3" Downpipe and decat fitted (Pic Heavy)

[Reesy]

I have been keeping a casual eye out for a downpipe for my A3 for a long time. For those of you that don't know, us A3 quattro drivers have the lovely benefit of having the same turbo as an a3 and the same drive as an s3, meaning that both their downpipes are useless. The tqs are not the most common of cars, and as such the downpipes always came with a bit of a premium, until now.

After seeing and being alerted to Sam Bryant's post about a 3" Downpipe for the A3 Quattro, a few PM's were exchanged and the deal was done. Great communication from Sam to let me know what was happening, not too long to wait while it shipped over from America and it was here.

Right on to some pics.

Old downpipe:

New downpipe:

(The black section in the centre was nothing to do with relentless, it was welded in instead of their reducer as I already have a cat back exhaust)

Loads of Room!!

And now for the laughable comparison shots:

And a couple more:

I will add an early review a little bit later on.

 

[Reesy]

The Long Review:

Initial thoughts;

When it arrived I was impressed by the quality of the downpipe. Welds looked good and all felt very solid. These thoughts were backed up by the mechanic who fitted it.
(Got to give him a shout out as he said he was having fun with this job nearly all day yesterday. Ben @ Parsons Performance, aka BENJAMIN on here. Any one in East Sussex could do a lot worse then taking your car their)

Initial thoughts when on the car:

I was told by the boys that it was quite quiet. I was amazed that when I turned it on it didn't sound like they'd installed it! On idle the car sounds nearly identical, which is perfect for me as I don't want my car to sound like its got some big *** barry cans on it, but as I gave it a few revs you could hear it was a lot crisper then the old system. I was reliably informed that it sounded much better under load and the stainless obviously needed time to get coked up, so I took their word for it.

Left it running for a bit before starting the journey home and under load their is a noticeable difference! Car sounds so much crisper, seems to have smoothed it out and be more willing through the rev range as well, and once hot downshifts make for a lovely overrun noise. It really kicks in about 3k, which makes sense, and over the 40odd miles I have done on it my MPG is down to 20.5 so I have been using the right foot a fair bit. The whole car seems more alive, but still pretty subtle if you need to go sensibly through a town centre etc, and goes very well with my resonated exhaust. I think a non res would give it a more raspy noise, but I want to keep some of the comforts that made me choose an Audi in the first place.

The Short Review:

Very well made, a good fit, lovely noise under load especially when boost hits, car pulls better through revs, highly recommended.

I will update this thread once I have a few more miles on the exhaust.

n

 

[ScottD3]

Weldone Yut.

What size is the old and new?

Get that review up.
Interested to see what difference it makes.

 

[s3dave]

Very nice Reesy... well done...:icon_thumright:

 

[Reesy]

Weldone Yut.

What size is the old and new?

Get that review up.
Interested to see what difference it makes.

Not sure on the old one mate, but it can't be more then 2", the new one is 3" with no cats :cheers:

 

[JoeD]

Looks great mate! an esential mod imo. I need to find one for my S3 now.

 

[Reesy]

More pics here:

Downpipe pictures by Reesylad - Photobucket

 

[superkarl]

and i thought the S3 downpipe was an impressive upgrade! the difference in size and design alone are amazing.

 

[daz-20vt]

Great work mate. Get some vids up!!!

 

[James TQ]

looks like a good purchase! i have a Quattro and am finding it hard to locate a good de cat downpipe!! what brand is this and will it fit a milltek cat back as i wish to invest in one at a later date, also have yo have any warning lights come on as there is no cat and more emitions passing the sensor. and if you dont mind saying, how much would it be to get my hands on one?

 

[superkarl]

its an xspower/relentless one.
not sure when it will be available yet. give sam bryant a pm (on here or facebook)
reesy will no doubt get a light, but its easily coded out in a remap.

 

[James TQ]

thanks buddy... will the light trigger the car to limit the power/ revs anything like that or just be a light...

 

[Reesy]

Great work mate. Get some vids up!!!

Will get some up later, but still got to get a few miles through the system to find out its proper sound..

looks like a good purchase! i have a Quattro and am finding it hard to locate a good de cat downpipe!! what brand is this and will it fit a milltek cat back as i wish to invest in one at a later date, also have yo have any warning lights come on as there is no cat and more emitions passing the sensor. and if you dont mind saying, how much would it be to get my hands on one?

It will require a bit of fabricating to make fit a miltek, but I might have a chat with Sam about some options to make them an easier fitment. There has been no lights yet, I'm sure it will come eventually, but the car has been on and off and on a run of 15 miles in 1 hit and no sign of it yet, but i'll be getting a stage 2 map very soon which will bypass that issue completely. I need to have a chat to xspower/relentless regarding a few tweaks that the DP requires, so I think they are a little way off final production, but hopefully for other tqs boys, not too long.

its an xspower/relentless one.
not sure when it will be available yet. give sam bryant a pm (on here or facebook)
reesy will no doubt get a light, but its easily coded out in a remap.

Echo what Karl has said, apart from hassling Sam at the moment, as I mentioned above a couple of tweaks need to be made.

 

[Reesy]

thanks buddy... will the light trigger the car to limit the power/ revs anything like that or just be a light...

Pretty sure it will just be a light, as all I'd think the light is saying is that their is an emissions fault.

