hopes smashed to pieces by extreme exhaust fitting hurdle (s3-a3 quattro)

[ANDYMC_TQS]

hi guys, ever since iv had my a3 quattro there has been an exhaust leak at the front thats driven me crazy. i changed the manifold whick had a huge crack in it and both block-manifold and manifold-turbo gaskets but still the noise remained. after discussing it with a qualiffied mechanic who has worked on them befor we decided it must be the down pipe as aparently they are known for cracking the flanges. since finding that out ive had a few holes apear in the cat-back section of my exhaust.

as im upgrading to a ko4 when its warmer (i have a crashed s3 for parts) after reading a thread on here i decided i may aswell change the rear section of the exhaust to an s3 one to save money when i do this as i wont be "milteking" straight away.
so got me a cheap (£13 on ebay .) exhaust and a new a3 quattro down pipe

now heres where i finally get to my problem i read that to fit the s3 exhaust to the a3 quattro downpipe all i would need was an s3 cat or decat as the front fittings on both were the same but the back pipe was obviously a larger bore. so i got myself an s3 cat for now.

on test fitting the 2 pipes i have now realised on the a3 cat the 4 lower bolts are level but on the s3 they are not so a complete mismatch which has crushed me like a grape as ive wasted time and money on this.

please please can someone point me in the right direction of where to go from here as i would really like a nice airtight exhaust
many thanks to anyone who can help me

[aragorn]

The S3 has two cats and a crazy split downpipe, which certainly isnt going to fit your K03.

cant you just use the A3 downpipe, S3 exhuast and make up a link pipe to join the two?

[ANDYMC_TQS]

mine is a quattro with ko3s so also has two cats and a scrazy split downpipe mate thats why i thought it was easey as iv read in a couple of threads that the front is the same on the quattro as the s3 and a few people have quoted "it fits straight on"

[beachbuggy]

The S3 down pipe and A3 Quattro downpipes are almost identical except for the flange to fit on to the turbo. I have to say I was of thinking it was a straight fit as I know the TQS I had, had the S3 exhaust and cat fitted to it as an upgrade and as far I was lead to believe it was a straight swap. Now maybe it was only the cat back they fitted but even so what ever combination was on the car it was a case of taking one bit off and swapping for the S3 equivalent.

[<tuffty/>]

The TQS cat/DP setup is similar (twin cats) to that of the S3 as the design clears the prop etc.. the FWD A3's use a different setup and a single cat...

As far as I know you need to upsize the pipe coming from the cat to that of the S3... there are various ways to do this but you can buy stepped reducers that go fro a larger size to a smaller size which could do the job...

Ebay should be a source of these and I know Byzan A4 (Mark) did this to Stacy's A3 TQS when they had it

<tuffty/>

[<tuffty/>]

You will also need the S3 rear silencer brackets/hangers IIRC as the TQS rear box is a different shape to the S3

<tuffty/>

[ANDYMC_TQS]

thats great thank you very much that means iv only wasted money on the s3 cat which is batter than all of it i will look for one of these reducers on ebay now. and thank you i was aware of the hanger have ordered one from audi

[<tuffty/>]

Not compared the pitch of the TQS and S3 downpipes where they meet the cats so its possible that the S3 cat could fit... however... having removed a few of these myself they tend not to survive the process as the nuts holding the cats to the DP often corrode badly (they face forward so get the full brunt of the weather the road chucks up... I normally air chisel the buggers off... the studs are in the cats and would need a bit of lateral thinking to replace due to the way the cats are...

Good luck

<tuffty/>

[ANDYMC_TQS]

yeah i have noticed that on the one i bought. iv asked for a refund as it said in the listing "perfect working order" and although its a common problem i dont consider having to drill studs out and replace with bolts as "perfect" especially as one of them has a heat shield mount stuck right behind it. so this wasnt as listed at all in my opinion. wish it was warmer id just do the ko4 conversion now instead