I'm IE DP on my B8.5 sitting at 82k miles. Cats are on their way out. I think downpipe flex joints are going out too. The exhaust note is getting progressively louder and sounds worse every week. I got the car at 73k miles, cats were fine. Was IE SP for 75-80k w/one hard track weekend on that set up. Have been IE DP from 80-82k with no track time, just a few pulls around town. On the DP set up it has quickly blown cats and flex pipes that were probably weakened on the IE SP set up.
I picked up some stock downpipes with resonators from a forum member. The local shop I've been using will be installing those this week. They were $200 shipped and only had 35K on them. They look good. My original flex joints def need to be changed out and the original baby resonators sound like they are filled with sand/metal chunks when you bang on them. Probably cat material and baby resonator pieces.
The cats are going to be gutted and reinforced. I've read that the 02 sensor bung and the flanges are the spots where they need to be reinforced. Can somebody confirm this? How many welds exactly? I'll include a pic of one on of the posts I found on this with arrows pointing towards reinforcement spots needed. I'm in CA so I need to have the stock cats in, plus I hear the test pipes are too loud and don't have a good tone. I want to have the stock resonators in for visual inspection as well. I hear some techs think the baby resonators are the cats. I'm looking for a quietish exhaust that can handle a DP set up. I've got the Vibrant J 11619 J Spacers to deal with the cel. I've read that the middle spacer is the one to use. Anyone have luck with the middle spacer on these?
I'm putting in GESI High flow cats (50025) https://gsportbygesi.com/high-perfor...tems-products/ where the ECS X-pipe is. I want to relocate them downstream away from the massive heat where the stock cats are located. I talked to a rep at GESI and he said the 50025's can handle alot more heat than the 10025's, will completely eliminate smell, and are way cleaner than the 10025's they sell. Plus the 50025's are EPA certified. The 50025's are more expensive ($344.50 each) compared to the 10025's ($138 each), but I think it's worth it. Especially if I don't have to redo cats in the near future due to quick failing.
I'm leaving the rest of the exhaust stock past that point to the tips.
Do you think I should have them remove the rest of the exhaust and bang it out to see if there are cat/resonator pieces stuck in there?
Do you think keeping the newer baby resonators is just going to result in them getting blown out and spread through the exhaust again?
I'm hoping this set up works out so I'm ready for my next CA emissions test and I can run the 100 Octane IE tune during the next track weekend.
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