5th gen 2.0i exhaust queries

[Bimble7116]

Guys,

My ‘99 2.0i is as sweet as Sandra Bullock’s derrière - and because it’s such a hunny, I’m going to treat it to some new exhaust pieces. It’s lost a bit of pace which I think is due to the cat clogging up. The car has immaculate service history - and the newest invoice for exhaust work was 12 years ago!

I’ve been underneath the car and seen that all the exhaust flange bolts/fixings are completely disfigured by rust (apart from where the down pipe meets the manifold) - so it’s going to be the grinder taking no prisoners getting the old system off.

I’ve toyed with the idea of by passing the cat, for a bit more go and a more interesting exhaust note - but actually, my go faster days are behind me...I’m a grandfather, so a standard system will be going on the car - unless there’s a compelling reason not to...?

If any of you chaps has exhaust know how and a recommendation - I’ll be interested in benefiting from your intel and experience.

With best regards

Andy H

[wurlycorner]

Hi Andy

Most of Sandra Bullock is sweet, imo
If you remove the cat, the car will (should) fail an MOT, so you're definitely best off retaining one of those.

There's no real compelling reason not to fit a standard style system, unless you're looking for longevity (stainless steel) or a different noise/slight (barely noticeable) increase in power. Most people on here do go for a stainless system tbf, but it's all down to cost and how long you think you'll have the car. @toadster has the same car as yours so can problem elaborate on what he's done exhaust-wise.

The OEM system uses crush rings to seal either side of the cat and between the manifold and down-pipe, whereas after market cats tend not to (gasket joints aren't as good as crush ring, but if the replacement cat doesn't have the recesses for the crush rings you have no choice but to go with gaskets).

Don't use any exhaust paste in front of the cat - that will cause it to clog (personally I don't use exhaust paste anywhere anyway, because with good clean joints it's completely unnecessary and just makes things a nightmare to get apart later).

The nuts on the cat might look to be a nightmare but if you clean up the exposed threads and use a decent impact gun with a properly tightly fitting socket, you might be surprised... If not, grind through the nuts and you can then knock out the studs and replace them (if you do end up wanting to re-use the cat). The M6 bolts on the heat-shield around the cat are bound to be beyond help and you may struggle to get them out in a way that allows the heat-shield to be re-used, unfortunately.

Parts diagram for the oem system on your car is below;

[toadster]

Lo
I bought a US stainless steel replacement system via eBay quite a few years ago and it has lasted really well.
It was a Japanese style large single can with removable baffle.
It was cat back but I had it modified as it was too short or too long I can't remember.
It's because the US cats are a different length.
Sound is fine if you don't remove the baffle.
I'm too old for that kind of thing
Rear can did look too big to start with but better once I fitted a Motegi rear lip
Cheers
Toadster

[Bimble7116]

Thanks fellas - appreciate your excellent help. The diagram of the exhaust system was really helpful Wurley - nice one. Both of you guys seem clued up - whereas I'm still an apprentice with Preludes - so I wonder whether you know the answer to this wee conundrum;

I'm in the process of changing the cam belt, balancer belt and water pump, I have the single cam engine - and a specific query with cam belt re-fit procedure. The query is, the cam belt tensioner has a built in bracket which has a stretched hole in it for the fitment of a bolt - as well as a small hole to locate the spring. When removing the old tensioner, I noticed that there was no bolt fitted - but it seems to me that there should be one there?

I've tried looking at the online manuals - but they seem only to cover the 2.2 twin cam lump...! Can you fellas verify either way?