United Motorsport

[Bs6VR6 10]

Just a quick one, does anyone know of any way of contacting these guys. Called untold times and only ever get an answer machine or hold system. Emailed them with no response, doesn't instil confidence at giving them your money! Basically need to get the 24v conversion down pipe ordered. Does anyone know of an alternative if they no longer trade, bar making a custom one? Cheers,

 

Max,

[Kevin Bacon 5]

That's all you ever hear about UnitedMotorsport mate. You could try [email protected] He used to respond to my emails pretty quickly.

 

I used their conversion DP and a couple of things worthy of note: 1) The flex bellows are waaaaaay to stiff, because they're too short basically. 2) the flange to mate up to a VR6 cat is way too thin, so will distort, and in a Corrado application, that bit is all wrong anyway. When it was bolted up, the cat and the DP/Exhaust alignment all went to c0ck putting a lot of strain on the flange and the flex joints.

 

In short, it looks a nice piece, but it's crap in all honesty. I had to buy a welder and heavily modify it before it was any use in my Corrado. I basically cut their flange off, welded on a much better and bigger flex bellows, then V banded that and the cat, job done. Jobs I shouldn't have had to do for £350, but it's par for the course in this country.

Edited January 6, 2015 by Kevin Bacon

[Bs6VR6 10]

Bloody hell. This downpipe was in my mind at least one of the easy bits, proving to be a bloody headache now as I can't think of any more off the shelf alternatives.

Thanks for the heads up kev, appears neither this or the dub power one was as fit and forget as first hoped.

I guess I can get it running interior in then once done get it trailored to somewhere like infinity to get a custom one, but they wanted nearly £600. Pain in the arse!

[swiftkid 1]

I rang a place not too far from me who quoted me £225 fitted for a custom downpipe, can't remember the name off the top of my head but they are based in Louth and I've heard good things about them. Just as a temporary measure I made up a downpipe by using mk5 manifold (similar angle to VR6) and then cutting the standard VR6 downpipe up, there is a picture in my build thread somewhere

 

As for united motorsport I gave up quickly with them, if they are not bothered about customer service for new customers how are they going to be like if you have a problem. Not a good way to be for a business

[Bs6VR6 10]

Ok, with a bit of digging on VR6 owners forum, United Motorsport seem to be present on there and on their Sig It appears that their sole distributor or dealer is a company called 'the phirm', these I've heard about before. Called them and they said that the owner apparently works on US time due to the bulk of his work being in the states, which they explained is why they can be a nightmare to get hold of at time(read all the time). So he is going try and contact him and get back to me.

I take on board what Kev has said though, so am possibly expecting to do a bit of work to get it perfect. still have an original corrado DP so can use flange off that if it isn't up to scratch. I'm right in thinking the UM one requires the 2.8 24v cast manifolds yeah? Fingers crossed I hear back from them, but if anyone knows of another option by all means let me know.

 

Cheers,

 

Max,

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

I've got a united Motorsport down pipe on mine and I'm happy with it. The flex section seems to be of a decent size and flexes well, not sure if they've made improvements since Kev had one or not.

 

True, they are very bad at customer contact and it took a couple of weeks to actually get it delivered but apart from that, I'm happy with what I have.

 

The company in Louth is called PP Tuning and have a very good reputation and if I was after a bespoke system, I'd talk to them happily but the problem I had at the time was that I couldn't get it trailered up there so needed a bolt on option.

[Bs6VR6 10]

That is reassuring to hear, I guess it is possible they have tweeked the design as time has gone on. Still no word back so may hassle the guys at the phirm again. I'm in exactly the same position Sean, need a bolt on solution due to being unable to trailer mine.

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

I emailed him at the sales@unitedmotorsport address.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah the UM downpipe requires the 2.8 / MK4 3.2 cast manifolds. The DP I used had 2 little flex bellows near the manifold flanges. I could feel they were too stiff just by moving the pipe around by hand, but it wasn't until I put the manifold end in a vice and used the whole length of the DP as leverage, did it become fully apparent how unsuitable they were. I tried it like that to begin with and the vibrations in the cabin were unacceptable. After I welded my own better quality and much longer (and therefore bend easier) bellows, things improved drastically.

