New Full Throttle Speed Down Pipe does not fit!?

[Daniel Jost]

Well about a year ago I bought a brand new external waste gate down pipe from full throttle, I got the 3" version as I didn't want to hassle with any clearance problems now that I put my A/C/Heat system back in. My old 3.5" pipe fit fine and now I went to the Full Throttle Speed down pipe and when I finally got to the point of installing it tonight it is not even close to fitting. I am getting pretty anxious to get this thing out since it's been in the process of a build for almost 2 years and the weather is beautiful...

Is there something I can try here to make things work? I have tried completely loosening up all the joints of the turbo to move things around to make it fit to no avail. The closest I can get it is in the pictures. It kind of upsets me that I spent $500 on a down pipe so that I could save the time of fabricating one myself and I run into this, I will give them the benefit of the doubt that I'm doing something wrong at this point in time.

Any ideas guys?

Thanks in advance, Dan

 

[baby6]

To my knowledge, that downpipe can pivot on the exhaust housing of the turbo. I had a similar issue with mine, and was able to slide it upwards. Loosen up the allen bolts and see if yours is the same.

 

[Daniel Jost]

I forgot to post that they are stock manifolds still, Precision GT6776S Turbo, and when I went to fit up their test pipe I ordered with it the distance from the pipe to the flange the test pipe goes to on the cat back will be too short it will barely reach the down pipe when touching the flange. It's like the pipe needs to be bent up towards the floor and over towards the transmission to fit.

,Dan

 

[Daniel Jost]

To my knowledge, that downpipe can pivot on the exhaust housing of the turbo. I had a similar issue with mine, and was able to slide it upwards. Loosen up the allen bolts and see if yours is the same.

I already tried it "I have tried completely loosening up all the joints of the turbo to move things around to make it fit to no avail.". This is as far up and over I could pivot it.

Thanks,Dan

 

[Phoneguy]

You are going to have to elongate the holes on the DP flange to get it to pivot, might have to loosen the headers and move all of it at once.

Bryan

 

[trixdout]

That downpipe is the same as the other vendors such as gn1 performance, buickgn.com, and some others sell. As they are when they arrive home they will fit as they do on your car. Directed towards the ground and out towards the side of the car. You can either pivot the pipe by elongating the holes as previously mentioned, or cut the pipe right as it bends coming from the top and get that part rewelded back on at the correct orientation without redrilling the bolt holes on the flange. These are china made pipes, the quality will be sub-par at best.

 

[Daniel Jost]

The header is pivoted already as far as it goes.

I feel I would be over drilling the manifold and DP holes so far to make the turbo fit that it would look shitty and I will know it was done crappy which isn't my style.

I have access to the tools I need to modify or build this pipe from scratch with a better quality gate, and I regret to say that I will not modify the holes in any way or chop up the pipe and re TIG it. If I wanted china quality i'd pay half the price and spend my time modding it to make it fit... I guess il be calling them to figure somethig out tomorrow.

Dan

 

[Phoneguy]

A 1/4" elongation at the DP will move the pipe up quite a bit. I understand what you are saying though. I do not understand why this pipe has not been fixed over the years. Its not hit or miss with this pipe either, it seems like all of them fit the same. I had one back in 2007 from GN1 performance...

Bryan

 

[Daniel Jost]

Yes, the pipe is so far to the left that I would not only have to rig the main pipe holes but I would have to remove the turbo again and hog the stock manifold holes out. That is not the right way to do it. I thought I was buying a quality pipe for $500 and I spent the money from a reputable dealer thinking so, I have bought enough stuff from them working on my car and the other local area TB's I work on, I have faith they will make it right.

,Dan

 

[Daniel Jost]

Well this morning I sent Mike at Full Throttle an email about what I had going on with my DP, he was very fast to reply asking for pictures of what was going on. I sent him pictures and they were just as fast to get back to me and contacted their supplier GN1. I then got a call from GN1 and they pre-fit a pipe for me on a car to make sure it's right and will be sending it out today!

I have to say I am very pleased with the fast response of both companies and this great customer service is what I have come to expect of the turbo buick community vendors. Hopefully I will be up and running by next week.

,Dan

 

[larrym]

I used a die grinder and elongated the holes on the header 3 bolt flange so I could clock the turbo to get mine to fit.
Glad you got yours sorted I was impatient you can't see what I have done unless you pull the turbo.

 

[Flyin Brian]

I had to elongate holes etc on mine to get it to fit. When you get the new one on do yourself a favor and be sure to check the downpipe to upper control arm clearance. Mine was hitting even on small bumps. Did not notice it in time and ended up breaking my old headers. This problem was worse on mine due to alot of shims on my upper control arm which moved the arm inboard and made the clearance issue worse. You may not have this problem but it is a good idea to check.

 

[Daniel Jost]

Thanks Brian,

They aren't on yet in the picture but the car has chromoly front control arms going on so that should not be a problem.

,Dan

 

[TURBOKID]

I had the same problem with gn1 pipes more then just one
There are junk if you ask me but that's why they are cheap

 

[XXQUICK6XX]

That is why I miss ATR.

 

[jim0207]

I went to my local muffler shop and had them bend my DP

 

[blackdeathtrap]

I have an rjc pipe on mine i had to eleongate the holes and i had to replace upper control arms for it to work

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[psycho6cyl]

What really sucks is this is the only external gate available. . hopefully I am wrong but......

 

[TRICKSIXPA]

I don't know about you guys but I never had any luck keeping the cat back portion of the exhaust in the same place. My single shot had to come off and get moved a bit when I did my down pipe. My THDP with Dump was nowhere close to the transmission flange that holds the cat back. the down pipe in the picture looks like it comes out toward the passangerside. You said the distance does not reach but does the general projectory of the pipe head toward the cat back? Maybe a custom test pipe can be made to reach.
you can buy the end flanges from RJC.

 

[TurboDave]

I don't know about you guys but I never had any luck keeping the cat back portion of the exhaust in the same place. My single shot had to come off and get moved a bit when I did my down pipe. My THDP with Dump was nowhere close to the transmission flange that holds the cat back. the down pipe in the picture looks like it comes out toward the passangerside. You said the distance does not reach but does the general projectory of the pipe head toward the cat back? Maybe a custom test pipe can be made to reach.
you can buy the end flanges from RJC.

Are you sure you have a genuine THDP? or a THDP style? The reason I ask is that all the real THDP's that I've seen and installed including mine all fit perfectly, alignment, etc. THDP knock offs that I've seen, all had some minor to major fitment issues.