last year my exhaust started blowing at the back box, i wanted a quick fix, so went to the scrap yard and found a useable one... quick fix eh? been a yorkshireman i wanted it as cheap as possible, so said ill remove it myself. wow back box and mid section one complete unit, axle off to remove
still i needed a quick fix so got it home - axle off my car old one out - new one in - job jobbed

now the flexi pipe at the front has gone so i sound like one of those youthfull chavs with a pipe too large for their cars sputtering and backfiring down the road.

learning my lesson this time, i did the sensible thing and decided to replace the whole lot with a new one.
some cleverperson clearly realised that removing axles isnt much fun so made aftermarket exhausts in more sections - i ordered a new back box and mid box and the flexi pipe fixing, all arrived quickly and i thought 'yay' - wentto fit it to find that the front is 1 large section containing the cat, that comes as an aftermarket 2 section - so the cat should be here this week and that should leave me with the full lot from the downpipes new and eliminate any further leaks and blows

now onto my question -
the section coming from the downpipes, the section with the 2 pipes and the large flange with 5 or 6 bolts. is there an easy-ish way to access this that im missing. there are bolts at the top that im going to be in the engine bay to get at - just behind the airfilter but in such a place that my hands will barely fit down the gap between the head
and under the car also looks like excessively difficult access.

 

I'll be honest I'm not entirely sure what you're asking lol.

1.8 non-turbo, right? Are you trying to replace the catalyst or the flex pipe or both? I don't know much about N/A 1.8's as we never got them here in the states. Do you have two catalysts over across the pond, in addition to the resonator and back muffler?

 

its a 1.8 se ... so non turbo
im changing out the entire exhaust as i say above

the old pipe isnt an issue, an angle grinder will remove most of it

the issue is - in the attatched picture
this is the exhaust for a NA audi - this is where your turbo will be
to this bolts the section of pipe with the flexi section, that connects to the cat - to the mid and finally back box.

i guess im looking for an easy way to gain access to the bolts that on Your turbo model, bolt the exhaust pipe to the turbo as access is limeted from above and below.

if you dont have the NA engine over there however there is no guarentee the pipe meets at the same point

it may be just the case that im going to just have to take off the wheel and see what i can access through the wheel arch

 

Ahhh gotcha, that picture helped a lot. The best way I've found to access those bolts is from the bottom with a long *** extension (or in my case, three 6" extensions stuck together) on a 3/8" drive ratchet. Getting to them from the top is almost impossible, and on US spec cars the bolts are oriented in such a way that they come out from the bottom anyway.

 

it was only accesible from the top. done it today, had to remove the airbox and hoses and that little heat shield on the side of the head. a little bit of a squeeze and the bottom bolt was a pain but its all done now, there was no way i could access from underneath. sounds like a car again now, not a tank.
thanks

 

Interesting the differences between turbo and n/a, sorry about the misdirection. Glad you got it sorted!

 

they seem to be pretty rare the normally aspirated ones, every search on google pulls up info on turbo models only.
i thought about turboing it before but the car is really clean in all standard trim.
will be worth more left standard and looked after - one day lol

just the coolant flange to sort out now and ill be happy with it again, problem free