Fitting new Y piece

[fog66]

Hi, I'm going to be fitting one of Clive F's Y pieces and the instructions say it can be swapped without dropping the exhaust, just undoing the clamp from underneath and the V clamps at the manifold and then with a wiggke and pull, voila. My question is does this translate to peoples actual experience of removing the Y piece? I'd prefer not to remove the whole exhaust if necessary.

Any other tips gratefully received, many thanks.

Phil

[Smokey Boyer]

Yes in theory that is all you need to do.

Undo and remove the the 2 manifold clamps at the top. Remove the clamp at the bottom. This releases the Y piece so it can be wiggled. You have limited wiggle room between the manifolds, and the chassis rails, but it will eventually come out. You may also need to remove the bolt that holds the main exhaust to the block (near the bottom clamp) to give you a little more room, but leave this in place until you have got the Y-Piece moving.

There is a surprising amount of Y-Piece pipe inside the exhaust pipe. My biggest issue was that the U clamp around the bottom of the Y piece had been over tightened at some point in the past almost forming a groove that made removing the Y difficult. If you can get someone to help, it is much easier to push and pull the Y-Piece between you while you wiggle it out.

The new Y-Piece goes in much easier as the cat box section is far smaller. However, before fitting it back in, take a chance to check and clean up the joint faces on the manifold

There is a chance that the manifolds might not easily meet the Y on both sides, and some people have to use a ratchet strap around the manifolds to just squeeze them in slightly.

[Richard 858]

in my experience it'll very much depend on the length of your exhaust pipe. Mine is too long to be able to change the Y piece without undoing it completely and pulling the whole thing back a few inches, I guess it's just down to the luck of the draw. However, I'm pretty sure you'll find that Clive's Y fits better then the original, at least where it meets the manifolds.

[pac1uk]

I had to drop the exhaust when I did mine, which isn't too bad; the U clamp, the bolt on the block and the 6 bolts at the rear box.

I found an extra pair of hands was needed to align the Y piece while putting the manifold clamps back on.

Well worth the effort and really lifts the engine bay.

[as400]

What advantage is there to fitting this?...does it change the noise level?...better performance?

[mk1fan]

If you CAT has gone then you can't get new factory items so aftermarket is your only option.

Clive's stuff is superb. While slightly more costly than others, when set side by side, you'd think one was twice the price of the other. Functionally, probably marginal gains with Clive's stuff. It is a shame that his stuff gets hidden away.

He also offers 'sports' CATs which flow better.

[Belle427]

Probably good for a couple of bhp as it will flow better than the original, looks good too. His systems are a work of art.
Can give a tinny type noise up front which some don`t like but you cant really hear it really when your out driving.

[sixor8]

There's an article in Sprint (I was shown, I don't subscribe) detailing Clive F now doing manifolds and Y pieces both with and without cats. Not cheap (over £1600 for manifolds I think, from memory) but is an option for new rather than used.

[clive f]

Thanks for the kind comments, if you check pricing I think you`ll find that my pricing is very very competitive on things like decat pipes and cat y pieces for standard manifolds.

in fact a quick check and my decat pipe is still under £500 delivered in the UK and a catted y piece to fit standard manifolds is well under £1k, why pay more?

Edited by clive f on Wednesday 27th August 10:47

[baconsarney]

Reality check, performance manifolds for my Vantage are just over £8k the pair inc vat.

[clive f]

arent those made from Inconel though thats classed as a precious metal, a tad expensive!!

[as400]

So if your car has Clive's Y in at MOT time it will fail due to:

A) Too noisy

or

B) Emissions too high?

[clive f]

as400 said:

So if your car has Clive's Y in at MOT time it will fail due to:

A) Too noisy

or

B) Emissions too high?

A car running without a catalytic convertor will fail an mot on emissions testing, and one should never fit a decat pipe and leave the precats in the manifolds, total waste of time, I know some think its going to work but really whats the point, its like unblocking the drain outside but not unblocking the kitchen sink lol.

changing over from a cat to decat pipe takes just over an hour, so not the end of the world come mot time, and when getting a decat pipe dont sell your cat, it will be needed later on lol.

[Belle427]

Think I could have swapped mine over in 30 minutes or even less really so not a huge issue.

[mk1fan]

as400 said:

So if your car has Clive's Y in at MOT time it will fail due to:

A) Too noisy

or

B) Emissions too high?

You need to realise that Clive does both de-CAT and CAT'd replacement 'Y'. As has been said by others, any deCAT'd car should fail an MOT emissions test.

[Gary TVR]

Isn't it possible to just clean out the guts of the pipes, and reuse the cleaned out exterior? I did that to my 280i.

[clive f]

yes it is, a few have done this but the car ends up sounding like a Massey Ferguson coming up the road, the y piece becomes a big empty dustbin, gas flow slows down, not an ideal solution

[Sardonicus]

clive f said:

yes it is, a few have done this but the car ends up sounding like a Massey Ferguson coming up the road, the y piece becomes a big empty dustbin, gas flow slows down, not an ideal solution

Agreed ends up being a bit or a Mickey Mouse 2 stroke expansion chamber

[sixor8]

A friend of mine bought a Chimaera 500 that had been sleeved, AND decatted. Sounded awful, IMHO, tractor-like is pretty accurate. Acceptable with the catted Y piece back in.

My Griff 500 has had the pre-cats removed by a previous owner years ago, the main one is in place and the rear silencer sleeved. It's louder than standard, but acceptable, to me, anyway. The noise is mostly behind you on the move.