 

It's your choice mate but I would ask them if the bellows have been updated recently or not, and you want ilok ones ideally, or better still, OEM MK4 style bellows.

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

Maybe they have changed then? Mine have absolutely no vibrations at all. I'm not saying what Kev is saying isn't true in the slightest and I wouldn't want to buy from UM again based on customer service.

 

That aside, my particular version of the product has worked for me. Maybe I was lucky, maybe Kev was unlucky?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Probably the latter!

[Bs6VR6 10]

Why can these things never be easy hey?! Well I have now emailed the sales address as well so will wait and see. Cant hurt to ask some questions if I ever hear back.

Kev, regarding the 2.8 cast manifolds, I read somehwere they are slightly smaller than the mk5 R32 ones, is this true, they do appear to at least be a different shape, haven't measured them as yet, would I need to open them out slightly or is it negligible?

[swiftkid 1]

The 2.8 manifolds have a smaller bore than the 3.2 from what I have read. The mk4 are the same shape as the 4motion (ending downwards) whereas the mk5 are angled like the vr6 however the flanges are larger. I do have the flanges drawn up on cad if you need them as I got them made for my temporary manifold.

 

I was in the same position as you Sean so I had my temp manifold bodged up, it is very close to the steering rack boot though so I might need to wrap that before I get it up to temp but once I'm done hopefully might come in handy to someone in a similar position

[Jamie 1]

Why would working on US time stop them emailing you back? Then again the phirm can't really slate anyone for not returning calls/emails - nice enough bunch of lads and their work is decent enough but they never get back to you either

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

It seems customer contact is a thing of the past!

[Mk3highline 10]

Think it might be a lot Easyer to cut and use the vr6 down pipe

Or see if you can use the actual 3.2 down pipes?

http://www.scorpionexhaust.co.uk/scorpion-exhausts-vw-golf-mk5-r32-de-cat-stainless-2687-p.asp

They look close

[Kevin Bacon 5]

That is what I would do if I did it again, use MK5 manifolds and modify either a stock MK5 DP or the 12V DP as mentioned. Look at the size of the flex bellows in that link. That's been done properly.

[swiftkid 1]

Heres my attempt, using Mk5 manifold, some flanges I got made, bit of suzuki swift exhaust and the VR6 flexi's/remainder of downpipe and flange. The only thing I would say if you are homebrewing is that you can see how far the right hand pipe moves across and ideally it would have needed to go a bit further but the left hand one I pretty much cut the VR6 flange off and welded the 3.2 flange straight to the end of it

 

[Kevin Bacon 5]

That's spot on that is and exactly what I would have done, if I had a welder and the parts to hand at the time! The R32 needs nice skinny downpipes and the cats for torque.

[Bs6VR6 10]

Thanks for the advice guys, Swift, that looks the business mate, Sadly I don't have a welder and haven't a clue how to weld if I did, be lovely to have the kit and skills but alas.

Just as an update I still haven't heard anything from either United or the Phirm, starting to think this is gunna turn into a total nightmare. Do any united or Dubsport manifolds ever turn up second hand, any other forums worth trying??

 

Cheers,

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

Rarer than hens teeth mate!

[Bs6VR6 10]

Brilliant, cheers Sean, lol. P for positive.

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

Good luck mate!

[Mk3highline 10]

This is my bodge used what we had from the 4mo downpipes didn't have any other pipe so used the extra flexi

Edited January 9, 2015 by Mk3highline

[Bs6VR6 10]

Right, thought I'd give you an update, as im sure your all loosing sleep over my downpipe woes. Anyway, had a call from the Phirm today saying they'd been in contact with United and they will be able to supply the downpipe as advertised for £325 plus postage. 20day wait which I'm not to bothered about. United are gunna call me later to get payment sorted.

It appears then that this problem seems to be resolved, Fingers crossed it arrives safe and up to the job😁!!

 

Max,