N54 Which downpipe do you recommend? Which to avoid?

Jeff@TopGearSolutions · 10-18-2018, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonEQuest

I understand but this one fits pretty well and if I have to buy one bolt I can live with it. It has plenty of clearance away from everything else. This is the least of my worries at the moment because quieting the exhaust leak I had before as finally exposed the fact that there's definitely noise in the lower end of my engine.

Let me know if you decide you want a better quality/fitting DP. We'll hook you up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonEQuest

One of mine was leaking big time so I replaced them both and went ahead and got downpipes at the same time since it is not a fun job. Now that my exhaust leak is cured I am sure that the noise I was worried about is a rod bearing.

My next project is to go ahead and drop the oil pan and see what is going on. I suspect a rod bearing and hopefully it is not at the point the journal is scarred too bad.

Sorry to hear about the luck with Rod Bearing.

How many previous owners did this car have? How many miles?

JonEQuest · 10-18-2018, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonEQuest

I understand but this one fits pretty well and if I have to buy one bolt I can live with it. It has plenty of clearance away from everything else. This is the least of my worries at the moment because quieting the exhaust leak I had before as finally exposed the fact that there's definitely noise in the lower end of my engine.

Let me know if you decide you want a better quality/fitting DP. We'll hook you up.

I will but this one seems fine. I just plan to replace that one bolt with a regular one sometime. I have read a lot of posts about one bolt that often touches the D.P. so I was not surprised when I encountered it.

JonEQuest · 10-18-2018, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonEQuest

I understand but this one fits pretty well and if I have to buy one bolt I can live with it. It has plenty of clearance away from everything else. This is the least of my worries at the moment because quieting the exhaust leak I had before as finally exposed the fact that there's definitely noise in the lower end of my engine.

Let me know if you decide you want a better quality/fitting DP. We'll hook you up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonEQuest

One of mine was leaking big time so I replaced them both and went ahead and got downpipes at the same time since it is not a fun job. Now that my exhaust leak is cured I am sure that the noise I was worried about is a rod bearing.

My next project is to go ahead and drop the oil pan and see what is going on. I suspect a rod bearing and hopefully it is not at the point the journal is scarred too bad.

Sorry to hear about the luck with Rod Bearing.

How many previous owners did this car have? How many miles?

Bought it at auction so I have no clue. It does have 75,000 miles but came 3 qts low on dirty oil. I am wondering if it could possibly be an injector now. I read something about them being loud if they are not being seated right. Not sure what that means but I would like to find out.

mweisdorfer · 10-19-2018, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonEQuest

I had an exhaust leak from where the front turbo bolts to the stock downpipe so after pulling one out I decided to pull both and just replace them.

I am looking for recommendations on a good place to get down pipes from. I don't care about brand name, etc. I just want one that fits well and won't rust out or crack.

You can go high flow catted or catless.

For high ROI, in no particular order:

1) ARM
2) VRSF
3) MMP

JonEQuest · 10-19-2018, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonEQuest

I had an exhaust leak from where the front turbo bolts to the stock downpipe so after pulling one out I decided to pull both and just replace them.

I am looking for recommendations on a good place to get down pipes from. I don't care about brand name, etc. I just want one that fits well and won't rust out or crack.

You can go high flow catted or catless.

For high ROI, in no particular order:

1) ARM
2) VRSF
3) MMP

Quote:

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonEQuest

I had an exhaust leak from where the front turbo bolts to the stock downpipe so after pulling one out I decided to pull both and just replace them.

I am looking for recommendations on a good place to get down pipes from. I don't care about brand name, etc. I just want one that fits well and won't rust out or crack.

You can go high flow catted or catless.

For high ROI, in no particular order:

1) ARM
2) VRSF
3) MMP

I ended up going with MMP and everything went great with them. the only issue I had was the downpipe touched on one Bolt that I had to shave down which I think is pretty common. They shipped quickly and I had them the next day without paying for express shipping.