Going insane fitting a Blueflame exhaust!

[Antman]

Hello all,
I'm right in the middle of this! Old exhaust is off and the new, Blueflame is on the rubbers. Thing is, there is a 2 - 3 inch gap between it and the cat. The exhaust is as low as it goes on the rubber hangers and lifting the cat towards the exhaust puts the joint at an angle, so they don't meet square on. It also requires a lot of pressure just to get them near eachother. Piccy:



It is as if the top left hanger is too short. I have tried Blueflame three times now and all I get is the answerphone - yes, I left a message   s:) s:)  

Any suggestions?

[Kool PT]

I really do apologise for hijacking but once someone gives you a more helpful response and you get it fitted, would you mind posting a few pictures up of the completed install, either here or in the thread i made a few days ago?

 l viewtopic.php?f=7&t=22889 l

Cheers

[roger]

Not sure, but this might help

http://www.mr2roc.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=21991&hilit=blueflame+fitting

[Antman]

Thanks for the link, Roger. I read this before ordering the exhaust, hoping Chris'  problem was a 'one off'! Guess I was wrong..    s:( s:(

[uktotty]

we had the very same problem with Toms Che exhaust, no amount of fiddling and adjusting made any odds.
Send it back, get one that fits, they are good when they are fitted

[Antman]

Thanks guys - I'm going to have to put the old one back on, as the light's fading and I need the car tomorrow. Thought this would be a reasonably easy job...
I'll ask Blueflame if I can swap it for another and then maybe invite one or two local members over to give me a hand.

[roger]

Don't Blue flame offer fitting (at a price)?

How about discussing it with them and negotiating a free fitting rather than an exchange exhaust - which you might get anyway.   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Having said that you need to fairly sure they are not going to do major surgery to the exhaust or the car without your approval to get it to fit.

[Anonymous]

Excellent ploy; they are responsible for the 'fitness for purpose' of what they supply (ie it's supposed to fucking fit).
Nice one Roger.

[Antman]

Spoke to a tech at Blueflame and he reckons he's fitted hundreds of these to roadsters with no problems and that they are all made on the same jig, so no chance that mine is a dodgy build.

He said to simply lift the cat up to the joint and put in longer bolts than supplied and that the cat flange is supposed to sit at an angle to the exhaust flange, as it's a flex-joint. Then the rubber hangers will 'settle' after a bit of driving and should even things out...

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, just need to take another day off to do the work! Are there any weather men out there that could tell me when it WON'T be raining?   s:) s:)  

On a more serious note, should I go to Halfords for the longer bolts, or is there a known, decent supplier?

Cheers!

Tony

[markiii]

longer bolts won;t have teh correct chamfer to stop them going through too far

it will work but sounds like a bit of a bodge

[Kool PT]

man, this sucks. i hope i don't get a bum deal from them too.

[Antman]

If they are all made on the same jig, Kool PT, I'm afraid you'll probably have the same problem.

FG Rob's twin exit looks great - Rob, any chance you could post a pic of the cat to exhaust joint on yours? Be interested to see how the two surfaces mate up and what bolts were used too.

you too, Chris GB - any pics of this joint? I read your post from a while back and you said there were a few tweeks needed. How did they mate up in the end?

[ekimq]

Are there any weather men out there that could tell me when it WON'T be raining?   s:) s:)  

Tony

I predict that it won't rain the day after you finally sort this exhaust out   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  So hurry up and get on with it - we want to be able to get our tops down again   s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:  

All the best on getting this bl**** exhaust fitted - I know how frustrating working on these kind of things can be - and my scabs have been healed for a couple of weeks now!

[StuM]

you too, Chris GB - any pics of this joint? I read your post from a while back and you said there were a few tweeks needed. How did they mate up in the end?

Hi there,

Might be worth you sending a PM to Chris/Rob - they'll probably get an e-mail notification of this.

Good luck getting it sorted - these type of things are a royal pain in the..

Cheers,
Stu

[fstsven]

When fitting mine we had the exact same problem. Got it solved eventually by connecting it to the cat first, THEN sliding it into the hangers. It took loads of WD-40, loads of swearing and three grown men but in the end it went on... after three hours and litres of sweat    s:? :? s:?

