Tsudo Header in VX220

rabidh

Thanks luna! That looks like a really neat job. Have you got your 2:1 section made up?

I cut off and cleaned up my flanges and Y piece yesterday, I haven't cut my boot yet though. Something seems a bit wrong about cutting a big hole in my beloved car. I think I'm going to need a few beers first! 🙂

I've taken off the heat shield at the back of the boot. I reckon if I cut that up right I can make it cover the sides of the boot a bit less and have enough left to line my ally box properly... I'm going to try doing everything with the clam on the car - anything I should look out for?

I know this is a bit of a homo question, and I'd get shot down on vx220.org.uk for it, but did either of you think about taking this opportunity to fit a boot light? 😃

luna_s

i think you should be able to do it in situ (once you've cut the hole)

i used a grinder on my boot (with 1mm disks) - cuts like butter, actually was my favorite part!

i'm binning that heatshield and covering the bulkhead in glass cloth - i got a massive piece off ebay for not a lot of cash

my y section isnt the best i admit but i guess itll do the job, never bothered dressing it

no boot light, its not a bad idea either wouldnt take a lot to do ,

i'm also thinking of dumping my boot release mechanism and maybe the hinges and using boot pins instead notsure.gif

rabidh

Cheers, it looks good to me 🙂 If someone's got their head that far under the car they probably have other stuff to worry about 😃

good idea about the grinder - I've got some of those disks. They're awesome 🙂

How do you support your exhaust? You don't seem to have a rod on the angle section - or did you add that after? I'm a little worried about supporting the U-bend end... I don't recall anything there.

Is your flange stainless-steel? at the moment i'm thinking i'll stick with just the original 2-holed one between the cat pipe and the U-bend. I'd prefer 3-holed, but I can't find any stainless-steel flanges for a reasonable price, and half the reason I'm changing systems is my current flange is really badly rusted.

I've got a friend doing an MR2-V6 conversion at the moment, and he's scrapping the donor car this week. I'm going to try and grab all the central locking bits off it - if something looks like it'll fit i'll have a go at putting an electric boot-release on. A button that releases the boot only when the ignition is on would mean I can finally leave my car topless without worrying some little bastard is going to steal everything in my boot 🙂

luna_s

its not supported, im thinking of putting a support in, but not sure how neccesary it is, i do have a support on the ubend flange tho (theres a mount for them just usually rusted away into nothing)

the flanges are steel, johnnyn made them for me 😃 once the exhaust is on, i doubt i'll ever take it off. 😃

hrrm good point, i've a few solonoids in the shed - i might try too - only thing im concerned about is the heat affecting it - you have to remove the alarm wiring loom to the boot switch as it is 😃

alanoo

What is the outlet size on the stock Y piece coming with the Tsudo ? notsure.gif

rabidh

I think vocky reckoned his was 2.25", but my one seems to be 2.5" (although if it is the inside diameter then it could be a very close fit).
I'll find out when the bits of tube arrive later this week 😉

rabidh

IT'S IN!!!
Finally!!! I have to apologise for my welding - it's the first big thing I've done, and I couldn't get a decent job with my ARC or TIG, so I had to use MIG which i've never done before - and then I had to re-weld over the old ARC weld :S

Biiiig hole in boot. I cut it big enough that I could fit everything without having to take the clam off.

The cover for the boot - made of bent + riveted aluminium, and covered in carpet and the original VX heat-shielding. After a 30 mile drive my heat shielding just melted though, so back to the drawing board there!!!

With the cover on...

The modded exhaust. The first pipe was cut, and a 2.5" fitting added (not shown) so I can just clamp the u-bend in. we also cut holes in the final separator to allow increased airflow to the tailpipes. Pretty embarrasing holes though as I just turned the arc welder up to 120A and blew the holes with it!

The finished cat pipe with a 200 cell magnaflow, and 2.5" all the way through.

Fitted with 2.5" u-bend

Under car, all fitted - I still have to fit my O2 sensor faker for after the cat though...

