TAG

What do you guys do if the downpipe does not line up with the cat?

Tonight I was installing my first turbo kit (Greddy 92-95 Civic EX on 90 CRX Si/ZC)
And after mounting up the turbo manifold and downpipe, I slid under the car to bolt the dp to the cat, and started scratching my head...the darn thing doesn't line up!

Here are a couple of pics...




I tried using my hands to pull the exhaust/cat combination towards the dp, but it seems like it would place a lot of stress on the exhaust hangers, etc. I don't imagine you want this thing under tension?

Maybe I need to have a muffler shop cut my dp, and weld in a small extension tube to make it reach?

The 2 pieces can be lined up with not too much effort. The main problem is the air-gap. (Approximately 2-3 inches IIRC)

Thanks for any tips for the newbie

TAG

bump for Sunday morning
...suggestions anyone?

Burke

take off the cat and make a testpipe that spans the whole gap

Racerage1

just drive to the muffler shop, open downpipe and feel that thing spool! j/k
just a question, do u have a bracket that hooks up to it right next to the oil pan?

TAG

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Racerage1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just drive to the muffler shop, open downpipe and feel that thing spool! j/k
just a question, do u have a bracket that hooks up to it right next to the oil pan?</TD></TR></TABLE>


Haha, smart alecks!
C'mon guys...I need serious answers here...

Oh yeah...regarding the bracket. Yes, I do. But when I connected the DP to the mani last night it appears that the bracket won't bolt up to anything (oil pan, etc) because it's too far off (like 4-5 inches). I guess the position is different for the 92-95 Civic versus D16a6/a8 blocks.

Any more suggestions anyone??

romeo619romeo

dotn bolt that bracket up .. its know to crack the dp.. you ned to get the down pipe extended..

mamaboy

Man That is one small *** downpipe!

TAG

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mamaboy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Man That is one small *** downpipe! </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for the constructive help...sigh

TAG

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by romeo619romeo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">dotn bolt that bracket up .. its know to crack the dp.. you ned to get the down pipe extended..</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ah, thanks for the tip. Much appreciated!

E-spec Tuner

Honestly unless you got a lift in your garage, it will be a pain.

Just drive to a muffler shop, and let them tackle the job. They will cut some pipe and maybe put a flexpipe in or something. Shouldn't take them more than 20 minutes or so. Can't be that expensive either.

Good luck

TAG

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PCdc2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Honestly unless you got a lift in your garage, it will be a pain.

Just drive to a muffler shop, and let them tackle the job. They will cut some pipe and maybe put a flexpipe in or something. Shouldn't take them more than 20 minutes or so. Can't be that expensive either.

Good luck</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ah, the answer I was seeking. Thanks a lot
No, no lift in this garage but it's not a big deal to pull the turbo/mani/dp and put my header/etc back on and take it to my local welder.

Thanks guys...

Fac3Man

Can you just modify the hangers yourself? If not have the shop move them a little, I'm assuming thats cheaper than having a pipe made.

falcongsr

just take it to a muffler shop.

mskibbz-T

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NOT EVIL falconGSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just take it to a muffler shop.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yup... I am using a custom muffler shop test pipe

falcongsr

wait before you take it to muffler shop, loosen the bolts where the downpipe meets the turbo. you can get it a lot closer i bet, then retighten those bolts.

TAG

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Fac3Man &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Can you just modify the hangers yourself? If not have the shop move them a little, I'm assuming thats cheaper than having a pipe made.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing myself.
I'm going to the welders in a few days. I'll let you guys know how I fare.

Thanks for all the suggestions...appreciate it a lot.

