just wanted to put it out there for future reference.

i picked up a very slightly used atp 3" catless downpipe for my 2009 jcw for about 100 bucks give or take. it was a package deal so ill say 100.

the previous owner used it for a couple thousand miles before trading in his mini.

he was asking 175 for the DP.

i could see by the exhaust markings on the vbands that it had been leaking badly when he used it.

i offered 150 for it and all his other extra stuff. he took it.

upon close inspection of the DP, i realized every one of the flanges were badly warped from the welding process. way too hot.

the quality of the materials is excellent. the (very thick) flanges are all stainless just like the pipe. they were just too hastily welded and were destroyed by the heat.

i have been working on fixing them with a flat file....for a couple of weeks now. i am down to one v band flange that is so severely warped, i may not be able to get it flat by filing most of it away. the edges of these flanges are over 1/8th" thick, but the warpage is severe.

i will add a few photos of the flanges after im done. i didnt take any before pics because it was too hard to hold the pipe up to a light and orient it just right and snap a pic.....sorry

with the design of a vband flange, and the thickness of these particular flanges, i was able to fix the other 2 flanges with the file and still have the vband clamp actually squeeze the flanges together still. the turbo mount flange as it is at least 3/8ths" thick so it didnt warp too bad and was easily filed flat.

i just wanted anyone else looking at this downpipe to know about my issues before purchasing one of these. if i had paid retail, i would have sent it back in a heartbeat. for 100 bucks, it is well worth the extra effort.

i was just about to buy mariokarts downpipe when i happened upon this one on craigslist.

this one came with a 90degree o2 sensor spacer to attempt to fool the cel. the guy said it did not work, but i suspect he was throwing a bunch of codes and making a bunch of noise based on the soot on the flanges.

pics to come and report if i get a cel after install.

i am going to get a manic tune and switch from mariokart asap so i dont care if i do get the cel.....

 

Personally I wouldn't put that downpipe on. If it is such garbage quality, it will only leave you taking it back off, and being stuck with said garbage.

There is no need for a catless DP on these cars, the added CEL isn't worth the "power" you gain. The O2 spacers don't work, modern technology is far superior to the technology that it used to fool on a 98 Trans Am.

 

i didnt say it was garbage, i said it was poorly assembled. if i can get the last flange flat, it will not come back off the car because it will not leak.

if you think having a cat converter a few inches from your turbo does not hurt your performance and prematurely wear out components, you are sadly mistaken. i only wish i had been able to do the mod much earlier in the cars life. it has had 100,000 miles of that converter backing heat up into the turbo and baking everything under the hood.

i have read that the 02 sensor spacers dont work on these cars... that wont affect me because i will have it tuned out. they dont work on 98 trans ams either. electronic 02 sims work good for a while, but always succumb to the elements. its best to program that crap out of whatever car you are modding.

as far as this technology being more modern versus a 98 pontiac.... that literally made me laugh out loud. thanks.

 

still filing away at it trying to get it flat.

wish i had some other way to do this right or that atp would have taken the time to weld it correctly and not warp the crap out of it.

 

I just installed my catless DP last weekend. Its sounds crazy now, with the windows down and the radio and air off you can hear the turbo spool up flooring it in 2ed gear. You really need a tune to get some power out of it tho.

 

I have an ATP downpipe too and had the opposite experience. I thought it was well made and the v-bands were flush. They told me the heat shields wouldn't fit but I figured I could get around that. The top heat shield fit perfectly but the bottom did not so I left it off and used some DEI Titanium exhaust wrap to protect the plastic radiator fans. The turbo exhaust housing flange nut closest to the front of the car was difficult to get tight and will be difficult to remove when the time comes.

See album here

 

I got it put in this weekend.

No leaks. Used a new gasket up top.

There is a 90 degree o2 spacer installed on the lower.

I got the standard 2 o2 codes on the second drive. Comes back every 2 drives.

also used the dei ti wrap on as much of the pipe as possible.

My top stud was broken off when the shield was removed. Fun fun fun drilling that ***** out with the turbo still in the car. My inner stud was a short one and wasn't bad to get to. The front most stud was very long and was a ***** to get tight. Would have been much better to have a socket head cap screw there(Allen head).

No way would the lower half of the shield fit. most of it got cut off and the top few inches went back in there to shield the alternator from the upper band flanges and clamp. The upper fit fine with a second o2 hole cut in a new location.

The car sounds good now, not too much different until it builds some boost, then it's sounds like it's pissed off.....lol. Normal driving, doesn't sound too much louder. Just deeper tone and the turbo flutter and or whine is more noticeable.

I can't really see into my converter to see if any of its plugged up but it's not melted. The car surely pulls harder now when you get on it. Feels stronger.

I'm still only seeing 15 pounds on my boost gauge and I'm now sure my turbo exhaust housing is shot. The arm going thru the housing is very loose and the gate on the arm inside is so loose, it's just about to be able to spin around free on the rivet. It rattles anytime it's open.

