matth76

I wouldn't bother mate. As said above not worth the hassle. I have had my stainless steel 6 branch just 6 months - pretty sure it is a Raceland one - and it already has a slight blow in it. I have uprated engine mounts etc to keep engine movement to a min but didn't prevent it. Raceland as a brand are pretty good. However all stainless steel exhaust manifolds (no matter how expensive or what brand) are prone to cracking - just part of the risk. If I was going to mod my car again I wouldn't have bothered with mine and stuck to the stock manifold. Supersprint are probably much better though (hence the higher price) and possibly made of mild steel as with their cat back systems - but don't know much about them to comment much. Power wise mine gave absolutely no gain on the rolling road before and after but I did gain slight torque. Stealth told me some ex. manifolds give a power rise and some give a torque rise....depends on the length of the pipes and other factors.

Where the exhaust manifold meets the head? It does make much more of a 'tinny' noise than it used to. And would slight power loss be a symptom..if so where in the rev range would it normally be present?

Hi Seems I have a slight blow in my stainless 6 branch (only 7 months after having it fitted). Not a huge blow ...an audiable noise when cold which tends to get quieter when the engine heats up. My power hasn't been quite as strong as it should... is this normal to lose a tiny bit of power? How much of a difference will my car feel after having the blow fixed.. will it pull noticably harder? Getting my exhaust looked at by The Phirm in a week. Cheers for any help.

Give The Phirm a call mate... they do turbo conversions...and will help you make your mind up as they are very experienced and will tell you if it's worth doing or not etc on your car.

Does your water temp remain at the middle of the gauge (90)? Could be a faulty thermostat. 110 for the oil temp seems high for being stationary but it's still within limits. Syntha silver is what most use on here. I use it and only see 100 for my oil temp if I am really pushing it on the motorway on a hot day.

Has anyone here run their BMC cda without and then with the cold air feed fitted? Did you notice any difference in acceleration? I'm currently running it without the cold air feed fitted and it does sound nice. I was told by two top garages that not having the cold air feed will make hardly any difference unless in traffic, once moving it should be no different. Mine sounds perfect without the cold air feed. Not loud but a nice howl when at full throttle.

I was told conflicting stories by two very good garages about putting heat wrap round s/s exhaust manifolds. One said don't put it on and one said the opposite. Putting heat /insulation wrap round it can make the s/s get even hotter and more brittle making it prone to cracking. However putting it on does make heat transfer better and keeps the surrounding metal cooler. Although if you fit a good exhaust manifold it should allow you to retain the original stock heat shield which is very effective so you shouldn't need heat wrap. I have a stainless steel exhaust manifold without heat wrap and have just retained the original heat shield. Everything is fine temperature wise under the bonnet after a long run. The one thing to ensure is that you have uprated engine (front and gearbox) mounts...they are a must with a stainless ex manifold... Also check to see if the manifold has flexi joints... this also helps to protect against engine movement. Good manifolds (and I'm pretty sure the Raceland will) will have flexi joints. All in all I didn't see a rise in bhp (my car's a vr6 so your's may see different gains) at all with my exhaust manifold after a remap and rolling road session before and after but I did see a rise in about 10 lbs/ft torque which is good. And it does make the engine rev better.

Thanks for your reply. I'm not shifting quick at all. Taking it really easy. Noise always happens. Is this noise not normal. It only tends to happen when shifting down from 5th to 4th and occasionally when changing to other gears. Is the slackness to the right normal?

Hi I have recently had a custom quick shift fitted (my original shift has been modded to reduce the throw) which has reduced the throw by about 40%. It is really good and far better than the stock vr6 box. One thing I have noticed is the gear stick has a bit of play in it more so than the stock gearbox, but only to the right (only when in neutral, 3rd, 4th, 5th gears). It's not slack to the left. I'm not too bothered by it but wondered whether this is this normal? Is it normal to hear metal 'dinking' sounds occasionally with quick shifts in general (I normally hear it when I shift down from 5th to 4th)? Thanks for any info.

All sorted. Had the thermostat changed and all seems fine now. Still pulls as hard as hell all 207bhp of it. Glad to have the car back! Also got The Phirm's quick shift for my gearbox. Certainly an improvement over the long throw on the stock golf gear box. Great thanks to the phirm for diagnosing and fixing it all. Only two days ago I thought my engine was f*cked!

Ok guys...another question - worst case scenario, say my head gasket needs to be done...now or in the future, how much extra (on top of the labour and parts to do the head gasket) would it cost "roughly" to fit a "big valve head", and everything needed? Got to try and make the best out of a bad situation! :) Anyone here know how much extra power a big valve head might produce? Or would a "gas flowed head" be better value for money..I know this is a lot cheaper, but how much power would this produce? Cheers guys

Sounds odd mate. Could it be a faulty thermostat?

