Thaddeus

What a beautifully made piece! The workmanship appears to be top-notch.

I'll let you all know how hard it is to install next weekend. this weekend, I'm just going to drive... can't bear to take the car out of service while we're having good weather. Too busy with other things to do a big garage push this weekend anyway.

cheers

Thaddeus

goodspeed928

BBRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Mark

I KNOW you will be tempted...so just DO IT - Once the X-over is installed, befor hooking up the rest of the exhaust...start her up....ain't NO BWAAAH like it! (There'll be car alarms going off 2 blocks away!)

Ispeed

I know that an S4 with X pipe and Rmb is loud, but how loud is it? Is it streetable that way? It's got to sound good- but too loud for the street or what??? I need to hear one in person.

Old & New

Any Ott pipes up here in New England? I'd like to check one out, too. If the car could squeak by on the yearly motor vehicle inspection, maybe I'd like to lose the cats. No friggin' way I'm spending thousands on a custom high flow cat system if it would pass without them... sorry, greenies, go picket a powerplant - or a volcano.

JKelly

Thaddeus, I received mine the same day as you (the 24th) and installed it yesterday. We agreed to compare notes, so here's how my day went: What I thought was going to be a 2 hour (or less) job turned out to be 8. It was done on a garage floor with ramps under the front and several 2x6's under the rear. First, that odd little piece of **** Porsche jack slipped and put a nice 3/4" gouge on the side of my car down low....I noticed that this must have happened with the previous owner too because there was another touched up mark that was identical to the one I just made in about the same place. So the whole day started bad. Once I got the car up, I started by loosening the heat shield above the cats. I then had to break the bolts that hold the cat-back part of the exhaust on. That was o.k. though because the x-pipe comes with its own bolts/clamps. I put a bottle jack under the two pipes that go back and loosened the air pump plumbing. I then loosened the cats from the headers. WD40 helped with the bolts. I slowly lowered the cats down to inspect the O2 sensor wire length. The wires just crumbled and fell apart. Somebody had previously spliced in a sensor and the crimps/wires corroded to pieces - uh oh. I slid the cats off of the rear pipes without having to unhook the rest of the exhaust and got on Rennlist to find a "quick fix" O2 sensor. I then went to Pep Boys and bought a Bosch 13913 3-wire sensor for $44.00. It had a different plug on it so I cut it off and spliced it onto the good portion of the remaining wires underneath the car. So now, everything was a go..........so it seemed. When I tried to slide the back part of the x-pipe onto the remaining exhaust I discovered that the x-pipe pipes were about an 1 1/4 farther apart. It wouldn't just slide on.....oh no. I had to take off the rest of the exhaust (pipes and rear muffler) and unbolt the middle muffler hanger to get the x-pipe on. After it was on, I had to use a furniture clamp to squeeze the exhaust pipes close enough together again to bolt the muffler hanger back on......I thought this was ridiculous. By now I was thoroughly pissed at everything; even at the grasshopper that kept jumping around underneath the car trying to find its way out (literally) lol. I managed to drag the exhaust back under the car and hook the muffler back on the muffler hangers. I supported the exhaust pipes and x-pipe with a bottle jack while I bolted up the x-pipe onto the headers. There was a small heat shield on the drivers side header that would not fit back on now. If you have this same little heat shield, you will see what I mean. The way the x-pipe is constructed will not let it go back on without modifying it. The drivers side was no problem getting the bolts back in, but leave them loose until you get the other side hooked up. The other side.........one hole lined up just fine, but the other two were off by one or two degrees. I couldn't believe it I was going apesh!t by now. There could only be two reasons that the two bolts would not go through 1. The end of the header was twisted slightly (not bent, but actually twisted), which I doubt or 2. the x-pipe end piece was welded a degree or two off. Anyway, I had a couple of stainless steel bolts that were about 2 mm smaller in diameter than the originals and they fit through.
Finally, after many hours, everything was tightened up so I turned the key. The exhaust note wasn't quite what I had expected, but it will have to do. My first impression was that it sounded a little raspy. I got back under the car while it was running and felt around the ends of the x-pipe for leaks. I had to readjust the rear clamps. Then, the air pump started whistling loud.........so that is where I am at. I have to deal with the air pump now. I drove the car around a little bit anyway and I somewhat like the sound, but I really like how the torque curve seems to be smoothed out a little. It could just be the new 02 sensor though (?). I'll have to "fix" the air pump and drive it around a little more before I can give a good critique. In a positive note, the car definetly seems to breath better . The install thoroughly sucked for me and I truly hope yours goes MUCH better.