 

[James TQ]

thanks for the info, will defiantly be adding this to the shopping list

 

[Benjiman46]

Awesome man, definitely getting one of these for my S3, with a relentless manifold too I recon

 

[s33nyboy12]

Bought mine from Sam Bryant, waiting to get it fitted ! Can't wait

 

[damo.h]

Nice one reesy. It's all coming together now mate... :cheers:

 

[Reesy]

Awesome man, definitely getting one of these for my S3, with a relentless manifold too I recon

Their isn't a decent mani for the k03 engined car, so people tend to stick with stock or get them ported a bit.

Nice one reesy. It's all coming together now mate... :cheers:

Just about mate, front mount to fit next weekend and then a stage 2 map and performance side is done for a while.

 

[Reesy]

[video]http://s1158.photobucket.com/albums/p607/Reesylad/Downpipe/?action=view&current=IMG_0376.mp4[/video]

[video]http://s1158.photobucket.com/albums/p607/Reesylad/Downpipe/?action=view&current=IMG_0377.mp4[/video]

Not the best quality, and sound awful through mobile phone speakers, but it's hard to get a decent recording of it, especially as it sounds so different under load.

 

[Lemon S3]

Looks good mate, well done. Just one thing though, is your avatar ever going to gawd damn load?!? lol

 

[Reesy]

Looks good mate, well done. Just one thing though, is your avatar ever going to gawd damn load?!? lol

I can't take any credit for the fitment, I'd still be taking the old one off and that's if I'd worked continually.

Avatar looks fine from here mate, must be a slow internet connection your end

 

[dre_S3]

Great upgrade mate looks quality want to change mine in the future

 

[damo.h]

Just about mate, front mount to fit next weekend and then a stage 2 map and performance side is done for a while.[/QUOTE

So you can Finally get them ****** Avus on then

Not the best quality, and sound awful through mobile phone speakers, but it's hard to get a decent recording of it, especially as it sounds so different under load.

Sound nice for an A3 Estate if you ask me!!

 

[Reesy]

So you can Finally get them ****** Avus on then



Sound nice for an A3 Estate if you ask me!!

That's the plan mate, when I next see you rimmers at AITP, I will have S4 Avus' on the car.



Oi, It's the original A3 Sportback.

 

[Reesy]

Put a fair few miles on the car over the weekend and the downpipe noise is a lot better for it.

Subtle under 2750rpm, lovely sounding over it.. Sounds great when warm, and no funky smells now the stainless has coked up.

Touch wood, the downpipe is not blowing at all, so should be fine now. A great product by relentless.

All in all, a massive winner.

 

[Prawn]

Considering how long you lot have been moaning about the lack of downpipe for your cars, i think it's great that one has now been made and should soon be available to all, this will surely take the whole market if it's priced as sensibly as this first one was!

 

[S3_chris 11]

Hardest thing i ever did was change the downpipe on my quattro, never again !!

 

[sambryant]

great write up this was the only one made. we need to see what demand there is before we start to mass produce them. if im being honest there has been very little interest shame as these will be a fantastic price as you would expect from relentless.

 

[Prawn]

Shame isn't it Sam?

The TQ monkies have been banging on for years about the lack of available downpipe for their sheds, then one comes along and the crowd go quiet.....

it's a bit like our Ultimate VAG Trackday, the forums are full of people that constantly tell us all how fast their amazing machine is, so we organise a huge VAG only trackday at one of the countires favourite tracks, and suddenly, everybody has an excuse....

 

[Westy]

Shame isn't it Sam?

The TQ monkies have been banging on for years about the lack of available downpipe for their sheds, then one comes along and the crowd go quiet.....

it's a bit like our Ultimate VAG Trackday, the forums are full of people that constantly tell us all how fast their amazing machine is, so we organise a huge VAG only trackday at one of the countires favourite tracks, and suddenly, everybody has an excuse....

My excuse is valid and you know I'd be all over that track like a rash

The TQS boys need to pull their fingers out though.

 

[Prawn]

My excuse is valid and you know I'd be all over that track like a rash

The TQS boys need to pull their fingers out though.

You have a genuine excuse though mate Most people don't!

 

[Jason.s]

Lacking money is a genuine excuse

 

[Westy]

Lacking money is a genuine excuse

Poor excuse.

 

[Reesy]

It's easy to say you would love loads of bits for your car when they aren't available, as their is no commitment to be made. When the bits are available and it's all about parting the cash, people tend to go quiet. Also, a few of the TQS boys have left. If they reappear, I'll be sure to link them to this thread.


Out of interest the TT with the same small turbo, weighty 4wd option could use this system as well couldn't it?

 

[Reesy]

Lacking money is a genuine excuse

Poor excuse.

I agree.

 

[Westy]

It's easy to say you would love loads of bits for your car when they aren't available, as their is no commitment to be made.

Easy for you to say when you have the only one in existence lol.

What ever happened to the likes of Syvo and the TQS thread that used to be very active?!

 

[Reesy]

Easy for you to say when you have the only one in existence lol.

What ever happened to the likes of Syvo and the TQS thread that used to be very active?!

I always said I wanted one, and when one came up at a decent price, I went for it. That's the way you have to do it.

Dunno really mate, Syvo came back on a while back then disappeared again. I text one of the other fella's from that thread and I'm pretty sure he sold up and went Jap.

 

[Syvo]

hello again reesy and westy, been busy sorting things out not alot of progress with the car, nice pics reesy still need to get this done.

 

[Syvo]

didnt go Jap it was on the cards, although couldnt part with the bumble bee.