Downpipes

[pete2144]

sorry if its been covered before, but can the downpipes be removed without an engine drop?

Cheers...

[IanH755]

Yeap but with a warning!

You have to drop the subframe first to get access to the nuts and what normally happens is a stud or two may shear on the turbos which is replaceable in-situ for 3 out of the 4 studs. However, there is a single stud that, if it shears, is NOT replaceable in-situ and will require the engine dropping to replace it.

Now the chance of that 1 stud being the one to break is fairly small but there still that small chance that it could happen!

[pete2144]

Hmmm thanks will have a think about that...

[IanH755]

Don't get me wrong, it's not going to happen 100% of the time and it's very rare for that single stud to be the one to break (the other replaceable ones are much more common) but I'd make sure you have "engine removal" money on standby just in case!

[pete2144]

lol yeah

[rs6_sid]

to be honest touch wood iv never had a stud snap on me although i haven't done an rs6 but they are all similar.

i have a few tricks that minimise the risks of snapping them

1 you may swear a lot but one is get the nut hot and it will come out easy but you can burn your hands doing so
2 a penetration fluid called plusgas which kerosene based and works wonders it works 10x better than the likes of wd40

i am looking at doing downpipes my self its just getting added to my list of this i need to do my pipe of parts is quickly stacking up !

[pete2144]

I'm sure they'll be ok, its just a real PITA if one does snap...

[Jim Haseltine]

2 a penetration fluid called plusgas which kerosene based and works wonders it works 10x better than the likes of wd40

That's because WD40 isn't primarily a penetration fluid - it's a water displacing anti corrosion product which due to its formula wicks into minute gaps and has some lubricating properties. As a penetrant it's not much better than petrol or meths.
It'll remove sticky stuff and clean plastic better than anything else I've tried though.

[don0301]

I had mine done at Demand Engineering as part of a complete custom exhaust system.

Took him several days , and he snapped 2 bolts, which we had agreed before work started to pay an extra £100 per broken stud.

Couldn't be happier with the work they did or the exhaust they made me

[pete2144]

I will probably get it done and hope for the best...