This is the blue insulation foam. I needed to fill a 2" gap and Bryce just happened to have a right-sized scrap of 2" foam.
I wasn't really thinking about the foam being susceptible to shrinkage from the bed liner. It didn't much care for the 3M contact cement either.
The whole thing is sort of a proof-of concept/prototype. It will probably be different materials when (if!) I make a final version.

The grill on there now is the one that I had on my first 99, the 73 X7. It was a hoot selling the original to Peter, especially since he said it was for his own 99, not a museum car. Plus, he had already bought 2 I had for sale at Michael Lilly's tent.

Thanks for the well wishes for Bogus! I need to pick up 2 secs to break 2 minutes. If the splitter helps through the Esses, Sky and The Rocks, I may get it. Weather calls for much cooler temps next week, let's hope that holds...

After being dormant all winter, I finally swapped out the blown turbo a couple of weeks ago with another used 9000 unit.

When I went out for a test, and the flange ring cracked. I must have over-tightened it.

Anyway, seemed like a good time to rebuild the downpipe completely as there was no way to repair the ring.

I ordered all the parts last weekend and they all arrived over the week while I was out of town.

I got the wastegate installed and housing clocked the way I wanted on Friday after work, got a late start on Saturday after going to a friend's Society for Creative Anachronism event.

Besides the 2.5" V-Band wastegate, I got a 2.5" donut, a U-bend, and flex section.
I picked up 5' of 2.5 from a local exhaust shop and started cutting...



The upper pipe is an original 99T headpipe, the middle is my old one.

I've had this exhaust for nearly 15 years and you can see the exhaust shop bents are not the best. This is compared to to the old factory 99T headpipe...

So here it is, roughed out...





I've got other chores today, so I'll finish welding it this week.

John

Looking good. I like the minor chassis mod to free up some room. Where did you find the wastegate flapper flange with V-band?

squaab99t wrote:Looking good. I like the minor chassis mod to free up some room. Where did you find the wastegate flapper flange with V-band?

Yeah, I wanted to see how few bends I would need...
I cut it back apart today and added more bend. I'll weld that up later.

The wastegate flange came off Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Godspeed-Garrett- ... ge_o02_s00

Nice work!

When I was doing some planning for my own DP situation I was curious why you don't see more flex joints on c900 exhaust systems and chalked it up to the odd engine layout but thats cool to see you've got one in there.

Looking great John!

Thanks for the encouragement!
I've never tried anything like this as the car has always been about "what can I bolt on from the junk yard".

Seeing all the fab work done here, I figured I take a shot at it.

The suggestion for a flex section came from my VW buddy, Bryce. Seemed like a really good idea, minimal cost.

I still had materials left over yesterday, so I started a new elbow coming off the turbo as I didn't like the body clearance.

I cut a new 147.5° elbow from my donut (the original was 135°) then another section of U bend with the same angle.
It's a big improvement for clearance, but the wall thickness of this U bend was much thinner than the first. I'm a really poor welder and the thin material (especially on the outside of the bend) is screwing with me, so I've already got a new bend on the way that will have thicker walls.

Hopefully, I can have rev 2 roughed out Friday after work with finish on Sat-Sun??

John

99Super wrote:Thanks for the encouragement!
I've never tried anything like this as the car has always been about "what can I bolt on from the junk yard".

Seeing all the fab work done here, I figured I take a shot at it.

John

It just takes getting in there and doing it. The more you do it the better it comes out and becomes quicker to do.
Sometimes junkyard parts only get you so far. You kinda get forced into a direction the parts initially came from. Don't get me wrong oem parts are pretty tough as they have to withstand many many miles and someone who does not know or give a crap what is under the hood.
That exhaust flange fitting is a killer deal even with the shipping charge. Internal wastegates offer some nice packaging over ext wastegates. You might want to consider another flex between the gear box mount and the turbo. A lot of tubing there and it will want to grow and shrink due to thermal.

squaab99t wrote:Sometimes junkyard parts only get you so far.

True.

That said, they got me this far almost exclusively, and the car holds it's own against all but the quickest factory sedans.

I love being able to say, "It's all stock SAAB"

I think the first crack was Luke's Panhard rod, then the Quaife, then Luke's shifter, plus some aftermarket slotted/drilled rotors. Only the Quaife adds any real performance value.

After this is done, I'll try to optimize the T5.2 tune a bit, then declare HP victory for the sake of the gearbox...

Got a new U-bend yesterday and got after it again...





All Done!

Fantastic work. Pretty nice layout and your cuts look good at the joints. Not cheated to make up angle.
The bend off the turbo flanges looks like one of those spun donuts? Is that what that is and if so, do you have to weld up the seam on the major diameter?

Thanks Dennis!

After going back through your thread, I really wanted to be sure to have all my cuts good and square.

I can see a few things I could improve on, but I'm really happy w/the results.

The donut came off ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/191767740013?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

The material is pretty thick, 12-14 ga., where the rest of the tubing is 16ga. It appears to be two stampings welded together, and solidly so. If I had the time to make it pretty, I'd grind the welds and coat it like yours. I've got some chores this morning, but I plan to get out for a test a little later.

99Super wrote:Thanks Dennis!

After going back through your thread, I really wanted to be sure to have all my cuts good and square.

I can see a few things I could improve on, but I'm really happy w/the results.

The donut came off ebay:

I would not grind them. Roll with what they are.

Kinda humble to hear I'm the gold standard.