Objections To Welding Up The Exhaust Tunnel On Gti6

[djinuk 2]

I am looking at fitting the gti6 engine into my 205, however im looking at the different ways of fitting it. However i am just wondering what is so wrong about cutting and rewelding the eghaust tunnel further up. I have a welder who is very good, and i believe he could do it , them seam filler it and stone chip, and i cant see it being noticeable. just wondering am i being naive. Also people that have done this, does the center console still fit where it originally went. I just dont like the idea of reangling the engine.

[welshpug 1,661]

you could just re-angle the manifold.

[djinuk 2]

read about that, but cant imagine it does any good for it, as the manifold looks a work of art, . My car is very low, and i have a feeling that when you reangle the manifold will it not move it closer to the floor.

[welshpug 1,661]

er, the manifold is nowhere near the floor!

 

if you're that worried just get a Longmans/maniflow /etc 4 branch manifold that fits properly

[M@tt 77]

Cutting the exhaust tunnel is a perfectly acceptable solution its just its not often done purely because its alot more work to do than the other methods. you'd have to remove half the dash and carpet to make sure you don't set fire to your car in the process!

 

Again you could cut and reweld the manilfold, i imagine the slighlty sharper exit angle of the exhaust runners may slightly hurt flow from standard but i imagine it would be negligable. (no ones done a detailed comparison afaik)

 

tbh the amount you "tilt" the engine by is also negligable imho and i don't know of a single person thats had any problems doing this. Driveshafts aren't eaten any quicker, you are not susseptible to oil surge problems to any greater extent realistically and tbh its a 10 min solution to the problem

 

but again its horses for courses and whatever each person is happiest doing

[djinuk 2]

ah if you say it is nowhere near thats fine by me, a reangled manifold it will be then. Is the basic operations of fitting the engine, to bolt the manifold before fitting, trial fit and see how much it needs angling, or would you stick the engine in , then bolt the manifold on.

Edited December 12, 2008 by djinuk

[jonnie205 1]

i usually extend the bottom mount by 10mm and i find that the perfect solution. it leaves the manifold std and also moves cam cover away from MC, and yes its only a very small tilt required and it works very well

[skeggyrik 3]

It is a lot of work but is the "better way" to do it if you don't mind chopping into your shell and all the problems that can lead to if you don't do it properly.

 

If you search for philfingers posts on here, you can see the pics of what he has done.

He will admit that it is fair bit of work.

Edited December 12, 2008 by skeggyrik

[Stu 18]

I opted to go this route with my Mi16 installation; and in my opinion its a much better option if you dont mind modifying your shell.

 

This way, standard (and hence proven) manifolds can be used, and provided you're guy is a dab hand with the MIG then i cant see a problem.

 

Mines been together for over 12 months now and has had done a fair few trackdays with no problems at all.

[djinuk 2]

does your center console still fit without any problems, also is there any reason to need to remove the whole dash , as im pretty sure carpet and the center console should be sufficiant.

[philfingers 5]

I suppose I should comment as I've just done mine, as Skeggyrik has seen it.

 

I think I made a reasonable job, it's tricky to get in with the torch. If you're worried about the time to take the dash out then it's not for you. The dash has to come out to take the heater box out. Saying that if you didn't take so much out and welded it from the outside only you may. It's a damn sight easier with the dash, heater and column, in fact the whole lot! out.

There's bags of space for mine. I even refitted the (somewhat modified now) std heat shield back in. There's planty of space for an Mi with std manifold now. I did it, went and saw stu's car and decided I needed to take some more out.

Pics show the whole job:-

http://s188.photobucket.com/albums/z143/oi...%20Rally%20Car/

It's a lot of work. I think it's the right way, but I wouldn't want to pay anyone to do it for me!

 

Phil

[taylorspug 7]

The manifold reangle is very slight, as Jonnie has hinted at you only need about 10mm of clearance, which if you cut the manifold up by the headers translates to roughly the thickness of a 1mm cutting disk on a grinder. Really easy to get to and weld up (with the manifold off the engine), should be no problem if you have someone who is good with a welder.

[djinuk 2]

thats it then, im going to opt for the reangling of the manifold i think.

[Rom 0]

All the mentioned methods get the job done.

 

Its personal preferance which you choose. Least time consuming is adapting the lower mount. Most time consuming is modifying the bulkhead. Manifold is happy medium.

My personal order woud be Bulkhead, Manifold, Mount. I went with the bulkhead, as i can weld, and didnt want to reangle my manifold, or use wedges etc.

 

Lots of people have done it all ways. Theres no right or wrong, though obviously some of us consider certain methods 'better'

Edited December 12, 2008 by Rom

[philfingers 5]

All the mentioned methods get the job done.

 

Its personal preferance which you choose. Least time consuming is adapting the lower mount. Most time consuming is modifying the bulkhead. Manifold is happy medium.

My personal order woud be Bulkhead, Manifold, Mount. I went with the bulkhead, as i can weld, and didnt want to reangle my manifold, or use wedges etc.

 

Lots of people have done it all ways. Theres no right or wrong, though obviously some of us consider certain methods 'better'

 

totally agree, what ever floats your boat. My method was right for me in the time scale and skills I had,but may not be for everyone,

 

All methods would be ok if done right and power would be 165, 166 and 167BHP in difference, obviously 167bhp if you choose to do the bulkhead! In reality there probably is no difference.

 

Phil

[Martin W 0]

You can see how mine was done <<< HERE >>>

 

I opted for this route because of the number of stories you hear about the re-angled manifold cracking. Now I have a maniflow manifold because the standard manifold was too restrictive on my new engine.

[djinuk 2]

just been looking at spikeys project and cant see from this pic much reason to remove the full dash etc

 

 

[Rom 0]

I didnt remove the whole dash either. Just the lower parts, pulled back carpet etc. But im used to welding in cars with interiors. You would just have to be careful not to burn anything.

Its a lot more work than the other methods, but its what i wanted to do.

[djinuk 2]

question being, does anybody know if the center console fits back ok ?

[philfingers 5]

can't see any reason why it shouldn't go back in

[Rom 0]

It depends...how much you weld in. My dash is all back together, you couldnt tell theres a plate under it.

By i kept my plating small and rounded, spikys looks a bit boxier. As his is a track car, not sure he worried about the dash.

[Martin W 0]

My centre consol fitted back in just fine, the cention inside my car isn't as raised as Spikeys pics though.

[philfingers 5]

I'll try mine tonight and post a pic,

 

Phil

[philfingers 5]

mine goes in, tho this was quickly without carpet. Will go in with carpet tho for sure. Pics here:-

http://s188.photobucket.com/albums/z143/oi...%20Rally%20Car/