Well the water temp went right to the max and the oil temp went to 118c. Must have caught it within a couple of mins I reckon. If the head was warped slightly would my power be reduced slightly too? Or would the power be unaffected.

Not sure if the noise went away when it got to the Phirm. I assume it will still be present. The oil temp rose to 118 no higher. What I was wondering is would a compression test show up any damage?

Thanks. I'll ask them to change the oil. Could I possibly have warped my head? Will a compression / leak down test show up this or any other damage to my engine?

Cheers guys. Did either of you have the strange metal grating noise (seemed to be coming from the passenger side) and only happened if I moved the car even very slowly. The noise didn't happen if revved when stationary. The water was completely empty though so it could have been the water pump running dry...I assume. My main concern - assuming everything runs fine after I have a new thermostat - is that I have not lost any power - or caused very very slight wear or damage to the engine. Will a compression or leak down test tell me if the engine is fine? Double 6s not far at all... could have seen your corrado, who knows :) I've seen one or two nice ones in worthing.

I live in Worthing too with my gf, in Goring. Car is currently with the phirm till next week ...so hopefully they should fix it. I'll let you know how I get on mate.

Cheers guys. Really had me worried today. 'Hopefully' it will be ok. Just had a really good session this morning at stealth getting 207bhp. Really pleased with it. Then on way home down to sussex this happens! Un-nerving day!

Thanks mate. Just hoping my engine is ok and haven't lost any power or torque.

Hi Today was driving down the dual carriageway and my engine water temp hit max and some steam was coming from the bonnet. Pulled into a layby straight away. I opened the bonnet and there was no water in the antifreeze tank. There was a strange metal grating noise too if I tried to move the car a foot or two. No noise at all if I revved the engine a bit while stationary. The oil temp had risen to 118c which I was told by the Phirm that this was ok and well within limits. Car had no water leaks. The water had escaped as steam through the water tank. Had the car towed to The Phirm who were excellent and diagnosed straight away that it was the thermostat that had caused all this (pipe to radiator was hot, one underneath was cold - indicating it was the thermostat). Will my engine have suffered any damage? It all sounds fine when it is revved stationary even to high revs. Haven't tried driving it or moving it so not sure what the strange metal grating noise was...the Phirm will carry out checks next week. What could this strange metal grating noise have been? Just had my car rolling roaded today at stealth (207bhp). Is it likely this figure will be reduced after today? How quick or easy is it for The Phirm to do a compression test? Will that be the sure tell tale test to see if my engine has suffered any damage even slight damage? Thanks for any help.

Thanks guys.

Hi A friend of mine has a vauxhall astra (N-reg). The air bag light stays permanently on - what could the cause be? Not sure how different the airbag system is on the astra but wondered if anyone on here might know. Thanks for any help. Matt

Hi there... thanks for your replies. Stealth are doing all the remapping work. I'll ask them about the removal of the silencer just before the backbox and whether its a bad or good thing ... people on the vwvortex forum have said it should liberate quite a bit of power although it will be fairly noisy.. However I'll see what vince reckons. Cheers

Does anyone know? Has anyone removed any of their silencers?

Hi Please can anyone help me...I have a 1997 OBD2 golf vr6. My car currently has a high flow cat, Milltek cat back 2.25" exhaust. BMC cold air induction kit, and a more free flowing 6 branch exhaust manifold and a remap. On the last rolling road it had 192bhp and 193 lb/ft torque. I have just recently had some Eurospec 268 cams fitted. The car feels stronger but it's hard to tell how much power (if any) has been gained. I am soon to get a remap tweak to get the fuelling spot on plus rolling road session. Is it likely that the remap itself will get slightly more power from the cams (than say if I left the car as it is with just the cams and no remap)? I am getting the remap done as I want the fuelling to be correct with no pinking... however I was just wondering if I would get even more power as a bonus. If so what sort of gains can I expect to achieve (with just the cams on their own, and then after the remap)? Ok, second question... is it a good or bad thing to remove the middle exhaust silencer? Would this drastically reduce backpressure and make it undrivable, or would more power / torque be gained (with a remap tweak too)? I'm definitely keeping the back box/silencer, but wondered about the remaining middle silencer and whether it is benefitial to remove this or not? As already mentioned I have a high flow cat too already. I'm not sure if there are one or two middle silencers plus the backbox on a Milltek system. Thanks for any help or information. Cheers Matt