Downpipe is in the car, pretty easy to fit really. Remove the engine cover, Disconnect O2 sensor connector and feed wiring down. Remove the two top nuts from turbo flange (long extension on ratchet). Lift car, climb under and remove the axle heat shield. once thats gone you can easily access the two bottom flange nuts. Remove them too (needed to buy a 16mm 3/8" socket and spanner for this as my 1/2" ratchet and socket was too big to fit).
Remove rear O2 sensor from pipe (will be fecking tight!), undo rear sleeve on pipe and side up pipe. Undo bolts on hanger and wrestle the pipe off the turbo and out of its home. Pull pipe out from under car.
Reassembly is reverse of disassembly.
Old pipe out,
Front cat
Both pipes together
O2 sensor spacer
And what a MK5 GTI sounds like with an open downpipe
And with new downpipe fitted
I do have one issue though, the centre hanger does not line up at all. This is something that i have heard others have issues with on other ebay downpipes. Its nothing major, and i have the car booked in on the weekend to see if i can get them to cut the mounts off and reweld them correctly. Dont want to drive too far without it attached as all the weight of the downpipe is resting on the flexi and turbo flange. Not ideal.
Whilst under the car i also replaced the intercooler o-ring that i noticed was flattened last time i was under the car
Overall impressions arent great. Its louder on cold start as expected, but other than that its really not that different. At WOT its noticeably louder but not amazing. DSG farts are marginally louder, and no popping or crackling. I suspect the fancy Jasma certified catback is stifling the awesome, but its a nice civilised exhaust.
Throttle response is good, maybe a bit sharper. The idle issues i had the other day were fixed with an ECU reset, its running great again.
