Golf R stage 2 - Downpipe, intercooler and intake

neocon · 9 Jul 2019 at 21:55

I'm thinking about doing a stage 2 on a stock Golf R estate.

Anyone recommend a downpipe, intercooler and intake?

Many adverts I have seen for downpipes state "Sold for Motorsport, off Road Competition / Track use only
Please note you will require a catalytic converter to pass the mot." How do people do this mod and pass their MOT?

Vita · 9 Jul 2019 at 22:01

Friendly mot tester. Someone who will turn the other cheek for a tip or a friend.

bainbridge · 9 Jul 2019 at 22:26

Depends on how many cats come as standard. If there's both maniverter and midpipe converter and you remove one you'll still pass an emissions test and an MOT, provided the tester doesn't point out that a cat has been removed.

9designs2 · 9 Jul 2019 at 23:20

Buy a sports CAT and don’t try and poison everyone.

Illusion · 10 Jul 2019 at 08:26

neocon said:
I'm thinking about doing a stage 2 on a stock Golf R estate.

Anyone recommend a downpipe, intercooler and intake?

Many adverts I have seen for downpipes state "Sold for Motorsport, off Road Competition / Track use only
Please note you will require a catalytic converter to pass the mot." How do people do this mod and pass their MOT?

I had an APR Stage 2 setup so it was an APR down pipe + carbon fibre intake and a Wagner Tuning intercooler.

As mentioned above an exhaust with a sports cat meant it could get through the MOT (still had to take it to the tuners though, I took it to a place near work first and they failed it on emissions. Tuner said you had to get everything warmed up until it would pass)

FerretBoy · 10 Jul 2019 at 08:43

If it is a MK7 then the gains over stage 1 are generally not that impressive. I have my 7.5 estate at stage 1 and currently happy with the power. If it is a 7 rather then 7.5 you should really consider the DSG tune too.

Nasher · 10 Jul 2019 at 08:51

Often if there is 2 cats you'll need to keep one of the stock ones to pass emissions, a sport cat alone wont be enough. You really dont gain much from going catless on modern cars and its a pain at MOT time.

snips86x · 10 Jul 2019 at 08:59

9designs2 said:
Buy a sports CAT and don’t try and poison everyone.

lol

Not wrong though

DereksDontRun · 10 Jul 2019 at 22:05

bainbridge said:
Depends on how many cats come as standard. If there's both maniverter and midpipe converter and you remove one you'll still pass an emissions test and an MOT

Nasher said:
Often if there is 2 cats you'll need to keep one of the stock ones to pass emissions, a sport cat alone wont be enough. You really dont gain much from going catless on modern cars and its a pain at MOT time.

technically wrong, i think.

from https://www.mot-testing.service.gov...s3457/Section-8-Nuisance.html#section_8.2.1.1

8.2 Exhaust emissions
8.2.1 Spark ignition engine emissions
8.2.1.1 Exhaust emission control equipment
This inspection is only for vehicles that must have a full catalyst emissions test (disregarding the basic emissions test). You only need to check components that are visible and identifiable, such as catalytic converters, oxygen sensors, and exhaust gas recirculation valves.

Defect:
1. Emission control equipment fitted by the manufacturer: missing, obviously modified or obviously defective - Major fail

Any removal of a cat supplied by the manufacturer (whether pre-cat or main) is a major fail - so, for the letter of the law, a downpipe without a pre-cat is an MOT failure and thus the "off road use only" comment, irrespective whether it passes emissions.

Yeah, this means the MOT tester has to know the car has a pre-cat on the downpipe, and has to be bothered to check it, and if the car has an undertray blocking the view then how can he?!? And, if the car still passes emissions then should it matter?

Nasher · 11 Jul 2019 at 08:08

My car's underside is covered with trays so they can only check the secondary one. As long as they can see at least one and its within limits you wont have an issue tbh

wesimmo · 11 Jul 2019 at 08:39

9designs2 said:
Buy a sports CAT and don’t try and poison everyone.

This!

When I had my MX5 supercharged I had a custom exhaust and they put a removable decat pipe in.

It lasted about a week before I went back, convertibles that run rich while on boost don't work too well if you don't like smelling of petrol and it made me realise how much crap I was chucking out.

neilw · 11 Jul 2019 at 12:40

I've got a Turbo-back BCS Powervalve exhaust on my MK5 Gti with 200 cell cat. It goes through MOT's fine. They add more metals to the cat apparently, so they are expensive (£800 for the DP)

https://www.powervalve.co.uk/

neocon · 12 Jul 2019 at 21:41

Maybe i'll just get a stage 1 remap and dsg remap. Possibly change the intake as well.

DeanT77 · 12 Jul 2019 at 21:53

neilw said:
I've got a Turbo-back BCS Powervalve exhaust on my MK5 Gti with 200 cell cat. It goes through MOT's fine. They add more metals to the cat apparently, so they are expensive (£800 for the DP)

https://www.powervalve.co.uk/

Another shout for BCS here, I have a turbo back system on my S3 8P, it was the first 3 door S3 to have one

After the ******** I saw with Milltek exhausts, which included shoddy fits and the flexi section breaking, BCS stood out massively from the crowd.

I went for the powervalve system which opens the exhaust when you boot it, sounds great

Added benefit is that it doesn't drone on the motorway as off boost it sounds stock.

Just checked when I had it fitted and it was mid 2013 so it's been on the car for a good few years and still does the job well.

I'm not saying this will do the best job on your car as you don't mention what year or model it is so always best to get to a specific forum for your car/engine!

DeanT77 · 12 Jul 2019 at 21:54

neocon said:
Maybe i'll just get a stage 1 remap and dsg remap. Possibly change the intake as well.

Do your homework when it comes to remaps, I'm more of a fan of places like R-Tech than the likes of Revo, from what I have experienced but once again, check what people on your platform are using!

DereksDontRun · 12 Jul 2019 at 23:37

neocon said:
Maybe i'll just get a stage 1 remap and dsg remap. Possibly change the intake as well.

as long as you're not on pcp... (and announce it on YT)

downpipe change "should" past most MOT places, as they will mainly check for the primary cat and emissions, but you need to know that technically it's an automatic failure if you have a knowledgeable MOT tester on a bad day... And, presumably, once it's failed for the downpipe once it's on the car's record, so it could be more likely to be checked in the future...