ras06LGT Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 So I'm trying to get my car back together, but the downpipe seems to be giving me a headache. I had the car apart for a clutch swap, so the trans was out of the vehicle. It seems like the downpipe is sitting way to high underneath the car. This is pretty much where it wants to fall when bolted to the turbo, as you can see in the pictures attached. I recall the downpipe always seemed to sit a little high, but right now it touching the heat shield in a couple of places and actually resting up against the body as shown in the second picture. This is the DP that was in the car when I bought it, and don't remember it giving me this much trouble before. Am I missing something here? Did I overlook something while putting the car back together? I popped all the trans, engine, and pitch stop bolts loose to see if something is preloaded but didn't seem to do much. I did bend the bracket on the trans the DP attaches to while removing the trans. I bent it back to pretty much where the DP wanted to fall once securely bolted to the turbo so I doubt that's holding it in a strange position. Is there something else holding everything in a slightly forward-raked position, of is the downpipe fitment just off and never really noticed it before (and had nothing to compare it to). I swapped the clutch out due to excessive chatter - could something have bent (uppipe bracket) that's not causing issues. The last option seems really unlikely, but I'm up for any ideas right now. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ras06LGT Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 Could others post up pictures of where their downpipe sits under the car so I can gauge how far off I am? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-BGTLimited Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 The up pipe brackets are pretty robust but that's what I was going to suggest but in all honesty you shouldn't have had to touch them to just pull the trans. You can see the one very large bracket in this photo... http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh201/3400modified/Leggy/DSC_0625_zpsb2c1e679.jpg There might be SOME movement in the bolt holes but I don't remember there being all that much and since you had this installed once that seems very odd to be giving you issues now. I had issues with a CNT pipe fitting my car and I had to completely loosen all of those brackets as well as the up to turbo bolts to move my turbo ever so slightly to the drivers side because the pipe was hitting my cross member... Once that was fixed the one I had would no way in hell sit on the tail shaft bracket because the mount was just completely in the wrong spot so I just returned it and now I have an Invidia that's going in soon. SO worse case is loosen up all of those brackets and bolts and just bolt the down pipe to the turbo.. position the dp where you want it, secured to the trans bracket and then tighten the mounts and turbo back up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ras06LGT Posted March 3, 2014 Author Share Posted March 3, 2014 Thank you for the feedback. I would tend to agree that bending the up-pipe bracket would be pretty difficult given how stout it is. Also, as you stated, I did not touch the turbo when I pulled the trans. I'm going to order a new trans hanger so I can see where the down-pipe SHOULD sit. I'll then go through your suggestion of loosening everything to see if I can re-position everything enough to get it to fit. Can you actually get to all the necessary bolts with the down-pipe installed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-BGTLimited Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 Did you change your transmission mount by chance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ras06LGT Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 I changed it over to a Group-N mount about a month ago. Do you think that maybe the new, stiffer bushing is holding the trans higher? Or did you have something else in mind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ras06LGT Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 I also found THIS old thread that talks about fitment issues after Group-N mount installation. I'll have to dig a bit deeper and see if this might be what I've got going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-BGTLimited Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 It sounds like you had the group N mount in before you did the trans work though is this correct? You can get to most of the bolts while the DP is in place... yeah it's tight but it's enough room to get a wrench in there to just lock the position down with one bolt then go back after removing the DP and tighten everything up to ensure its locked down, for instance you can get 2 of the 3 up pipe bolts with the DP in place IIRC... I fully removed my UP and loosened everything then put the up back in place loosely on the two brackets, then positioned the DP where I wanted it and tightened down everything I could reach with the DP in place... I was able to get everything else tight after just removing the DP again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ras06LGT Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 You're right, the trans mount was in place before the trans came out. I did make a mental note when prepping to remove the trans that the downpipe seemed to be sitting higher than usual, but it wasn't hitting the body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-BGTLimited Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 I recently had problems with my invidia fitting too high when using the factory tail shaft mount I think it has to do with designing these parts on a car with the softer and possibly sagging rear trans mount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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