Testpipe Tiptronic Install ?

[Cirlincione623]

Im ready to install my testpipe but I have a question I searched but I couldn't find a solid answer. Do I need to lift the car up to remove the cat and put the testpipe in or is everything done from the top with a tiptronic?
Thanks in advance.

[Con]

you need to lift it.

pain in the ass.

[ElCapitan464]

ya you have to lift it and it is a pain in the ass, i had to remove the air box to do it.

[kharsnett]

how are you supposed to get to the spring loaded bolt? i had my car on a lift but everything i tried didnt work. also what size is that bolt

[ElCapitan464]

the spring bolt wasnt that hard to un-do on mine, its just a pain to get it out, if you don't take the air box out you cant do it

[Quattro]

i had my tuner do the install and have seen him do others, its nearly impossible to remove the cat without lifting the car. Some of the bolts are very difficult to access. Not sure the exact bolt size, but should be maybe a 10mm?

If you have a few extra bucks, let a shop do it maybe 60 bucks? its a hassle, but it could be done. its a mod I wouldnt do, and I do it all..

but, tip/manual should be the same to remove/install. 4 bolts on top, 4 on bottom!

if you do a search, I think there was a guide to install a test pipe.

[supamannn99]

ya you have to lift it and it is a pain in the ass, i had to remove the air box to do it.

is your car tiptronic or manual? the tiptronic transmission is alot bigger and there is alot less space to reach in there.

here's a writeup

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=96984

[eclpsgsx97]

I'll preface this by saying I have a 6MT, but I thought I'd share my experience with the test pipe install.

I found it easier to remove the downpipe along with the cat. The bolts to the cat and downpipe can be a PITA to get to and break loose with it still in the car. I had to use a flex socket and extension. Making sure the socket was flush on the bolt while getting good torque without rounding out the bolt head was difficult but possible. This was my experience when I installed my cat-back exhaust. Hope this little tip helps cut down on time.

[Cirlincione623]

Is it possible to take off the bolts from the cat on the turbo side and undo the downpipe from the rest of the exhaust and pull the cat and the downpipe out of the top and then install the testpipe that way and put it back in?

[eclpsgsx97]

It's been a year since I did the test pipe install. I'm pretty sure I pulled it from the bottom with the car up on jack stands.

[redhott06]

you gotta lift it up...and im sure its gunna run you a lot more than 60 bucks.. my shop quotes 1 1/2-2hrs of labor for a testpipe.

[Siggiepop]

lift. the shop i went to needed two guys to do it. since the space is so small.
roughly 30-45min job if they've done it before.

[Quattro]

i sent over so many tp installs to my local tuner, he does it pretty quick now....but the bolts are a pain and flex sockets come very very useful.

some have removed just the top 4 screws and than removed the whole downpipe, you can try it that way. Main thing is, lift! (as in for the car)

-randy

[Cirlincione623]

You think ramps would get the car high enough?

[supamannn99]

What my installer did was remove JUSt the cat, leaving the downpipe in the car.

[Cirlincione623]

What my installer did was remove JUSt the cat, leaving the downpipe in the car.

Did your installer lift the car to get to the bolts on back of the car on the downpipe?

[nsogiba]

I did it on jackstands. It’s difficult but not impossible.

What I ended up doing was:

-jack up car, place on jackstands
-remove 4x turbo to cat nuts
-remove exhaust clamp under car
-remove spring bolt mount from underneath car. VERY cramped and difficult. I had to place a box wrench on the bolt head from above, then crawl under and remove the nut with my air ratchet using a combination of deep socket, u-joint, and 2 extensions totaling over a foot in length.
-remove 3x downpipe to cat nuts/bolts from underneath car. Same situation as above. Place box wrench on “top” side to stop the hardware from rotating, then use a crazy combination of socket and extensions from under the car to remove it.

The downpipe can then be removed from underneath the car, and cat will come out from the top. Goes back together the same way .

-put downpipe in place from underneath the car. Loosely secure spring loaded mounting bolt for downpipe. Leave it loose so you can adjust the position of it.
-put in testpipe from top of car with gasket between turbo and test pipe, secure with 4x nuts
-fasten downpipe to testpipe with 3x new bolts/nuts. All the stock ones either broke or were too rusty to reuse.
-adjust downpipe and tighten mounting spring bolt
-tighten up exhaust clamp

The 1st oxygen sensor on the tiptronic can be removed while on the car. The 2nd oxygen sensor must be removed out of the stock cat pipe OFF the car.

Hope that helped. There wasn’t much detail on the test pipe installation for Tiptronic cars when I started work on the job.