Once in awhile a topic comes up in the forums where someone is asking about VRS exhausts. It seems not many people have these exhausts, so a lot of questions go un-answered. Here is a how to on installing a 2.5 inch VRS turbo back exhaust on a 2g FWD turbo, and at the end a little feedback about the exhaust.
First of all, you will need to get the car off the ground so that you have room to work under it. When doing mine, I only jacked up one end of the car at a time (front then back) depending where I was working at the time. You may find it easier to get the car up on all 4 corners, whatever works for you. I will explain how I did it, if you know an easier way to work in your driveway, go for it.
After getting the car high enough to work underneith, you will need to remove the ENTIRE stock exhaust system from under the car. I wont go into too much detail about this, because this is an install how-to, not stock exhaust removal. Its pretty straight forward though so you shouldnt have too much trouble. If you purchased the new exhaust straight from VRSExhaust.com, leave all the stock exhaust hangers in place, they, for the most part, line up good.
Once your stock exhaust is removed from under the car, start by installing the new downpipe. I cleaned the bottom of the o2 housing first to make it smooth for better sealing on the gasket. I also cleaned the downpipe alittle to insure a tight seal. I installed the new gasket and re used the old nuts which are 19mm. The downpipe has slotted holes to fit with the stock, or an aftermarket o2 housing.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img422.imageshack.us/img422/5208/vrs19et.jpg" border="0" width="225" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
As you can tell by this picture, I have only the front half of the car jacked up and supported by jackstands. This worked pretty well for me. Also notice the entire stock exhaust has been removed from the car.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/3486/25ht.jpg" border="0" width="320" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
The downpipe lined up pretty well with the direction it was supposed to be headed. The next step is to clean the surface where it mounts to the catalytic converter. I used a magnaflow high-flow cat on this install, also purchased from VRS so there was no problems, and no size changes.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img445.imageshack.us/img445/9616/39ls1.jpg" border="0" width="188" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
Bolts and nuts came with the downpipe to bolt up to the cat. A new gasket was also supplied. You may notice the 2.5" inch exhaust clamp on the cat, I added this to create my own exhaust hanger in this area. On the stock exhaust there is a hanger at the front of the cat, this one does not have that. It may not be needed, but I installed if for extra strength. I later made brackets that bolted to the exhaust clamp there.
Next, I removed the jack stands from the front of the car and let it sit on the ground again. I then took the next 2 peices of the exhaust (straight peice and the "s" curve peice and assembled them. I started by cleaned the surface where the straight pipe connects to the cat (for better sealing). After this I installed the new rear o2 sensor I had purchased from another vendor. I then put some anti-seize on the end of thi straight pipe, as it is a slip fit to the rear S curve peice. I then slid the S curve onto the straight pipe as far as it would go.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/2066/40gt.jpg" border="0" width="225" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
After this, I knocked the metal gromets out of the original exhaust hanger rubber peices. I removed this one from under the car just to show you what I removed. This was to let the new exhaust hangers fit through the rubber. You do not need to remove the hanger like I did, this is to show what must be done only.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/9212/58ib1.jpg" border="0" width="300" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
At this point, I jacked up just the driver side of the car and supported it with jackstands. I then slid this section of the exhaust under the car and bolted it to the back of the cat with a new gasket that was included with the exhaust system. I had to find some bolts and nuts for this peice, since it seems they were not included. The rear hanger on the straight pipe as well as the S curve line up with the oem rubber hangers. You may find that the S curve is "pulling" the rear hanger towards the front of the car, or pushing it towards the back. This picture shows it pulling towards the front of the car:
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/5831/62zs.jpg" border="0" width="300" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
If this happens, more then likly the s curve is slid onto the straight pipe too far. Of course if it is pushing the hanger back it may be not on far enough. Adjust it by sliding it off a little, or on a little farther. After sliding it to where it should be on the straight pipe, you can install the 2.5" exhaust clamp over the slip joint. The clamp was included with the exhaust system. Please note in this picture there is a small thin peice of metal hanging from the hanger. This was some sort of shield on the stock exhaust. I removed it right after the picture was taken. It is not needed.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/8062/71vr.jpg" border="0" width="300" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
Before moving on, I reconnected my o2 sensor wire. There is a how to here on dsmtuners on replacing this. Follow that for installing the new o2 sensor.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/3513/83sc.jpg" border="0" width="225" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
The last step of the install was to put the back section in. The rear hangers from the old muffler worked good for hanging the new muffler on.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/3923/93eb.jpg" border="0" width="300" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
Once that was in place, I bolted the pipe to the back of the S curve pipe. This connection was a ball style, where one end of the pipe is expanded, and the other is rounded to fit inside. There are 2 long bolts included with the exhaust, as well as nuts for them. This is where they belong.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/8711/992ch.jpg" border="0" width="225" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
Now that the exhaust was installed, I pulled out the jackstands and started the car up. Please note, the exhaust will more then likly smell for a little while after it gets hot. This is because of any oil/grease that got on it, as well as any coating that was put on to stop rust in storage/shipping.
