Email to XS Power

[Welly]

Sent an email to XS Power this morning (the makers of hokey pokey, ill fitting downpipes).

See below:

Hi,

Having just purchased on of your S3 downpipes, I thought I would bring this to your attention.

The item in question: http://www.xs-power.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37&products_id=432

I am an active member on the Audi-sport.net forum and have seen several issues with your downpipes, more specifically fitting, in the past.

I draw your attention to this in particular: http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=96410. This thread is about the amount of modifications that were required to make your downpipe actually fit an S3/TT.

Would you please confirm whether these fitting issues have been addressed/rectified, or whether the downpipe will actually be the same item as pictured, and I will have the same fitting issues.

Another thread which has been brought to my attention is this one: http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=99237&highlight=xs+power+downpipe

If you would please look at post number 7, I believe you will be interested to see the issues that this person has had with fitting.

As I am sure you are aware, fitting one of these downpipes to an S3 or TT requires a considerable amount of time and effort due to the complexity of the job, and finding issues with fitting is extremely down heartening – and also costly if the job has been undertaken by a garage.

I look forward to your response,

Regards,

Alex Wellings

I shall be interested to see what they have to say....

 

[DJ_Troopa]

Nice one Mr Wellings!

(now i can see why you're called Welly!)

 

[Welly]

Nice one Mr Wellings!

(now i can see why you're called Welly!)

Family nickname passed down through the ages mate! lol.

 

[<tuffty/>]

...its also indicative of his driving style ;P

<tuffty/>

 

[DJ_Troopa]

It's crazy how they sell something like that and not rectify the problem. I'm sure other people have complained aswell. Look forward to the reply!

...its also indicative of his driving style ;P

<tuffty/>

 

[Welly]

OK - we have a reply...

Good Afternoon Alex

Thank you for your email,

We have had a few people with the said "issues" and many who experience none of the issues talked about on your forum.

If you have any doubts and don’t wish to proceed with the order I can refund no problems.

Kind regards
Lyn

Not really the answer I was hoping for.... LOL. Sort of a double bluff me thinks.

I will continue with the order and see what's what I think.

 

[Welly]

Here is my reply...

Hi Lyn,

Firstly, thank you for your prompt reply, greatly appreciated.

I do not wish to cancel the order, and that was never my intention. I was simply interested to know if a) you were aware of the problems some buyers have been having and b) if these problems with some of the downpipes were simply anomalies in the manufacturing process.

I look forward to receiving my downpipe, and I have every hope that it will be a perfect fit. I shall duly advise you if this is not the case.

Once again, many thanks for a speedy reply,

Alex

 

[Welly]

If it's a gash fit then I will kick up a right stink after this....

 

[Speedy Steve]

Its a shame XS stuff is so crap else id be buying one of the manifolds in a heart beat

 

[Welly]

Its a shame XS stuff is so crap else id be buying one of the manifolds in a heart beat

To be fair bud, thats not 100% true. IMO the actual kit itself, the metal used, the welding and fabrication quality are excellent. It's the attention to detail on the fittings that lets this stuff down.

I bought one of these with a cat a while ago, which had been sold as a Pipewerx one by some dodgy ebay git, so I have seen them in the flesh. I did, in fact, send it back in the end as it wasn't the described item and I was annoyed! lol.

However, whilst it went back, it didn't go back because it was shoddily made. Not even close. Looked like a very well made and
beautifully welded bit of kit.

 

[Speedy Steve]

so do you think the exhaust manifold is worth a punt?

 

[DJ_Troopa]

Looks like ignoring the problem is their way of solving things then.

 

[Welly]

so do you think the exhaust manifold is worth a punt?

Allow me to reserve judgement for a few days if you will......

 

[Speedy Steve]

you mean your getting one?

 

[Dani_B19]

Welly i've been in the same boat, i emailed them 2 months ago and got virtualy the same response.

 

[Welly]

LOL, once again, doing the research so you don't have to....

 

[Welly]

you mean your getting one?

No, but getting a downpipe from them.

 

[Welly]

Welly i've been in the same boat, i emailed them 2 months ago and got virtualy the same response.

I've said to the lady I've been speaking to that I'm not firing up a witch hunt here at all.

