All you are asking a shop to do is cut a pipe twice, and insert a straight piece of pipe and a couple of clamps. It's SO easy

 

Ya, it's to easy. The shop I went to actually stopped what they were doing to get the quick $40. Didn't take them 30 minutes.

 

yah it definately should not be a hard task.

i talked to one shop that said they could do it. i told them what kind of car i have...they said that they would have to remove the whole exhaust in order to cut the resonator off and weld a straight pipe in its place and that it cant be done while the exhaust is on the car. and therefore they quoted me for a few hours of labor around $170

anybody else call BS that they need to remove the whole exhaust for this mod?

 

bs .

 

lol i doubt it, i'm running completely catless right now and i got my inspection done about a month ago. i have a year to see what happens haha

 

Very much BS... if they say that, they don't know what they're talking about, or they don't know what they're doing. Either or, I probably wouldn't want to take it to them. This is about as much of a straight front to back exhaust system I've ever seen on a car.

My pipe being welded into where the reso was.

 

Thanks for the reinforcement lilred. However, your link sends me to a login page so I cannot view your picture. But ya I will definately not take it to that stupid place!

 

Oops, I'll fix it. Pic is shown on here. EDIT: There, just attached it.

 

excellent. thanks a bunch for the help and pic!
btw lilred, is your exhaust one-balled or just stock 2-balled?

 

You mean cat? It's a JCW, 1 cat.

 

No no I kno it's one cat. I'm talking about the muffler. There are two "mufflers" or "*****" in the back of the stock exhaust. The pipe goes into one muffler, another pipe comes out of that muffler and goes into another muffler on the left side of the car. I've heard some people taking out one of these "*****" and welding the pipe into only the one muffler on the left.

 

No, can't say I know of any Clubman setup like that. It has a Y pipe right about the rear axle location and splits into the 2 mufflers with tips.

 

Its strange how the MCS has 2 cats and the JCW just one in the downpipe yet both have to pass the same emissions test. How is that so can somebody explain ?

 

Removing the second cat doesn't always fail state emissions test? Someone correct me if I'm wrong but it's mainly the primary cat that does all the work. U can take out the secondary and not even get a check engine light. Can't say the same about taking out the primary cat tho

 

I believe the one-ball mod is used for the GEN1 cars...

 

Ahh yes perhaps. I must be mistaken then. My apologies about the one ball comment. Ah i can't wait to get this resonator out tho lol

 

I don't believe there are any oxygen sensors behind the second cat. That's why I wonder what's the point of it on an MCS?

 

Well, same question as a resonater if you think about it. It's mainly to muffle the sound. Not everybody buys a mini Cooper in hopes of it's exhaust being loud. The JCW however ditched the 2nd cat because people who are buying it like the sporty aspect of it. And everybody knows a sports car is not a sports car without some sound and attitude

 

So the second cat on an MCS is pretty much useless

 

I believe it's mainly for sound and a bit of emission restriction. Not enough for an emission inspection to tell because the primary cat does all the work

 

In my car, the resonater did not do what the name implies at all. I can speak for the piping because I haven't been under an R55 S, but the only difference other than possibly that is the 2nd cat delete, and the mufflers/tips.

I was told in europe, the S doesn't even come with the 2nd cat. It does nothing for feedback to the computer cause there's no 02 sensor behind it. I just don't understand why some companies make 2 different aftermarket exhaust systems identical, other than that second cat, and then charge a bit more for it because of that second cat. I'd just get the JCW system to begin with. I've heard something about an adapter to make a JCW fit onto an S, but not sure what that would be either.

 

Btw lilred, a little off topic. But how's your m7 intake? Any noticeable hp difference?

 

I put it on at the same time as their turbo-IC tube, so I'm not sure which one made the most difference... but the the turbo lag is cut down, and the boost comes on more noticeably abrupt. Plus you get the blow off valve "like" sound when you left off the pedal off boost.

My only complaint of the intake itself is the bolt that sticks out below air box that goes through the factory rubber grommet mount has a hole for a pin to go through it. It didn't stay in, so the top of the intake rattles on my JCW strut tower bar sometimes. Very annoying at times. But m7 has told me they are going to send me another pin. Not that it really remedies the problem, but hopefully for now.

 

Cool. Thanks for your input man

 

Np