The tip of the muffler had a nice curve on it, so the exhaust exited straight out the back of the car even though the muffler was coming up and over on an angle.
IGNORE MY DIRTY REAR BUMPER!
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/2459/finished2yj.jpg" border="0" width="400" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
THE REVIEW
This is being written exactly one week after the install.
It has been one week since I installed the exhaust, and I have since then driven approx. 200 miles.
Ordering, Price, Shipping: all went well. I ordered straight from VRS, and paid via paypal which I found to be a nice payment option as I use paypal very often and feel safe paying that way. I ordered a 2.5 inch downpipe, 2.5 high flow cat, and 2.5 inch cat back. The downpipe I ordered a week ahead so it of course came in a seperate box, but the other items arrived together. The boxes were all well put together and not at all damaged. There wasnt much as far a packing material inside the boxes, but since they were not damaged, I have no complaints there. The price was also not too bad for full exhaust, and shipping took only about a week.
Quality: The pipes were all well cut, welded and the mandrel bends were very well done. The only thing that made me a little nervous was the paint over the welds.
Fitment: the exhaust fit pretty much perfectly. The only problem I ran into was 2 missing bolts and nuts for the cat to the catback. There were 2 extra gaskets shipped with the exhaust so that was kind of a bonus. Other wise, fitment was good.
First Start up: First thing noticed was the deep rumble of this exhaust. It has a very deep rumble to it which I like very much. It is not a very quiet exhaust like some others, but not extremely loud. The low tone of it is definitly noticed at idle.
First drive: Exhaust sounds awesome at high rpms. It is a very deep sound and is somewhat loud. With the windows closed, you can talk to the passenger next to with pretty much no problem, maybe raise your voice alittle on pulling out and high rpms. With the windows opened...well its pretty noisy. Over all, absolulty loved the sound of it and it turned alot of heads.
After one week of driving: If you remember I mentioned making an extra bracket infront of the cat/converter...well I removed it already. Under hard acceleration it was rattling for some reason so I removed my bracket from here. The exhaust sounds awesome and look good hanging under the car. I have not had a problem with it so far and dont expect any to come up. As far as performance, I have noticed a huge increase, but remember I went from a stock exhaust to a full 2.5 inch with high flow cat.
Overall, all things considered I am happy with my purchase. Everything went well, and I love how my car sounds. I plan to buy another VRS exhaust in the future for my other TSI.
First of all, you will need to get the car off the ground so that you have room to work under it. When doing mine, I only jacked up one end of the car at a time (front then back) depending where I was working at the time. You may find it easier to get the car up on all 4 corners, whatever works for you. I will explain how I did it, if you know an easier way to work in your driveway, go for it.
After getting the car high enough to work underneith, you will need to remove the ENTIRE stock exhaust system from under the car. I wont go into too much detail about this, because this is an install how-to, not stock exhaust removal. Its pretty straight forward though so you shouldnt have too much trouble. If you purchased the new exhaust straight from VRSExhaust.com, leave all the stock exhaust hangers in place, they, for the most part, line up good.
Once your stock exhaust is removed from under the car, start by installing the new downpipe. I cleaned the bottom of the o2 housing first to make it smooth for better sealing on the gasket. I also cleaned the downpipe alittle to insure a tight seal. I installed the new gasket and re used the old nuts which are 19mm. The downpipe has slotted holes to fit with the stock, or an aftermarket o2 housing.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img422.imageshack.us/img422/5208/vrs19et.jpg" border="0" width="225" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
As you can tell by this picture, I have only the front half of the car jacked up and supported by jackstands. This worked pretty well for me. Also notice the entire stock exhaust has been removed from the car.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/3486/25ht.jpg" border="0" width="320" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
The downpipe lined up pretty well with the direction it was supposed to be headed. The next step is to clean the surface where it mounts to the catalytic converter. I used a magnaflow high-flow cat on this install, also purchased from VRS so there was no problems, and no size changes.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img445.imageshack.us/img445/9616/39ls1.jpg" border="0" width="188" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
Bolts and nuts came with the downpipe to bolt up to the cat. A new gasket was also supplied. You may notice the 2.5" inch exhaust clamp on the cat, I added this to create my own exhaust hanger in this area. On the stock exhaust there is a hanger at the front of the cat, this one does not have that. It may not be needed, but I installed if for extra strength. I later made brackets that bolted to the exhaust clamp there.