I want to make an unbiased opinion on this stuff. It's well priced and well made. I think it deserves a fair crack of the whip.

 

[Dani_B19]

Well, this is what i sent:

Hi.

Are these still the old designs that need to modifying to fit correctly, or are they the newer updated ones?

The reason i ask is i have several friends who have bought these for their s3's and they havent been the correct fitment, one of them was andrew, i believe he sent you details on what needed to be done for them to fit correctly.

Regards,

Dan

They sent this back:

Hi, out of all we have sold we have had a handfull that people have reported they needed to drill the turbo flange, they all come from the same jig so its difficult to see why some have no issues and a few have,
Kind regards


- xs-power

 

[Welly]

On the plus side, I have a spare K04 turbo in the garage so I can eye up and see what fitment will be like before cracking on....

 

[Welly]

OK, more here:

Hi Alex

As far as gaskets are concerned, on some models we supply them, and on some we dont.
We dont on these as we have not entered into an agreement with the supply gasket company for them this is the simple reason on it.
We understand that some users have said that the downpipe has had the bolt holes be mis-aligned when compared to the KO4-O22.
However, it seems that not all users are expierencing this fact on all KO4-O22, this also may be due to when matched with our manifold there is extra clearance.
Regardless of this, what we have done is, we have taken the item back into revision, and we will re-templete the turbo flange on the downpipe to reflect the KO4 turbo

Kind regards
Lyn

 

[Welly]

Replied:

Hi Lyn,

Thanks again for the reply.

That is good news, and news that many will be glad to hear.

When will the revised models become available, if known?

Regards,

Alex

 

[badger5]

Well, this is what i sent:

Hi.

Are these still the old designs that need to modifying to fit correctly, or are they the newer updated ones?

The reason i ask is i have several friends who have bought these for their s3's and they havent been the correct fitment, one of them was andrew, i believe he sent you details on what needed to be done for them to fit correctly.

Regards,

Dan

They sent this back:

Hi, out of all we have sold we have had a handfull that people have reported they needed to drill the turbo flange, they all come from the same jig so its difficult to see why some have no issues and a few have,
Kind regards


- xs-power

more to the point is some customers mod it moan and groan about it but dont tell XS Power, who do know about this and choose to ignore it.. Quality comapny Indeed. Great attitude to shyte fitting products

 

[Welly]

more to the point is some customers mod it moan and groan about it but dont tell XS Power, who do know about this and choose to ignore it.. Quality comapny Indeed. Great attitude to shyte fitting products

Subtle, as always Bill.....

 

[rossbrownlee]

Welly is that XS saying that they reckon the downpipe etc will fit better if their manifold is also fitted?
Also, they say K04-022, are the studs laid out the same on that as the K04-020 like what I have?

 

[Andrew@A.L.D]

I sent them the pictures from that you posted in the first post Welly telling what the problem was, what needed to be done and how it could be improved etc etc and asked for more discount.

Still waiting for a reply.

 

[ash3435]

welly if i was you id hav a refund.both me and my friend had the same problems fitting the downpipe ( on both 210 and 225 engines).your rite bout the quality, but surely you shouldnt have to cut it down.my cat also hangs a little low and catches speed humps in my street.it also didnt make on to my miltek, short by 5".but after all that its on

 

[Welly]

OK guys, interesting bit of info for you.

I have been in discussion with XS Power about the issues experienced with the downpipes.

They have agreed that, if I modify the pipe to fit the S3/TT 210/225 with a standard manifold for the S3, and then send it back to them, they will replicate the changes and make all new pipes to this spec.

I will also note that the decat pipes are short, as I have found this with mine.

This is the post in my other thread for those interested:

Evening all.

XS Power downpipe arrived today as expected.

That has been my work for this evening....

Initial look suggests that it is well made to be fair. Nicely welded together.

Removal from the box and comparison with my standard downpipe showed that, as expected, the flange was a spot large to fit. At the point that the flange touches the manifold, approx 4mm of metal needed removing, which then tapered down to none down the flange.

I then tried fitting it to my K04 Turbo & Mani assembly. No chance.

So, I started the process of making it fit. Much easier having the turbo and manifold assembled off the car for test fitting, rather than test fitting to the actual turbo.

