I guess what Mike is trying to say is

You can't just buy the orange smarties

So why should you be able to but part of a kit from him

 

Yes i am well aware of what else needs to be done to use the sports cat pipe as do a large number of drivers on here. Mike's initial question was why the cat pipe was being removed, he then went on to explain why it was such a good pipe and that it was fully legal as all tests had been passed.

At some point i will be remapping and want to fit a sports cat - the PPP one it would appear is quite a good one. I was just wondering why they were not available separately as there seems to be a big(ish) market for them second hand.

As most of us get custom maps and upgrade exhaust, fuel pump etc it just begs the question are Prodrive missing out on sales by restricting this item to the PPP kit. (I have a JDM STi it already makes more power than the kit anyway - just want a remap to improve the drivability and MOT frendly sports cat)

 

I suspect that Buying PPP items directly ( and cheaper)from Prodrive would not do their relationship with IM any good?
Who would then want to buy PPP from IM?

Nick

 

amahrap

Which model of STi do you have?

Mike

 

v7 Bugeye MY01 JDM - and yes i'm well aware that the exhaust system is that of a classic - i was just playing devils advocate on the comercial angle of selling the downpipes as a separate item

unless of course you have a few laying round the workshop going begging or want the car as a test bed for your new all singing all dancing after market exhaust range !!!!!!! (i wish)

 

Not sure it's over 305ps as std then.......but I guess it's no longer std.

We only sell packages of components that are designed to work on a specific model, that way you know your going to get something that works.

You'd be quite surprised how small the market really is, we buy more licences from EcuTeK than everyone else in the UK put together and as you need a recalibration to make it work properly with a decent exhaust, there can't be that many being done at all.

Mike

 

i think alot of people that do away with the prodrive kit including myself got it free with the car i.e promotion or already on the car etc or otherwise at the time for my 05 sti it was £2000 for ppp.

as you don't pick prodrive for power you pick it to keep warranty and get a little more power compared to getting it done by other well respected companies where you can have a full 3" system with or without cat, fuel pump, filter and remap for same price if not alot cheaper but with more power roughly between 330 - 350bhp and simular torque.

i think in my opinion if prodrive wasn't with subaru i.e keeping warranty and the package was not sold with subaru approval it wouldn't sell any were near as well.

as for down pipe been sold its nothing to do with quality but to go to a full 3" as with other bits for more power but also in mind of future mods to go above 350bhp.

last bit i'd say is there should be more prodrive packages where you can choose different power levels but keep warranty as i think more people would be willing to pay more to get the power they want but keep warranty as i would have done that but as it was and still is the pack is not powerful enough.

 

Cool you knew what i meant must be used to me nowadays or online translator

So they can save both Warranty and a few hassles from Plod

Back on topic

Perhaps The MY02-04 PPP are coming close to or at the end of Warranty. They do not wish to Pay the earth for extended Warrany so bite the bullet, sell off the bits and have the "Car" they always wanted.

Tony

 

read all posts i'm after a prodrive downpipe i think ?

are they ok for 320/330 bhp

are there differences in years i'm sure i've seen some open mouth and some with a extra pipe,if so which is the best

 

I bought a Prodrive sports cat downpipe off ebay for just over £200 brand new. As mentioned earlier this had to be modified to fit a WRX, so WRX owners take note that its not a simple bolt on part. However once fitted I was pleased with the results, much more pull in the mid range plus much improved throttle pickup with only a small increase in noise over standard cated downpipe.

 

Hayward & Scott will supply a spacer for about a tenner.

 

Why is a spacer needed?
To fit onto a TD04 just cut back the dump & main pipes on the mk1 model and cut back or remove the splitter on the Mk2&3 versions?
I'd have thought the spacer will displace the whole exhaust backwards, and straining the hangers or leading to rubbing/banging porblems underneath?

Nick

 

Butty your right.
I had mine fitted at Powerstation and they cut back the splitter and had to grind back one of the mounting luggs. Wasn't aware there were different versions so guess this makes mine a mk2/3.

 

Mine went on with mo mods whatsoever

(twin pipe version)

 

It was the exact opposite for me. The overall system was too short with the sports cat fitted, that's why I needed the spacer.

 

So is it worth wrapping the Sports CAT pipe or not bother?

 

Warning.. it's a bitch to wrap

 

swifty.....!

Warranty is the key here. Our packages don't affect your warranty as we are careful to not take un-necessary risks. Getting power out of a turbocharged engine is relatively straightforward. Making sure it doesn't have a knock on effect on durability or reliability is the tricky, time consuming and ultimately expensive bit. As examples, we don't like running the turbo in surge and we like to retain a safety margin on wastegate and injector duty at high rpm. Hence no 3" exhaust on an STi or downpipe on a WRX

I'm not sure why there is this perceived wisdom that you've got to have a 3" exhaust system to get decent power. The US market is even worse than us, they think the first mod to do to a 225hp WRX is a 3" system and nobody can sell a 2.5" complete system at all, despite the fact that we've recently seen nearly 370hp (not on a 2.0 though!) on our normal exhaust system and the OE intake system. Neither are the limiting factor, the turbo is.

We could do further upgrades to the power output but these would inevitably reduce the warranty provided or indeed remove it altogether. Lots of testing would need to be done to make sure the car remains reasonably reliable but to be honest the market is actually quite small and we're not sure the cost could be spread over enough units to make it financially viable. We don't just throw bits at the car until it produces the number we want, a more thorough study is undertaken that tries to uncover any potential issues and the final product is extensively tested in the worst conditions that we envisage the cars are going to get used in. Neither do we develop parts on customer's cars in the field.

Regards

Mike

 

Maybe ceramic coating is the solution then. It would probably cost <£150 off the top of my head.

 

would be the ultimate wouldn't it considering that wrap would cost yo about £50 a roll.
Surprised that more manufactures don't supply pre-wrapped pipes, would save loads of hassle.