gti 16v exsaust differences

[dannydubs]

hi all ive got a stainless system for a 16v it was taken of a early one and ive tried offering up to a later model and it doesnt fit the bend from the middle box to the cat is different

why is this?

do early 16v run different exsaust to later ones but only shows one type in the exsaust book at my work

[Wayne]

Not a mk2 system is it.

[dannydubs]

nope i took it off a mk3 16v L reg myself and fitted fine and tryed on a P reg and the bend is way off

[Wayne]

nope i took it off a mk3 16v L reg myself and fitted fine and tryed on a P reg and the bend is way off

Strange, I believe all mk3 systems are the same apart from different bore.

[dannydubs]

i no i couldnt understand myself

[boneybradley]

it's also possible the exhaust has being bent to clear the rear axle (to fix the common banging axle issue with lowered cars!)
also the o.e exhaust was 1 piece and needed to be cut to replace a section. this can also make big differences to fitments

[rubjonny]

i believe there is a difference in cat length between early and late cars, im pretty sure there is anyway. the reason is a mate of mine bought a cheap cat bypass off ebay and it was too long to fit his mk2, so we cut it down. on my mk2 i bought a miltek pipe which was listed to fit all mk3s, but it was shorter than my mates one. It came with a seperate length of pipe which then made up the difference.

does it seem too short or too long?

[Len]

Had a similar problem myself.
Only wanted a back box so bought that but that alone would not fit! Same thing bend wrong and pipe length wrong .
So had to buy the whole system off the guy. he just said I knew you'd be back for the rest! :embarassed:

[boneybradley]

I have checked and can see timax, bosal etc make there exhausts slightly different (on one the cat is longer where as the other uses a connector sleeve instead, I guess this could give the different cat lenght?)

I remember when I fitted the backbox to my golf I had to bodge the middle pipe as it wouldn't align correctly (I checked against a timax middle box and it was different to what I had fitted!) if you work at a supplier can you order a new middle box to check how that bends etc? (I could at my old work!)