Just got my Stainless works catless dp in
 

I didnt have a chance to take any pictures of the dp because i have a friend that owns an exhaust shop and he hooked me up on the install so i didnt have to deal with doing it on jackstands. the dp looks just like it did in the pictures shown both on the website and specvspeedfriek's threads.

Now to the true review, the quality control of the dp was not top notch but i still believe that its not worth spending over 100 dollars more on a higher quality unit. when inspecting the dp we quickly noticed that there was a spot missed while welding the flex pipe on and worst of all the flange that goes to the turbo was very warped and nowhere close to being able to seal. we ended up welding a big bead around where the flange was welded to the dp and ran it on the surfacing wheel. we ended up getting the flange pretty flat on all the sealing surfaces then we just used a little silicone on the gasket to make sure it wouldnt leak. the box did come with the extended o2 bung and i have not had any check engine light problems at all. there are no leaks or rattles now and the car sounds great. all in all i feel like you get what you pay for when buying most things and dont think that making this dp up to par would cost the average person on here anymore than 20 dollars. i wish i could have taken pictures but i wanted to take advantage of the open lift at the shop and didnt have time to go get my camera.

so you had to do machine shop work (welding) in order to get this piece to function properly?

x2

sounds like proper fitment might start to cost some $$$ or @ least a fair amount of time/effort.

if i get one, i AM gonna install it in my driveway. i guess it won't be stainless works.

Grats on the DP mang.

Having to modify your modification sounds a bit sketchy though...I'm glad it worked out for you. Even though it sounds like you saved some cash, I'll still plan on paying more for the CPE piece because I don't have much experience with welding...and wouldn't want a shop to touch my piece unless I knew their work was quality (I don't have that connection unfortunately).

when you can get some pics.. i will sent it to SW...I want to make sure if its installer error or the unit it self. cause no one, not even me have had a problem. You should not weld to correct anything. these units are made by machine in jigs so unless the machine is off it would be something that the installer did. Im glad to hear everything worked out ok but when you can post some pics. I am behind there product 100% and so are they. let us know..

they dont visually inspect these?:15:

i didnt take any pics before or during the install so there is no way i can get a pic of the warped flange. it looked as if it was warped from welding too hot around the flange. also there was a missed spot where the flex pipe is welded in so they had to fix that. i am now getting a hesitation in 3rd gear and up. it doesnt feel like a boost cut, i am not hearing any detonation and i dont have any CEL's. my friend has a dashhawk and is going to datalog my car later tonight so we can see where my vitals are at. my only mod is a ms cai besides the dp.

and to answer a couple of your questions simply, yes i had to do machine work and welding to make this product function properly.

Personally, I'd pay the extra $100 to avoid the scrotum pain of having to do what you did to get it to work, but that's just me and I don't have the time to take a dump these days, nevermind fuck with a downpipe I spent $400 on to get it to work right. Of course if you have the equipment to do a quick fix, that's another story.

If you didn't touch anything other than the exhaust, you might be hitting fuel cut with your new catless dp. Did you reset your ECU after you installed your DP? Make sure to ease into a mod of this degree (No significant boost/baby her for at least a few hundred miles so the ECU doesn't freak out). Get that DH log done quick after reset/break-in mileage, and stay out of boost save the DH log until you figure wtf is going on. Hesitation = Pulled Timing = Knock = Damage.

Have you had the Fuel Pump TSB performed?

Warped flange? That must have sucked to make work.

I did the datalog and am showing up to 6 degrees of knock. i am staying out of boost for now and yes i did already reset the ecu right after the install. i am going to put colder plugs in my car tomorrow and check all of my inlet clamps to make sure i am not getting any unregistered air in the system. i have had the hpfp bulletin done and my fp is holding strong at 1700 psi. my afr's are running rich at 14.8 at the highest. my boost spikes to about 17 and holds at in the 15's. i was not getting any hesitation before i filled my tank up so i am thinking i might have gotten a bad tank of fuel. i run mobil 91 octane fuel and has always been great for me but i am going to wait until i burn about a half tank or so and throw in 5 gallons of race fuel to see if it still knocks.

The warped flange was easy to deal with because i have access to any tool you could fathom. i am really into off road racing and am a co-driver in a class 9 buggy. through these connections i could easily make anything work. the warped flange might be something people didnt actually check with a straight edge and just put on without noticing. if i put it in myself i probably would have been too excited to care and just put it in without checking.

i dont know how you even got a warped flange to bolt up. I mean even when you angle the DP a few mm wrong the bolts will not go thru the hole. I remember when i installed mine i thought the flange part to the turbo was not flush .. then i wiggled it a bit and i got it in the place.

..savings are more than a 100. price on the DP is 375. but unfortunately stuff like this happens. and really you cant say for sure that its the DP without pics. SW has high quality control. in saying that i am not taking sides. wish there were pics.
.. people get very easily discouraged when they see stuff like this and start bashing very quick.. I can show you mine and you can see how it was spot on.

read your post after i wrote mine. dont worry about answering it lol

I feel like the best way to give a review is a completely honest one. i am around welding and fabrication on almost a daily basis and know quite a bit about it. i am sure the jig was set up perfect but whoever was welding it did not do it properly. there should have been small one inch sections welded at a time at different spots around the flange and eventually converging into one. the reason it warped was because someone welded all the way around the flange without stopping much or at all and it got too hot and warped.

spec did you take a straight edge to your dp flange before installing it on the car?

there is no person welding. everything is done by lasers and computers... and that is why i had my doubts... but you know best since you had the product.
... and i did not ... but it doesnt leak and its flush

If all the welds are indeed done by laser, I don't see how the piece could have become so hot as to warp the entire flange. Heat is very localized during laser welding. I use an NdYag to hermetically weld seal aluminum enclosures at work...and you are able to pick them up with a bare hand right after the weld is completed, and they only weigh 100 grams or so and see a good deal of pulse height from a 15.7 KW laser head. Granted it is aluminum, not stainless, and the cover material is only 30 mils thick with a 20 mil beam width. But the amount of energy you are able to deliever with laser welding seems inadequate for heating up the entire mass of the flange to such a degree.

It must be another processing flaw, unless someone who has experience welding THIS type of material using a laser source can say otherwise.

If you guys want any pictures let me know, we have them sitting here on the shelf. Not only that but I think we have the only SS flanged unit that mate up to the turbo as well. All stainless steel FTW!

I would pay the extra $100 also and just get a cpe or cobb. You pay for what you get imo

yo sachin whats up dude its Cameron. Yo your car sounds good with the DP on and the resonator cut out. I think once you get some plugs and maybe a tune you will be dialed. That knock was fucking scary I couldnt believe my eyes. 6.0KR at WOT at one point=fail.

I ordered the plugs already and an air straightener. i am hoping to get an AP in about a month or two. the car has been figuring itself out and has been running better. i have pretty much burned through my tank of fuel so now i am gonna fuel up with some 76 91oct this time and see if i just got a bad tank of fuel.

ya dude plugs will help alot, that air straightener will do wonders and smooth your car out alot. AP will get you that POWAH!

Today i put the plugs in my car, did the coil plug stretch mod, made my MSCAI a short ram and put the AEM air straightener in it, and made sure my air straightener was tight. The car seems to knock a lot more when its cold out but during the day its almost nothing. The worst thing of the day was i got a check engine light, i believe it was P0421 which was for the preliminary cat bank one. i cleared it and it has not come back yet but i was definitely bummed to see that come on. honestly i am really starting to regret not just spending the money on a CPE downpipe that i know would not have had any issues. (i understand the knock problem would have been the same)