please help with my new downpipe

[jerritt]

okay i may be new to working on car but this seems like it should have been a pretty easy install. but i cant get it to fit properly. as you can see in the pictures the bottom of the downpipe faces towards the ground rather then towards the back of the car. i was told by the guy i bought it from to jack the bottom of the downpipe to where it should be and then tighten the bolts into the turbo ....first it didnt work and second for the price i paid i was expecting it to fit perfect. idk basically im just asking for you guys to take a look at the pictures and let me know what i should do to get it to fit the right way. thanks for any help
jerritt

 

[mybuick]

need to take it to a muffler shop and have it bent more to be level with the bottom of the car. don't use a jack. show the shop the pick so they can bend it more.

 

[CGASTON]

okay i may be new to working on car but this seems like it should have been a pretty easy install. but i cant get it to fit properly. as you can see in the pictures the bottom of the downpipe faces towards the ground rather then towards the back of the car. i was told by the guy i bought it from to jack the bottom of the downpipe to where it should be and then tighten the bolts into the turbo ....first it didnt work and second for the price i paid i was expecting it to fit perfect. idk basically im just asking for you guys to take a look at the pictures and let me know what i should do to get it to fit the right way. thanks for any help
jerritt

Where did you buy that DP?

'87 Turbo T w/E85, 224/224, ported iron heads and intake, 80 lbs injector, TE45A, GEN II, TT and EXTENDER EXTREME G, XP Double pumper and something secret, 86 T-TYPE (Kenne Bell test car) and '11 Tundra Limited Sent from my iPhone using Turbobuick

 

[jerritt]

Its a gn1 performance dowpipe

 

[Flyin Brian]

Its a gn1 performance dowpipe

I have the GN1 performance 3-1/2" downpipe. Yours looks like the 3". As we know these are made in China and rarely fit up right. I could not get mine bent at a muffler shop since it is a 3-1/2". I had to elongate the holes in the flange where it mounts to the turbo with a die grinder so I could clock it upwards. I would be careful trying to jack it up with a jack as it is stainless steel and will not bend easily. Ideally if you took it off a muffler shop could bend it for you the right way by using their tubing bender. Good luck. Took me several days to get mine right but it was larger. Yours should be a bit easier.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Offered to have this replaced about a month ago and you never sent it back! Never replied to emails sent to you.

 

[turbofabricator]

Way to step up, Mark.

Jerrit, if you don't want to do it the easy way and send it back you can have a fabricator cut the last bend off and weld on a new one that has a few more degrees of bend to it. Personally I would suggest sending it back to Mark if you don't have a TIG welder and the proper size mandrel bend laying around.

 

[Jerryl]

Question:
Would re-clocking the turbo housing solve this?

 

[bison]

Question:
Would re-clocking the turbo housing solve this?

You would have to re-clock the entire engine since the turbo is bolted to the header and the header is bolted to the head. The easiest fix is to cut the last bend off and grind and TIG weld it on correctly. This was a poor fitting example but a perfectly fitting dp isn't going to happen unless it was fabricated for the specific car. Usual cost for a stainless fabricated on far dp is $800-1000 for a simple 3.5". Then it will fit perfectly till you replace body mounts, engine mounts, headers or anything that would disrupt the clearances that resulted when it was fabricated.

 

[87-WE2]

I had the same idea after i read the "clocking a turbo" thread. After thinking about it, i dont believe it will work as rotating the exhaust housing would change the orientation of the exhaust inlet. Then that would encompass a whole new set of issues with the header and crossover, wouldn't it?

The OP wasn't exactly bashing the vendor here (which i gotta respect).

Also, the vendor did just offer to replace it. I would just send it back to the vendor and take him up on the offer.

It's obviously a manufacturing defect and not something the vendor could have foreseen.

Edit to correct spelling from my phone and to say that bison beat me to the punch!!

 

[Jerryl]

You would have to re-clock the entire engine since the turbo is bolted to the header and the header is bolted to the head. . . . . .

Me=Duhhhh . . . .

I had the same idea after i read the "clocking a turbo" thread. After thinking about it, . . . . !!

Me=Duhhhh x2 . . .

 

[jerritt]

hey mark at gn1 i was definatly not trying to talk bad about your products or service you offer great service i was just trying to ask the guys with much more experience then me if maybe there was a simple fix that i could do before sending it back to you. i was really trying to save my ass asking these guys to take a look n see if maybe i did something wrong on the install before wasting your time and my money. sorry if you took this thread the wrong way.
jerritt

 

[turbofabricator]

Good response, Jerritt. Alot of times people just can;t figure out the tricks required to install a special performance part and "assume" it's messed up. I'm sure Mark appreciates you verifying that it wasn't you doing it wrong. THat makes sense to me anyway.

 

[coach]

I bought one of these 4 years ago. Archie told me to call him when I had it ready to put in and I did. He told me exactly how to twist it 360 degrees as I slipped it into place. It fit like a glove.
You cannot just have a muffler shop bend it because they do not do mandrel bending. It will kink the pipe just like every other exhaust pipe bend. You should have sent it back to Mark and did the right thing when it was offered.
Cutting and welding it is the only way to do it right but you could get it bent at a shop and live with the kink.

Coach

 

[coach]

After looking at your pics again, dont shove the test pipe onto the downpipe so far. It only needs to overlap about 1/2" or more. Its not going to fly off when bolted up. It looks like whoever trimmed the downpipe, just cut it too much. My GN1 had about 4 inches of straight pipe at the bottom and I had to cut it to fit the test pipe in. It looks like yours was cut too short and is now up into the bend. Bolt the test pipe up to the exhaust and block it into place with a few blocks of wood. Then see where the downpipe is from there. Weld a straight piece onto the end of the downpipe and slip on the test pipe and use a stainless band clamp to hold it all into place. This will hold it and allow you to remove the pipes when needed. Its a little work, but just bending yours isnt going to get you enough straight pipe to slip the test pipe on, judging from the pics. Any muffler shop should be able to cut a 3 inch pipe and butt-weld it to your downpipe and extend it straight, you just need to mock it up and make sure it will work. The piece of pipe you will use to extend will need an angle cut on the end towards the downpipe. If you butt-weld a straight cut piece, it will just aim it towards the ground.

 

[Spooln1]

I have the 3.5" GN1 pipe. It was a pain too. Like many others have said. You need to cut it at the bend and weld up the correct angle. Most muffler shops by me dont have stainless 3.5" in stock either. Good luck with it.

 

[coach]

I have the 3.5" GN1 pipe. It was a pain too. Like many others have said. You need to cut it at the bend and weld up the correct angle. Most muffler shops by me dont have stainless 3.5" in stock either. Good luck with it.

This is a 3 inch, not 3.5. It has a 38mm gate too. The 3.5 has a 46mm gate.

 

[Spooln1]

This is a 3 inch, not 3.5. It has a 38mm gate too. The 3.5 has a 46mm gate.

I know you have the 3" pipe. I was just giving my experience on how mine was fixed since it was the same brand and sat almost the same way.

 

[coach]

Oh. The 3.5 is a tight squeeze no matter how good it fits. I've never done a 4.

 

[ttaowner]

take a torch and heat it cherry red in a particular area around the pipe and jack it up and it will bend easily. metal bends quite easily when heated like this