Next, I removed the jack stands from the front of the car and let it sit on the ground again. I then took the next 2 peices of the exhaust (straight peice and the "s" curve peice and assembled them. I started by cleaned the surface where the straight pipe connects to the cat (for better sealing). After this I installed the new rear o2 sensor I had purchased from another vendor. I then put some anti-seize on the end of thi straight pipe, as it is a slip fit to the rear S curve peice. I then slid the S curve onto the straight pipe as far as it would go.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/2066/40gt.jpg" border="0" width="225" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
After this, I knocked the metal gromets out of the original exhaust hanger rubber peices. I removed this one from under the car just to show you what I removed. This was to let the new exhaust hangers fit through the rubber. You do not need to remove the hanger like I did, this is to show what must be done only.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/9212/58ib1.jpg" border="0" width="300" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
At this point, I jacked up just the driver side of the car and supported it with jackstands. I then slid this section of the exhaust under the car and bolted it to the back of the cat with a new gasket that was included with the exhaust system. I had to find some bolts and nuts for this peice, since it seems they were not included. The rear hanger on the straight pipe as well as the S curve line up with the oem rubber hangers. You may find that the S curve is "pulling" the rear hanger towards the front of the car, or pushing it towards the back. This picture shows it pulling towards the front of the car:
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/5831/62zs.jpg" border="0" width="300" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
If this happens, more then likly the s curve is slid onto the straight pipe too far. Of course if it is pushing the hanger back it may be not on far enough. Adjust it by sliding it off a little, or on a little farther. After sliding it to where it should be on the straight pipe, you can install the 2.5" exhaust clamp over the slip joint. The clamp was included with the exhaust system. Please note in this picture there is a small thin peice of metal hanging from the hanger. This was some sort of shield on the stock exhaust. I removed it right after the picture was taken. It is not needed.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/8062/71vr.jpg" border="0" width="300" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
Before moving on, I reconnected my o2 sensor wire. There is a how to here on dsmtuners on replacing this. Follow that for installing the new o2 sensor.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/3513/83sc.jpg" border="0" width="225" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
The last step of the install was to put the back section in. The rear hangers from the old muffler worked good for hanging the new muffler on.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/3923/93eb.jpg" border="0" width="300" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
Once that was in place, I bolted the pipe to the back of the S curve pipe. This connection was a ball style, where one end of the pipe is expanded, and the other is rounded to fit inside. There are 2 long bolts included with the exhaust, as well as nuts for them. This is where they belong.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/8711/992ch.jpg" border="0" width="225" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
Now that the exhaust was installed, I pulled out the jackstands and started the car up. Please note, the exhaust will more then likly smell for a little while after it gets hot. This is because of any oil/grease that got on it, as well as any coating that was put on to stop rust in storage/shipping.
The tip of the muffler had a nice curve on it, so the exhaust exited straight out the back of the car even though the muffler was coming up and over on an angle.
IGNORE MY DIRTY REAR BUMPER!
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/2459/finished2yj.jpg" border="0" width="400" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
THE REVIEW
This is being written exactly one week after the install.
It has been one week since I installed the exhaust, and I have since then driven approx. 200 miles.
Ordering, Price, Shipping: all went well. I ordered straight from VRS, and paid via paypal which I found to be a nice payment option as I use paypal very often and feel safe paying that way. I ordered a 2.5 inch downpipe, 2.5 high flow cat, and 2.5 inch cat back. The downpipe I ordered a week ahead so it of course came in a seperate box, but the other items arrived together. The boxes were all well put together and not at all damaged. There wasnt much as far a packing material inside the boxes, but since they were not damaged, I have no complaints there. The price was also not too bad for full exhaust, and shipping took only about a week.
Quality: The pipes were all well cut, welded and the mandrel bends were very well done. The only thing that made me a little nervous was the paint over the welds.
Fitment: the exhaust fit pretty much perfectly. The only problem I ran into was 2 missing bolts and nuts for the cat to the catback. There were 2 extra gaskets shipped with the exhaust so that was kind of a bonus. Other wise, fitment was good.
First Start up: First thing noticed was the deep rumble of this exhaust. It has a very deep rumble to it which I like very much. It is not a very quiet exhaust like some others, but not extremely loud. The low tone of it is definitly noticed at idle.
First drive: Exhaust sounds awesome at high rpms. It is a very deep sound and is somewhat loud. With the windows closed, you can talk to the passenger next to with pretty much no problem, maybe raise your voice alittle on pulling out and high rpms. With the windows opened...well its pretty noisy. Over all, absolulty loved the sound of it and it turned alot of heads.
After one week of driving: If you remember I mentioned making an extra bracket infront of the cat/converter...well I removed it already. Under hard acceleration it was rattling for some reason so I removed my bracket from here. The exhaust sounds awesome and look good hanging under the car. I have not had a problem with it so far and dont expect any to come up. As far as performance, I have noticed a huge increase, but remember I went from a stock exhaust to a full 2.5 inch with high flow cat.
Overall, all things considered I am happy with my purchase. Everything went well, and I love how my car sounds. I plan to buy another VRS exhaust in the future for my other TSI.