I tried to pressure test everything, but I ran out of Argon/CO2 mix to weld and it was a nice day so I didn't finish sorting the 2:1 section out and went for a drive instead 8) It blows a bit under hard acceleration, but it sounds awesome and splutters on the overrun. I'm not sure about power yet because I've been driving the vec for 3 weeks - it was always going to seem stupidly quick. It's definitely much much easier to loose traction in 2nd though, and the engine management won't have adjusted yet! :evil:

Vocky: what did you do about the boot switch? I've left mine out at the moment - it was so close it looked like it would get absolutely fried!

luna_s

that looks great thumbup

vocky and me binned the switch 😃

did you reroute the release mechanism so it goes over the top of the gearbox, eg reroutes the other way ?

rabidh

Ahh. I knew you guys had re-routed, but I wasn't sure where... I actually wrapped it in that shiny aluminium tape and moved it right down against the subframe (in the same position). It'll still get pretty warm there though.

I've got a central locking thing I salvaged so when I get some time I planned to remove the cable and do it electrically - at least then I can make sure no-one can open it without the ignition on.

I'm toying with the idea of just sticking gun gum around the offending area of exhaust to stop it blowing for now. Any idea how hard it would be to remove when I got around to actually taking the 2:1 section out and re-welding?

rabidh

Did you weld on a hanger for the u-bend end of the cat pipe? I noticed the rusty remains of a hanger when I went to put the new cat pipe in - I never even knew there was one before!!

luna_s

i was going to go the solenoid route too, but rerouting the cable was easier, and works well 😃
itll be a pain to live with if you have to have the ignition on to open it ?

i used fireputty, should just grind or wirebrush off ? - i had a nightmare finding leaks in my welding - tried allsorts (i used a light source inside while being in a darkened room etc) - think i've finally managed it.

my hanger was intact, infact it was really usefull and handy to line everything up properly 😃

rabidh

Having to have ignition on would be a bit of a pain, but I think i'd prefer to be able to leave valuables in the boot when the roof is off 🙂

I'm glad i'm not the only one that had leaks then 😉 I duck-taped up all the flanges and then put an air-line in and checked for air coming out with my hands. I was there for hours with an angle-grinder and welder - and it obviously still leaks!! 🙂

I guess I should make a new hanger then... I never liked the way the 180 bend was holding the silencer in the right position! It seems rock solid at the moment though 🙂

luna_s

the hanger is only a bit of round bar and a flat plate, seems like they disintegrate on everyones cars!

i had leaks at the flanges too, i sourced some gaskets and used fireputty on them also

ive still not bothered with the hanger at the bend, might get round to that someday!

alanoo

Yep flanges on the Tsudo/weaponR are absolut crap

rabidh

I actually got a full gasket set with mine 🙂 It probably is leaking there because i couldn't get the 2 middle bolts in - I need to have it out and re-drill it so there is just a single bolt in the middle.

The main issue for me was welding the flexis to the flange. Having done it with the ARC first meant it wasn't very good, but I couldn't easily grind it back because the flexi is made of tissue paper 🙁

Just been to Tescos and bought some fibreglass water tank insulation 🙂 The original VX stuff has bowed out and is making all kinds of horrific burning smells now.

Is it my engine (I haven't done the FPR mod yet but my inlet is almost stock) but the exhaust burbles constantly? Even if you're not accelerating you hear it burbling, but if you lift off it's crazy. It's lovely and quite addictive, but it must mean the engine is running super-rich

luna_s

my boot shield is quad layer, layer of aluminium , then glass cloth, etc, it still gets silly hot!

does your car smell rich ?

nickb777

Nice job cheers..

rabidh

Thanks! The pipe benders I used kept breaking their machine bending my 2.5" pipe... I think they had set the radius too tight, but the two 90 degree bits I got before their machine finally died do fit together really nicely for the U bend. Just a shame about the welding 😉

I'm not really sure what richness smells like. It does smell a bit more petroly than I would have expected (before all this the exhaust almost smelt like you could breathe it). My current guess is that on idle or when I lift off, fresh air gets sucked through a hole in the pipe somewhere and that dilutes the air and makes the ECU think the car is running leaner than it actually is. I took the vac pipe off the FPR yesterday evening in case, but no real difference so far. I did have my first ever pop from the exhaust though 8)

Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to tell if my fuel economy has gone down, because I've been driving everywhere at 4000rpm and randomly accelerating 🙂

It's a bit of a shame the exhaust is behind really. The kit car had the exhaust running right by the side of me, and every time it popped at night you'd see this massive blue flame shoot out near your elbow 🙂

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