Well I've decided on the Longlife system with the stainless welded onto the short steel manifold sections for £450 fitted.
I phoned a couple of other Longlife branches to get quotes and the both also proposed the same setup attaching to the existing manifold pipes, although with much higher prices (one £110 more and the other £300 more).
I'm not brave enough to attempt fitting myself so a one stop shop was necessary. They are going to examine the manifold section carefully to ensure it is in good condition and I have specified painting the finished stubs / stainless section with high temperature paint for added protection.
It is booked in next Monday, so I'll report back next week.
Picked up the van complete with the new 304 Stainless Steel exhaust from Longlife in Birmingham.
The existing carbon steel manifold was examined and found to be solid so the SS was welded to it and high temp paint applied for added protection. In Longlife's experience the manifold section Rarely is a problem as condensation does not occur in this area.
An all in price of £450 seems more than fair to me.
I have just bought a VW Speed shop system as per =
I got it new off a guy on ebay for £80 less than the list price
Reckon I will have to trust my local(ish) T25 friendly garage to do it (they know about the stud issues). I don't really fancy lying in the road wrestling with studs in this current weather !
So the silencer just "hanging" on the pipes is OK then ?
Trundler wrote:I too fitted the VW Speedshop item. It cost my £438 plus £252 to have it fitted at a local garage (2 studs had to be drilled out and replaced).
It's now been on for 21 momths and 20,000 miles and it's still great! Sounds brilliant and the silencer is still shiny too! Money well spent I reckon.
Mine too matey..... and no supporting 'brackets' on my early DG engine either
1.9 DG Bilbos 'Arragon' Hitop LPG'd by Gasure
1.9 TDi Golf Mk4 Estate
Member no 3288
Trundler and Ghost - re towbar:
When I bought the Speedshop system I had spoken to the company and they (as far as they could over phone) were able to say that it was designed to be accomodated in the standard spaces around the flat four, including towbar area. When I fitted it the system to my van I removed the towbar (just made it easier for fitting) and when I refitted towbar I found that it just touched the exhaust at the offside end of the silencer. With engine vibration and the (very small amount of) exhaust 'shake' there would soon have been a hole worn into the silencer! I got around this by grinding off a few mm of the towbar and repainting it. It's such a heavy duty bar, and the location of this fix was such that it does not impact on the integrity and strength of the bar itself. These two pics will probably come out a bit small due to my old camera settings, but you will get the idea. If you need any others, or measurements, just shout. . .
1.9 DG Bilbos 'Arragon' Hitop LPG'd by Gasure
1.9 TDi Golf Mk4 Estate
Member no 3288