doug928

John,

I had a similar misalignment when installing my ott x-pipe. What I did was insert a drift pin in one of the bolt holes and pull the two pieces into alignment then installed the bolt. They weren’t out by much but just enough to not allow one bolt to pass though. I would also suggest, Thaddeus, to inspect the condition of your O2 sensor before the install – I put a new one in. I put in the high flow cats and disconnected the air pump belt since the new cats supposedly do not need the air hookup. I’ll see in Oct when I have to get an emissions test done. I also replaced the gaskets and the bolts with new SS ones. I temporarily connected the whole set up to the old exhaust system but plan on having a new 2.5” exhaust fab’d up and installed (after I fix my tranny leak). I think as currently installed it sounds great.

Doug

Jim R.

Doug,

Do you still have the RMB on with the new cats and x-pipe? Also, how long did the install take on the S-4? I've got to check it out one of these weekends.

Jim R.

goodspeed928

Any Ott pipes up here in New England?
Me!

doug928

Jim

yes I still have the RMB installed. I don't recall how long the whole install took but I would have to say no more than 5 hours. Removing the old cats was the hardest part. fortunately the 1/2" impact drive makes this easier. I've already disassembled the system again since I have been trying to trouble shoot tranny leak. I do have the x-pipe and cats loosly attached now and am awaiting a new gasket ( hope to have it tomorrow) so that I can get shark back on the road.

P.S. I don't think you need to do this but I took off the entire exhaust system first - it made it easier to remove the rear exhaust section from the old cats. Held it up with some jack stands. Let me know when you want to check it out.

Doug

Thaddeus

Just got back from camping, so a tardy thank you.. Thanks for all the insight, guys! John, I'm sorry you had such a rough time but hopefully I'll have an easier one because of your blazing the trail...I can deal with a 6 hour marathon-- if I know it going in.

I have an impact wrench too... heh heh. No idea what stae my O2 sensor's in, though... time to reconnoiter.

BTW, if you folks ever want to camp in Minnesota, try Tetegouche (sp?) State Park. GORGEOUS. There's some terrific waterfalls there, views of Lake Superior, and tall stands of paper-bark birches everywhere...

SHRKBIT

John, regarding fit--my mechanic installed Louie's crossover on my '86.5. He didn't complain about the fit, so it couldn't have been too difficult for him. The air pump or diverter valve started trumpeting, we silenced it by disconnecting and capping the vacuum line to the diverter valve. It passed WA emissions this year, first attempt, plenty of room to spare.

About the raspy exhaust note, I'm not sure an '85-'86 engine is going to sound as smooth as the S4 engine. My frankenstein exhaust--stock manifold, crossover, no middle resonators, stock rear muffler--is pretty blatty at 2500 ropm but turns to an outright wail as it drives to redline. At first I was appalled at the noisy beast we created. Then I acclimated to the new sound. Now I downshift for jersey barriers and tunnels so I can enjoy their sound reflection characteristics. One of the best sounds comes off-throttle. Why doesn't it sound more like an S4? I don't know, but I'd like to know.

BTW, I didn't bother with a "before" dyno run, but the after was pretty good: 287 rwhp/286 lb-ft torque.

Curt

Jim_H

O & E,

Takes no more than an hour to switch back to stock. I go back to stock for DEQ, then X Pipes for the next 2 years.

drnick

my mechanic also reported a mis-alignement. nothing too major but he thought the jig used to fabricate the pipe might be out. im running with the ott-pipe and rmb and it is louder than before, mostly at lower rpm ie from just off idle to about 2500. after that it is very nice and sweetest right around 4000, both opening and closing the throttle.

id like to reduce some of the low rpm resonance as it renders in car conversation impractical unless pussyfooting the throttle.

Jim bailey - 928 International

My GUESS is the jig / fixture is correct HOWEVER when you weld on tubing the weld pulls on the metal and puts the pipes under tension. When it is removed from the fixture it then "bends" and releases the tension . When installing you must then apply enough force to line up the flanges at the exhaust manifolds. The thickness and heat off the weld will cause it to shrink more or less.