Sunday 23 October 2016

Brazil Kombi - Vintage Speed Exhaust

VW Brazilian Kombi Bay - Vintage Speed

After my exhaust finally gave up and the last exhaust box fell off it was time to fit my new exhaust.

After considering the options (see earlier post) I decided to go for the Vintage Speed system.


Here is the old back box. Clean break at the pipe inlet. Also to note the quite large hole in the top where the water drips on the box.


Here is the old system in place with the bumper & valence removed for easy access.

Carefully removed all nuts from the old system (especially the head nuts as I did not want to damage or pull out the head studs.... Plenty of WD40 first!)


Old system removed


Old header, CAT, & J-Tubes


Old Boxes (note the bandages holding the other box together)

New Vintage Speed Exhaust:


Here is the details of the Vintage Speed exhaust. Bought the standard exhaust as its good enough for the 1600cc. Purchased the 38mm s/s J tubes (could have gone for 35mm but decided bigger is best if I ever uprate the engine at a later stage)



New vintage speed exhaust system laid out.

Now the kit came with the adapters from the standard classic bays using the flared adapters for heat exchangers. As I am using 38mm Flanged J-tubes these are not required BUT new flanged adapters (approx 1-2" length are required)

These adapters where out of stock at VW heritage so order from Machine 7 BUT they where the wrong ones!



So found the correct ones and went straight to Vintage Speed UK (Thanks to Dan for quick dispatch) but they will not arrive until Tuesday.

Will update this post WHEN they arrive........ Stay tuned.

**UPDATE **

So final parts arrived and full exhaust fitted. 

First impressions - Nice sounding exhaust not under load but quite quiet during idle and constant acceleration.

Still have the feeling that the system is running rich and had a few issues with a lumpy idle. Suspect a vacuum leak and throws a Lambda and adaption DTC fault code after a few months of driving BUT the DTC clear and I cannot find any other issues.

Logs taken show good Lambda sensor switching once per second and running from about rich @ 0.8v to lean @ 0.1v with the average being 0.45V (Lambda = 1) for the data shows its running fine and spot on 14.7:1 ratios

So will see at MOT time if the emissions are OK (worried a little about not having a CAT but if running Lambda of 1 should pass)


Wednesday 19 October 2016

Brazilian Kombi - Exhaust Options

Another issue! More new parts required.

OK driving home from work this evening I heard a scraping sound every wheel turn coming from the rear off-side (drivers side)

Just about to join a major roundabout the noise worsens. Oh great, my initial thoughts turned to the major works I did a few months ago (see earlier posts) so I had a mental image of a CV joint and drive shaft dragging on the road.

So went round the roundabout and back to a small side road. Pulled into a space and decided to reserve into a better space to inspect, fearing the worst.

When reversing there was a allmighty noise and loud bang.

So got out and found the exhaust final box sitting on the tarmac.

Oh.... at least its not the gearbox......

Put the rear box in the sliding door and got out the inspection lamp to inspect for any damage. NONE! Clean break at pipe. No damage.

Ohh... off I went.... sounding like a monster truck / tractor or boy racer.... took it slow on way home but made the 16 miles avoiding police cars and cruising mainly in 4th gear to keep the noise down....

So NEW Exhaust required - Been putting this off for a while (Exhaust filler and jubilee clips to hold the boxes together)

Right onto the main reason for this post - WHICH EXHAUST should I buy?

Here are the options:


Brazilian Bay

Stock System:


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20151220_104045.jpg

Stock Costings:

VW Heritage:

Stock Steel.

Silencer, Left, T2 EFI VW Brazil Aircooled 1600
Left hand side exhaust silencer for Air-cooled Brazil Kombi
Part ID 040253609
£131.95

Silencer, Right, T2 EFI VW Brazil Aircooled 1600
Right hand side exhaust silencer for Air-cooled Brazil Kombi
Part ID 040253610
£116.95

Gasket, 3rd joint, VWB Kombi
3 hole exhaust gasket joins left and right hand sides towards front of engine.
Part ID 040251509
£4.01

Total = £131.95 + 116.95 + (4.01*3) = £260.93

Cool Air:

Stock Steel.

Exhaust Silencer - Aircooled Brazilian Bay - Left, EFI
Brazilian Bay Danbury fuel injection exhaust for all Aircooled Brazilian Bay Buses.Left Hand Side.
Part ID 040253609
Price: £129.50

Exhaust Silencer - Aircooled Brazilian Bay - Right, EFI
Brazilian Bay Danbury fuel injection exhaust for all Aircooled Brazilian Bay Buses.Right Hand Side.
Part ID:040253610
Price: £114.50

3 Hole Exhaust Gasket - Brazilian Bay
Replacement 3 hole exhaust gasket which joints the left and right hand side 3rd joint of the exhaust on all aircooled and watercooled Brazilian Bay Buses.
Part ID: 040251509
Price: £3.50

Total = £129.50 +114.50 + (3.50*3) = £254.50


Longlife.

Brazilian Bay special price from Longlife Exhausts (Swansea)

Left & Right boxes + Pipes Stainless Steel
£359 Delivered.

Early system
26-096.GIF

This early system was fitted to Brazilian Kombis in the 1990s. Neat simple BUT impossible to buy in the UK and very hard to find even in Brazil! Hens teeth!

Custom Options


CSP make classic bay parts. Could use the muffler but on further investigation the flange is the wrong size and the tail pipe exits on the wrong side so the tail pipe will face upwards and clash with the valence. There are CSP parts so they could be bought in parts and a system "could be made to fit" High risk and expensive.






CSP Universal Parts:


Universal high quality CSP Python exhaust performance muffler 2,5"






Vintage Speed:



This is the heater version




This is the merged version with no heaters and also equal pipe lengths from both sides.

The vintage speed has been fitted on one other Brazilian Kombi owner and is said to pass an MOT even without the stock CAT fitted. It has the Lambda port (right hand side) so ECU and injection system will be happy.

Short and compact and trusted on many a classic bay.

Only risk is it fails the emissions test as there is NO Stock CAT.

Vintage speed prices:

Box £380-410
J Tubes £80


Options Table:


Name
Description
Price
Stock Steel
Steel 2 Boxes, rusts, stock emissions
£260
Stock Longlife
Stainless Steel 2 Boxes stock emissions
£359
Stock Header+J
Stock Header system - Steel Only available
£300
Stock Early
Single Box - Not available
N/A
Custom
Kit form s/s expensive parts, assembly costs No CAT
£300+
Vintage Speed
Simple s/s, Lambda port. No CAT, emissions unknown
£460

After considering the table my main options are Longlife (Using my older header and CAT) OR Vintage speed

Which one? I will sleep on it...............