| THE
EXHAUST |
THE
STOCK SYSTEM |
The 2.5" Techtonics Tuning stainless
steel exhaust, this is what $500 US looks
like.
So this pretty much what it takes to remove
and replace my exhaust. It took a little under
2hrs. to complete. Having the use of a pit
helped a lot, but the install was nothing I
haven't done with a car up on ramps, jacks,
jack stands. The directions that Techtonics
sent with the system were decent but not as
descriptive as this write up. Depending on
what exhaust system you buy, it may differ
from this one but the overall project doesn't
really change that much. I would read your
directions and if you have questions call your
manufacturer (that's what customer service is
for). Well I hope this helps give some insight
into what it takes to install an exhaust
system. Happy wrenching...
VW TECH BY: John/98GTIVR6 |
Here's a peek at the stock system, which
weighs in at 47lbs. The Techtonics is only
27.5lbs almost a full 20lbs. lighter then
stock. The supplied directions are not too bad
and recommend starting from the rear of the
car and working forward so that is what I did,
and it worked well. First step is to either
drop the rear axle to remove the muffler and
the mid-muffler (suitcase) as they are
connected or cut the exhaust to take out the
parts separately, then you don't have to mess
with unbolting the rear end. I decided to use
a saw-zall electric reciprocating saw to cut
the exhaust (since I'm not planning on saving
it). A die-grinder with a cut-off wheel
would also work as would a hacksaw or a tubing
cutter if it was big enough. No matter what
you use I would recommend wearing safety
glasses to protect your eyes. |
| STEP
1. |
STEP
2. |
Here's me cutting the exhaust so I don't have
to lower the rear axle, I'm using the saw-zall
and cutting the tube in front of the rear
axle, I haven't unbolted anything yet. After
cutting the muffler from the suitcase, using a
13mm socket with a long extension on my
ratchet I removed the factory brackets (in
front and behind of the muffler) from the
bottom of the car. It made it easier to deal
with the rubber hangers when they came off
with the muffler. Okay so the muffler is out. |
Now I'm removing the hanger from the mid
muffler (suitcase). The connection for it to
the straight tube is right above the black
cross member to my right. There is only 1 bolt
(17mm) holding the clamp on the connection. I
opted to cut the exhaust 1 more time instead
of unbolting this connection basically because
I'm not saving the exhaust and the connection
being right above the cross member is a little
hard to get to, but not too hard if you wanted
to unbolt it. |
| STEP
3. |
STEP
4. |
Here goes cut #2, I'm cutting out the suitcase
instead of unbolting because the saw only
takes about 20 seconds to go through a tube.
After cutting or unbolting the suitcase be
careful as it is heavy!(20lbs.). |
Now it's up to the cat. There are two bolts on
a sleeve connecting the straight tube to the
cat. Here I'm loosening them with a 17mm
socket after spraying a little WD-40 on them.
Once the bolts were loose the tube slipped off
easily. |
| STEP
5. |
STEP
6. |
AAHHHH! Now we have some room to work as the
stock cat-back exhaust has been removed. |
So now we start at the front and work our way
back out. In goes the new stainless straight
tube. |
| STEP
7. |
STEP
8. |
Here I'm using a plastic hammer and a block of
wood to tap the new straight tube on to the
cat, I tapped the tube until it reached the
factory mark (line) on the output side of the
cat. |
Here's something to watch for. See the flat
spot on the left side of the tube? It's
probably from the tube getting dropped or
abused during shipping (I didn't drop it!). As
all the slip-fit connections in this system
are very tight this just wouldn't work like
this. I used the rounded end of a ball-peen
hammer to carefully tap out the dent from the
inside, until the tube was round again. |
| STEP
9. |
STEP
10. |
Now I'm installing the over the axle tube.
After this, tighten the cat connection. |
The over the axle tube fits over the end of
the straight tube (in this system), and is a
tight slip fit. It was difficult to get a grip
on the tube to slip it on the straight tube ,
so I decided to clamp the hanger bracket
(which looks like handlebars) onto the tube
behind the bulge in the tube. After doing this
I could use my plastic hammer to tap on the
bracket to slide the tube on. See the
"X" that I'm pointing to? That's
where I placed the bracket. I tapped the
bracket so the tube slid over the other tube
as far as it could. |
| STEP
11. |
STEP
12. |
Here comes the muffler. The only thing tight
so far is the cat connection. |
Here's a side shot of the muffler with the
front and rear exhaust brackets loosely
attached. Trying to twist the over the axle
tube to get the necessary clearance proved to
be difficult. It needed a handle, so I bolted
the muffler to it so I could grab the muffler
and twist the tube. It worked well. |
| STEP
13. |
NEW
TT EXHAUST INSTALLED |
After getting the over the axle tube where I
wanted it, I went ahead and reattached the
factory hanger (for the suitcase) to the body.
Then I installed the clamp that (came with the
system) on the tube connection and slipped the
factory rubber hangers onto the bracket. This
is what it looked like when I was done. Next I
reinstalled the factory brackets (to the body)
for the exhaust brackets. I then installed the
brackets and made sure that the muffler would
point the tailpipe out the center of my bumper
cutout, and gave it enough clearance. |
There that's a bit better, new 2.5 Stainless
Steel exhaust installed. |
| REAR
BRACKET AND MUFFLER |
IN
THE PIT |
I thought this was a kind of cool shot and it
shows the positioning of the rear bracket on
the muffler. |
Here's me in the pit, it's not really quite
that deep. |
| TT
REAR VIEW |
STOCK
EXHAUST REMOVED |
Notice centered tailpipe. |
This is the removed stock exhaust showing
where I cut it. |
| POOR
FACTORY BENDING |
Here's a nice factory dent in the stock
exhaust. This is the over the axle tube, it
also had nice ripples from poor bending,
something the new exhaust didn't have. |