[Antman]

LOL! I didn't know I'd become a member of an exclusive club with this exhaust!

All they need to do is extend the inlet with a 2" piece of straight pipe and the two flanges would meet up perfectly - no stress, no cut fingers and no swearing! If were handy with a welder, I'd do just that.

[ChrisGB]

you too, Chris GB - any pics of this joint? I read your post from a while back and you said there were a few tweeks needed. How did they mate up in the end?

With mine, the issue was that the system was slightly too far to one side (the offside) on fitting. I mated mine to the full PPE setup and the cat does sit a little higher than it did with the Che or stock systems on, but only around 1/2". This could indicate that had I the standard manifold and cat, I may have had a similar problem. What I did was to apply a little "easing" to the hangers and the system now sits perfectly ok. The welding is good, so don't be too worried about having to slightly alter the hangers. Once some easing had been done, the system has not moved on its hangers and it has been well tested  s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:  

Mine will quite possibly be coming off soon to be replaced by a custom made setup. I am going to try and rig something with a couple of carbon fibre silences from PJ Engineering. The PPE / Blueflame combination is a bit loud for my tastes.

Chris

[Kool PT]

Mine will quite possibly be coming off soon to be replaced by a custom made setup. I am going to try and rig something with a couple of carbon fibre silences from PJ Engineering. The PPE / Blueflame combination is a bit loud for my tastes.

You have a PM, regarding a totally different subject that I just happened to think of when I read the above text.

[Anonymous]

FG Rob's twin exit looks great - Rob, any chance you could post a pic of the cat to exhaust joint on yours? Be interested to see how the two surfaces mate up and what bolts were used too.

Hi Antman

Sorry it's taken so long to respond, I've been travelling and only just got back this morning.

OK I can see your problem, the way I got around is was to buy some long stainless steel bolts and double locking nuts, plus large flat washers to compensate for the larger hole diameter in the exhaust flange, I'll measure them for you and take a photo so you will what I mean.

My system was totally custom made by Blueflame, I have removed it for some work I had done, currently it's not connected to the downpipe as I've had to remove that to get at the chassis. I don't run a cat - well except for MOT, but the connection on the SP downpipe is for mounting to the standard exhaust any way - so no real difference.

I'll post the pic's shortly.

Thanks
Rob.

[Antman]

Thanks Chris, I reckon bending (read 'easing') the top, offside hanger upwards a little will help with getting the flanges closer to being parallel to eachother.

Rob - I take it the original springs from the stock bolts have been used? Any recommended suppliers for the s/s bolts, or will Hallfords or B&Q ones do the job?

Look forward to the pics!

[roger]

It still very much looks as though Blueflames spec is out, and therefore I would ask them to do it (or even bettersupply one that does). You shouldn't have to bodge a new bit of kit that's meant to fit. The least of your worries is technically loosing the warranty, the worst is causing damage elsewhere.

Maybe they've never actually fitted one   s:crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: s:crazyeyes:

[Kool PT]

this is pretty insane - we have basically a thread full of 100% fitment issue stories, yet blueflame insist that they have never heard of a fitment issue once. has anybody got any other tales of blueflame correspondance?

[StuM]

Maybe they've never actually fitted one   s:crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: s:crazyeyes:

Apparently, they've fitted "hundreds" of them to Roadsters.  I find that very hard to believe given the number of roadsters out there.

[uktotty]

It still very much looks as though Blueflames spec is out, and therefore I would ask them to do it (or even bettersupply one that does). You shouldn't have to bodge a new bit of kit that's meant to fit. The least of your worries is technically loosing the warranty, the worst is causing damage elsewhere.

Maybe they've never actually fitted one   s:crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: s:crazyeyes:

I have to agree with Roger, this is a NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE situation, they made it, they sold it's its up to them to remedy it.

[Kool PT]

Maybe they've never actually fitted one   s:crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: s:crazyeyes:

Apparently, they've fitted "hundreds" of them to Roadsters.  I find that very hard to believe given the number of roadsters out there.

and each one of them instantly gained +8bhp without any other mods, too - i'm surprised that toyota didn't just change their factory power output spec to 146bhp, they're so common