Im swapping my decat for a sportcat and i wondered if i need to take off the intercooler and turbo shields as per the worshop manual or if i can get all the bolts off(and back on again!) with everything in place, from below? Its an 08 sti, i dont wanna take off the intercooler as its tricky getting the pipes back on past the FBW throttle housing. Do the upper bolts bolt into the turbo housing, or are there nuts on the other side?


cheers

 

why bother with sports cats. i have fitted two and never past emisions test and the cost more than a de cat pipe. yes you will need to take the cover shield off for eas of acsess. also try not to hit the o2 sensor as it can damage it when removing. there should be two bolts at the top and i think four nuts facing the bulk head. hope this helps

 

Well im hopeful of passing with the sport cat, plus my decat didnt fit very well, it doesnt seem to fit the stock doughnut(i didnt fit it) my problem with removing the heat shield is that you cant get to it on an 08 without taking off the intercooler, and i know that with the 321T on its very hard to get the pipe on the turbo past the FBWT, but i realised you can undo the y pipe from the intercooler and leave the turbo hose on the y pipe. Have a crack at it tommorow.

Only seems to be the lower(under the car) lambda on my 08, and in the parts catalog.

Who's sport cats did you have by the way?

cheers

 

lets hope it will. off the top of my heaed i cant remember the make. will look for the papers as it was a while back on my old car. i see what your saying about the heat sheild so i would go with what you sugested about unbolting at the y pipe. hope it all goes well.

what make is your sports cat and if you dont mind me asking how much did you pay.
only reason i ask is because you get what you pay for. cats are not cheap at all.

 

Its the cobra sport one, 300 quid, I think they build the cats, as they sell the cat components on their component site. Seem to have quite a good reputation, UK made.

Fingers crossed!

 

ohh. thats what make i had. 298 i paid a couple of years ago. when i rang to say it faild mot they just said o sorry it should of passed. lets hope they have moved on since then otherewise you might have the same prob.

 

lets hope it will.I think they build the cats, as they sell the cat components on their component site.

 

You'll need to take the intercooler off to get the heat shield off and the bolts out, Why make the job difficult for yourself by trying to leave the intercooler on.

 

I agree, but its the 321T thats the issue, they are much tighter than stock up against the throttle body, the garage that fitted it when i had the engine built said it was very tight, so im trying to avoid removing the turbo hose, hopefully removing it from the Y-pipe end will be fine.

 

Is that the turbo that suited to the hatch as I was aware they have a modded compressor housing to overcome this issue, the other way to deal with it is to turn the throttle body so the black housing is ontop rather than on its side so it gives you a little more clearance

 

Yes it has got the modded cover, without that i dont think you would get it in, i was going to go with the turbo dynamics version(they build the 321T) but they didnt have the covers at the time so the 321T was my only option, without flipping the TB, but its still super tight. certainly sucks the air though!

 

Just a final word on this, i ended up taking off the IC, it wasnt too hard, but the pipe the garage fitted was knackered so i got a samco replacement, that was harder to fit, it was thicker than the one fitted, and very tricky to get oriented correctly, and tight as to get past the FBW plug, but also the turbo and IC dont have perpendicular centres so the samco hose has an offset which the pipe the garage fitted didnt, which is why i think it was knackered and didnt fit very well, car doesnt hunt at idle now, and i think the spool is marginally better.

Also the Cobra sport cat did pass the MOT, garage are friendly but no special treatment, i dont think they even took it out to warm it up, although i gave it some stick before dropping it off.

I also fitted a revolution exhaust while i was there and found it a little loud for me(although i think its one of the quietest, i must be a gay) so i got a universal silencer from jetex(they make the revolution system) and cut a section out and slotted it in, works great and i have the original piece which can fit back in(after i weld on some flanges) if i want more noise. Only 60 quid for the SS silencer, and a couple of clamps.

cheers for the advice.