KTeller8

reguardless if you get it to mate or not

it there is going to be a tight feel there, or stress, the DP will crack:

id suggest getting flexpipe: that is the purpose of flexpipe:

M-EJ1

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=417707

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=418276

Summary is that after bolting everything up (a pain in the ***, couldn't even use the stock bolts for the dp-cat connection), my muffler hit my bumper because it all got shifted on the rubber hangers. Took it apart and called Greddy and they basically were of no help and were infact quite rude about the whole thing, insisting that they've been "in the game" for years and that they know their ****. I ended up just fixing the problem by myself. I didn't have to extend the dp at all, but I had to rotate the flange and add a jog in so that the dp ended up in the right spot to bolt up to the cat without shifting the whole exhaust ****-eyed.

Check those two threads where I describe the exact problem... Here are pics of what I did to fix it when the guy I talked to at Greddy basically told me to shove off...

TAG

M-EJ1, you .....ROCK
Thanks for reading my thread and posting your experience.

Wow, I'm pretty shocked that the guy from Greddy (Charles") was such a dick! That is pretty poor customer service. It also makes me leery of buying anything from them going forward (big believer in CS here)
Basically, you and I both have the SAME exact problem with their downpipe. My DP sticks out the same exact direction as yours..so either Greddy made 2+ mistakes during their production runs, or screwed up their dimensions, or
we have 2 strange Civics/CRXs..haha (yeah right)

For the record, I have a Greddy catback with catco cat. The stock dp (b-pipe?) mates up PERFECTLY. I've had both the ZC oem stock mani on there, as well as a DC sports header. Both lined up w/ no problem at all. I was surprised when the Greddy dp didn't line up. (sure glad I didn't bother calling them up for help I suppose, sigh)

Thanks for posting your "solution to problem" pictures. A picture is definitely worth a thousand words.
I'll probably have to tow my crx to the nearest muffler shop and see if they can make something similar to your solution. Or maybe go with some flexible tubing (stainless steel..like the higher-end dp's have)

I'll post an update once I get back from the shop (1-2 days probably)

int3gra

what u need to do is get a ecutout and get one of those "Y" pipes to line it up with the cat

falcongsr

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by int3gra &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what u need to do is get a ecutout and get one of those "Y" pipes to line it up with the cat </TD></TR></TABLE>

i wouldnt use an e-cutout with a greddy kit. excellent chance of uncontrollable spiking.

edit - M-EJ1 - holy **** nice work!

TAG

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by falconGSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">wait before you take it to muffler shop, loosen the bolts where the downpipe meets the turbo. you can get it a lot closer i bet, then retighten those bolts. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Update: I guess I shouldn't have given up so easily. Tonight I spent about an hour playing around with the setup and I was able to fasten down the 2 pipes with less "stress" than my first attempts. I may still go for a flexpipe later, but I think this will cover me for the next few drives in this car.


Question though:
I bought this kit used. If you look at my photos above (top of this post), you see the way the dp mates to the cat. The previous owner mentioned something about "buying a new gasket for the ball socket type joint" here.

What is this gasket? can someone give me more info, or provide a picture?
Do I really need this?

Thanks

falcongsr

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TAG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


Question though:
I bought this kit used. If you look at my photos above (top of this post), you see the way the dp mates to the cat. The previous owner mentioned something about "buying a new gasket for the ball socket type joint" here.

What is this gasket? can someone give me more info, or provide a picture?
Do I really need this?

Thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>

the gasket slides over the downpipe as well as the stock header and is really a ring that is made of some soft metal material that allows the engine to rock back and forth transversely (not sure if thats a word) in the engine bay and still provides a good seal. you should have one thats chewed up from your stock header. the greddy kit came with a replacement for it. you should be able to score one at a local muffler shop that caters to imports.

i took my car to what the old muscle car guys said was the best shop hands down for exhaust work, and they tried to weld my downpipe as a solid piece from the turbo all the way to the muffler. that **** woulda busted up pretty quick, or pulled apart the exhaust hangers. they were used to engines that twised longitudinally which just rotates the exhaust pipe instead of trying to push it up or down as the engine rocks back and forth. i was shocked at how much your engine rocks back and forth under the hood while driving. watch an engine move just when putting it into gear on a dyno.