Downpipe Battle - IE VS MAP VS COBB VS Trackslag VS HPA

[ShagginGSW]

Well for starters I live in VA which means I will have to pass Emissions every two years. I know there are some hacks and ways around it with putting the tune back to stock and getting everything to show rediness but I figured a DP with a 400Cell Gesi would be my best bet at minimizing the effort it would take to get it legal.
Also to be honest my car is my hobby. I get a lot of pleasure out of looking at 15 different DP's and way over analyzing the pro's and cons to each. Its possible sub consciously I hold off on pulling the trigger on one because then I wont need to research them anymore.
And lastly the over researching/analyzing tends to leave me with an option that is overkill. Do I really need a stage 3 clutch? No but from what I could gather it was the best one.

Buy once cry once instead of buying 3 times and spending way more money

 

[Rare Ara S3]

I'm curious to see if you have any fitment issues with the mid-pipe section of the Trackslag DP like I did?
The mid-pipe section sat too high on my 17 A3 quattro.

Installed it today. It fit pretty good. I had to have a shop expand the slip joint on the downpipe because the mid pipe wouldnt slide in. It still needs to go about an inch further in but I’ll have to take it to my custom exhaust place. I also installed a CTS catback. I had to omit the center brace because the pipe no longer lines up with the hump in the brace.

 

[fauMkVGTI]

Completed 4" DP with 4" G-Sport GESI cat for my Golf R. It's 4" all the way until after the cat where you can see the taper to 3". 485 is still currently looking for a local S3 or R with a stock exhaust (mine isn't so didn't work for his purposes) to build out the fixture to for the final prodcution version.

Holy shit balls, install without removing the DS would be insane.

Late to the party here, I’d assume you’d have to remove the driveshaft to remove the stock downpipe. If not then I’ve just found my downpipe.

 

[Rare Ara S3]

Late to the party here, I’d assume you’d have to remove the driveshaft to remove the stock downpipe. If not then I’ve just found my downpipe.

Downpipe removal and installation requires the driveshaft being disconnected and moved over a little regardless

 

[GTI Jake]

If you guys don’t like the prices listed above, you really won’t like what mine cost. Materials alone are right around $2,000 before figuring in any labor.

With that said 4” into a 850hp rated 4.5” GESI Gen2 400 cell (that’s actually CEL free on its own, no tune or spacer required).

Continuing on in V band only connections 3.5” all the way back to the cut location for a OEM resonator delete, it’s the only solution adding a proper resonator (the 3.5” version of the Vibrant 17950).

Because if this, you’re essentially buying/replacing 3/4 of the cars exhaust (reusing only the last part of the OEM CBE) so compared to a full TBE price & performance wise it’s a clearly better value.

Photos below are one I’m currently building, the first production parts built on the weld fixtures (aka I’m still DEEP in the hole development cost wise, and no I cannot write off my time spent developing products).

As I’m typing this the price is $3,000. That will undoubtedly go up since materials, consumables, shipping, ect continue to go up. That’s me making my normal hourly shop rate, zero profit, and banking on being able to get my labor hours down to around 14 (first one built during development took 25 hours, not including building the weld fixtures).

If you’re wondering why I’m not doing a full TBE for the R, the short answer is cost. At $6,000 for the Valved TBE I can’t expect enough of them to sell to ever come close to recouping development costs. So this may be the only one to ever roll out of my shop.

 

[GTI Jake]

 

[Rare Ara S3]

That is some beautiful work Jake

 

[alrock'M]

I’ve had the IE Downpipe for 3+ years now and probably ~60,000 miles. I will say that recently it has had more of a smell to it compared to when I first got it. I’ve also never been able to get a j-style spacer to work with it, so I just swap back to stock when emissions are due (takes me about an hour on my GTI).
I will say the IE Downpipe is great quality, well constructed, and fits well (unlike my intake from them…), but they definitely use a cheaper cat. The cast construction and the placement of the cat definitely make it one of the quieter options in my opinion.

Looks like I have my answer. I recently bought an R in North Carolina through a private sale and can't get past emissions (IE Stage 2) w/ IE downpipe. At least I have the stock downpipe....on it goes.

 

[MaxM97]

Looks like I have my answer. I recently bought an R in North Carolina through a private sale and can't get past emissions (IE Stage 2) w/ IE downpipe. At least I have the stock downpipe....on it goes.

Try to find a Vibrant straight spacer (P/N 19021), and medium or large insert (P/N 19999). I've been able to use that combo to set all emissions monitors. Haven't taken it through emissions yet, but I have no codes and all monitors set, so it *should* pass. I did notice my afr's fluctuating briefly while cruising, so I've gone back to leaving the sensor unplugged until emissions time. If I get a new tune (thinking going IS38), I'll see if I can sort out the fluctuating afr's or just deal with the CEL.

 

[Zhars]

Thinking to get a Cortek TR series muffler/resonator https://cortekexhaust.com/collections/TR-series-triangle?&view=ls

It has a flat bottom, and you can tuck it up higher in the resonator cavity.