welding was reasonably solid (anyone who has seen my own welding ability will tell you that I can always get 'solid' but not always 'pretty') and was 'as supplied' for the turbo upgrade.
It may well be worthwhile to take it to someone who has the correct MIG wire and shielding gas and ask them to cut/rejoin the offending piece??

Hi Dave, just wondering if you knew who made this up, was it just a local guy as I really want to get this bit cleaned up and the guy I thought might be able to assist doesn't do downpipes, although I have sent him a picky just in case when he sees it that he realizes it's not like a normal exhaust manifold which is what I think the issue is

[dapinky]

Rob,

It was part of the turbo upgrade kit supplied by LGM - so I assume it was made up in San Fransisco (or somewhere over that side of the pond). Certainly not 'local'.

[Rob P]

Rob,

It was part of the turbo upgrade kit supplied by LGM - so I assume it was made up in San Fransisco (or somewhere over that side of the pond). Certainly not 'local'.

I was hoping that wouldn't be the case. Have made an attempt to clean it up and remake the welds and looking better but the pipework isn't great, will have another bash at it tomorrow, using stainless Mig wire so the welds are looking OK just want to try and get the offset out of the pipework if I can, also looking inside the welds protrude quite a bit so need to get the dremel into there and clean the flow up a bit. All stuff to be done whilst the rain pours here in not so sunny Preston

[Rob P]

Having bitten the bullet I have had a new piece made, well they have swapped out the lower half as they had to use the existing Flange that connects to the Turbo. Looks much better from the outside but the inside is the bit that I needed to resolve. I have also purchased a new front pipe with the flexi pipe on it.
New pipe and offcut of the old

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this is what the inside of the old welded pipe looked like

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now I have this back I can put the car back together again and have some fun, next job is to fabricate a sump guard to avoid the damage that caused the car to be laid up for a month whilst we got this piece finally made up