Ground away the metal that was causing the issue allowing the flange to pass the manifold. At this point, the bolt holes needed enlarging to allow the manifold to fit the studs. The holes were slightly out of place and needed changing.

The finished product genuinely fits like a glove. Flange is the perfect fit to the turbo, lambda hole is in the correct place. I test bolted it to the turbo with a gasket and the finished product gets the thumbs up...

I have some test fitting to do to the actual turbo on the car, and ensure that the downpipe and decat fit in the correct place and at the correct angles.

 

[Chlippo]

i like

 

[vetch]

They will certainly get my custom if they make the necessary mods to the DP. Nice one Welly.

 

[Lemon S3]

Do you get paid for this lol
Also I like the way you're covering your quad in sparks, tut tut

 

[S3KO4]

Nice work Welly, one thing I don't get, if it is a 3" decat and has a reducer to 2.5" then surely that makes it more like a 2.5"! second point I wanted to make is the pre facelift S3 only had one lambda sensor and no heat sensor on the cat side, this initself creates restriction as the some of the gas bounces back onto it. so there is no need to have this slot in there.

finally if you are as good as welly with your grinder and drill get yourself a Relentless one of ebay for half of the price with no length issues.

 

[Welly]

Nice work Welly, one thing I don't get, if it is a 3" decat and has a reducer to 2.5" then surely that makes it more like a 2.5"! second point I wanted to make is the pre facelift S3 only had one lambda sensor and no heat sensor on the cat side, this initself creates restriction as the some of the gas bounces back onto it. so there is no need to have this slot in there.

finally if you are as good as welly with your grinder and drill get yourself a Relentless one of ebay for half of the price with no length issues.

This is a relentless one mate, the ones XS Power sell are the relentless jobbies...

I agree about the second lambda probe hole - but they have to make it universal for all of the engines. The APY had 1 probe, however both the AMK and BAM have 2. On the plus side, it comes welded up so no gas loss - and to be fair, that is nowherenear as restrictive as the cats that have been removed...

 

[<tuffty/>]

Nice work Welly, one thing I don't get, if it is a 3" decat and has a reducer to 2.5" then surely that makes it more like a 2.5"!....

S3 exhaust is 2.5"... gotta marry it up somehow...

<tuffty/>

 

[Welly]

S3 exhaust is 2.5"... gotta marry it up somehow...

<tuffty/>

Once again it's about catering for all instances.

Not everyone using one of these will be guaranteed to be using a Miltek or equivalent 3" exhaust.

 

[Welly]

Also I like the way you're covering your quad in sparks, tut tut

Meh - it can take it..... A few sparks is nothing compared to how that thing gets abused....

 

[S3KO4]

S3 exhaust is 2.5"... gotta marry it up somehow...

<tuffty/>

Has anyone meassured the milltek exhaust it is less than 3" I have a custom 3" built 3 days ago that goes on top of the the milltek, so no reducers etc..

if I can I will take a pic to show what I mean later.

 

[Welly]

Has anyone meassured the milltek exhaust it is less than 3" I have a custom 3" built 3 days ago that goes on top of the the milltek, so no reducers etc..

if I can I will take a pic to show what I mean later.

Sweet, that would be good if you would.

The Milteks are by far the most widely used S3 exhaust setup around to be fair. I have contemplated having mine off and a custom one fitted.... but stuff keeps breaking and robbing my funds....

 

[Dani_B19]

Sure miltek is 2.75.

Welly you are a legend mate, if they sort the DP then ill be having one from now on, just could never be ***** in buying one to have to mess about modding it, i know im lazy, haha.

 

[Welly]

Sure miltek is 2.75.

Welly you are a legend mate, if they sort the DP then ill be having one from now on, just could never be ***** in buying one to have to mess about modding it, i know im lazy, haha.

Thats fair enough mate, and understandable. The thing that grated me was that the quality of the work was never a problem - simply the fact that it need modification to fit.

When I send it back, I think they are planning to make a new jig for the flange and use this pipe as a template now it fits as it should. Meaning that future pipes shouldn't have these issues.

Hopefully more people will start buying them in which case - it's not a bad bit of kit at all - comparable to a Pipewerx one IMO.