I ordered a heat blanket to wrap around the entire downpipe to cover the clamps and ensure the alternator, fan, and misc wires and tubing is better protected than stock.

I am going to buy a wmw turbo blanket next month and keep the upper shield too.

the o2 spacer will be removed as well to see if that nets me just 1 code for the cat being gone. Probly this weekend.

Also, the bracket that holds the downpipe to the block doesn't fit right, had to put a spacer in there so it would not heat cycle and tear a chunk of the pipe out sometime in the near future. It was a good 3/4" away from flush once the band was tight.

No pictures, but I will get some when the o2 gets moved and the heat blanket goes on.

 

Is that pic of the upper shield before or after the install? My o2 hole was several inches off.....

 

That was after the install, it fit perfect, I was amazed. Maybe this was a newer and therefore revised downpipe. ATP told me neither heat shield would fit so I wrapped it before even thinking about installing it. The ATP rep also mentioned they were working on a revision to accommodate the heat shields but it hadn't happened yet. I bought it new in June 2015 and had that correspondence then. I wanted to wait until after my annual PA inspection (December) to install it just in case it didn't pass. I have an accessport that cancels the O2 DTCs but I'm not sure if there's a ready code associated and didn't want to have to swap it back to stock that early if it failed.

 

The two brackets that the DP attaches to on the lower part of the block are adjustable, loosen the bolts on the block and they will move around quite a bit. Not sure if this would give you the needed adjustment.

 

Those brackets are not used with this downpipe. The ATP downpipe has one tab that bolts right to the block. I had to use a 1/8" thk spacer to take-up the gap after everything was aligned. I added another picture to that album of the downpipe as I received it...no wrap and disassembled. You can see the single small bracket.

 

Also didn't know that it came in 3 pieces. I guess you could weld some of those connections once the alignment is set.

I also had to re-tap the upper hole for the stud on the turbo connection. Lucky I got the stud out without having to drill.

 

Does it look like it was over heated at any point. sounds kind of wired , atp is a pretty rep company !! ? but who know's any photos

 

it was done during welding for sure. This is a super heavy wall pipe and flanges are equally thick. I'm not sure what happened, but it got past their quality control somehow. Maybe it is an older version?

 

Yeah who know? maybe it was weld on a Monday!

 

Heres the flange after hours of flat filing and removal of about a hundred thou of metal on high points. you can see how bad low spots are still.

 

Here's how far off the o2 hole was

 

All 3 vband flanges were like this as well as the turbo flange. The turbo flange is so damn thick almost any amount of warpage could have been ground out.

 

I'm thinking Friday at 4:45 !!

 

When I bought a Garrett from Turbo-Kits for my '07 MCS, 5 years ago, it came with a 3" catless downpipe. They got the turbo from ATP, and possibly the downpipe too. The piping is in two sections, each with an O2 sensor hole. Top section has a 5-hole mounting flange for the Garrett, so obviously not intended for the OEM turbo. Not using the heat shield 'cause it won't fit around the bigger turbo, but there's a good chance the O2 sensor hole is in the same location as yours. I had to cut up the hood to allow room for the sensor. Didn't think of using a right-angled spacer. Bottom section has a mounting bracket that's not even close to where it should be. Workmanship on the V-band flanges is pretty good --- seals nicely, even after several disassemblies.

Any chance your downpipe was modified by the original owner? Sounds like an amateur assembly / welding job, not ATP quality.

 

I was thinking the same my self! ive got a few thing from ATP but it was for my vw's ..... and never had a problem with them.

 

nope, he bought it new from atp, had the paperwork. no mods, just put it on....and it leaked like a **** at all 3 joints.

sold car, pulled it off.

i guess it must be the older version thats not meant to use either shield, and its was made on friday night when the boss was out of town.

like i said, its well worth the 100 bucks i paid for it in light of the super heavy duty construction. it doesnt look cheap by any means. they just got in too big of a hurry to weld it and warped the ***** out of the flanges. must have been a new guy welding that day.....

im happy with it now that its flat and leak free. but i would have sent it back if i bought it direct from them.

 

Word of advice.Find a machine shop with a proper belt sander to true up the flanges. Takes about 1 minute. The thought of a flat file just will not do a proper job.

 

i haved worked in machine shops on 2 different occasions. i trust myself with a flat file much more than someone i dont know with a belt sander. real easy to ruin it that way as there is no way to hold it parallel to the belt and get repeatable grinds. a heavy flat file with a 2x4 backing it up....really no way(for me)to screw that up, just takes some elbow grease. i also used full sheets of sandpaper taped to the floor. figure 8s....much better than trying to hold an irregular piece to a swiftly moving belt. the proper way to fix this would have been a blanchard grinder or a milling machine, but i was trying to save money.... problem solved

 

Just curious, did you car pass inspection with this downpipe on? I have one sitting, waiting until my inspection in March for the same reason. It's killing me every time I walk by and see it just sitting.
I also have an accessport installed.