problems when lowered 16v

[Hayley Dawes]

I have just recently had my clio 2.0 16v lowered by 30mm front and rear, but the exhaust pipe is rubbing against the ream beam and making a dreadful clanging noise!!!! Could anyone pass on any sugestions as to stop the pipe from rubbing against the rear beam?????

 

[steve_rt]

do a search, this was brought up about 3 weeks ago.

 

[Ben H]

Mines lowered by the same amount, but the exhaust only rubs when Ive got two or more passengers.

 

[night.icon]

you have to get the back box turned a little at the rear to miss the rear axil i had a lot of problems to this problem

 

[Hayley Dawes]

I have tried the search but i dont seem to be getting anywhere fast!!!!

 

[Hayley Dawes]

Sorry i gave out wrong info, it has been lowered by about 45 mm. Does anyone know if i could possibly dent the exhaust pipe with a hammer, just enough so it dosent touch the rear beam??? Also another idea of mine is to put heat wrap around the pipe, enough of it to stop that awful aluminium rubbing noise. Anyones opinoins on these would be much appreciated.

 

[Clio16vPaul]

Its should be able to fit without any clanging, just got to be tweaked... a garage will usually give up on it i ended up doing mine myself and its fine now. the renault standard pipe(im presuming you have?) has a dent in it to clear the beam. im presuming your talking about a williams? if its a 172 i havent got a clue.

what area you in? im sure there will be a few enthusiastic clio owners who would have a look for you if there local!!

heat wrap may damp the sound but its just getting around the problem not removing it... and eave the hammer alone!

 

[Hayley Dawes]

My Clio is a 1.8 shell with a 2.0 litre engine. So i am presuming it is the same as a williams. The pipe has a so called dent in it, but it is still so close to the pipe, the vibrations through the exhaust makes them touch each other. I live in Deal in Kent, if anyone knows where it is!!!

I cant understand how no one else has had this problem. I dont want to twist the exhaust round so it is slanted as it lookd gay from behind ( bit of an inuendo there!!!!)

 

[Clio16vPaul]

yes it will be the same essentially, as of the cat back anyway. I found the brackets are worth replacing (the rubber hangers - make sure you get the right ones) and basically its just a case of jiggling it all around (christ!) under the car from the point where the mid pipe joins the first part of the back section.... that will make sense if you look at it. slacken both parts off and you will have loads of adjustment there just get it with the best clearance you can.

you will find most people have had this problem and theres some really low clios around with no real problems (except when its loaded up in the back).



minibus to kent anyone!

 

[Hayley Dawes]

Ok well give it a go. Thanks for the help.

 

[BenR]

a couple of people have this problem and the easiest solution is to alter the hanger posisitons to lift the exhaust elbow higher.

Just get a hammer and steel rod (extention bar is fine) locate it on the top hanger above the bend, hit it so it moves it up, put the rubber back on and itll be about 1" higher depending how much you hit it.

Dont bother seeing anybody about it, dont bother paying anybody to fix it, just bang the hanger up a tad.

If youve got access to an acetalene torch, you can use this to make life easier, but watch out of rhte fuel tank about 6" away.

 

[The Kirmanator]

This problem now has "Groundhog Day" status on the forum!

Just to add to BenRs suggestions it may be worth getting yourself some cable ties and, if bending the rear hanger doesnt work, buying some super stiff rubber mounts from rally design. You will need 3 in total, the part is called Poly-x-plus. They are shorter and stiffer than the standard ones. Let me know if you need the number.

I had this problem for weeks after my Magnex was fitted, even my local Magnex dealer said they couldnt fix it! I took it to a trusted garage who said the system had be fitted ok but the garage hadnt taken its time to tweek the hangers to make sure it wasnt banging on the rear swing arm. Turns out it was banging in 3 places! The whole system had to moved over to the left of the car looking at it from the back and secured with a couple of cable ties...not even a whisper now......hope you get it fixed cos its bloody annoying...I almost put the old system back on!

 

[Ben j]

oh and a 16v is 55 mm rear drop on one spline

 

[Hayley Dawes]

Hi again, well the rear of mine has been dropped 2 splines, my boyfriend did it for me!!!! So its quite a drop. I did exactly what Ben said about cable ties, and it has worked so far, not sure how long it will work for. If it comes back then i will invest in the rubber mounts from Rally Design.

The strange thing is, is that it is the standard exhaust that came with the car when i bought it. The noise was extremely annoying, but is so quiet now, Ahh blisss!!!!

After all this i am also putting Wolfrace 17 inch alloys on the beast, so should look sexy

 

[6foot6]

at the end of the box where it exits, use some big cable ties on the exhaust hangers and pull the box so that it does not move. Easy, and the cable ties dont melt.



2 min job

 

[Alex M]

16v, willys, they are all the same cat back, I have a K-Tec 4 slashcut, with decat and had a lot of trouble getting it to sit right, without being noisy. Ended up cutting one mount, and adjusting another to get it all nice, however my car runs standard ride height, so you boys with lowering done, might have some joy modifying the hangers, these polyX hangers are good, a half hour with a gas torch and a pit or ramp, will get it sorted

 

[Hayley Dawes]

You boys, what you on about. I am FEMALE, and a good driver at that!!! I drove my boyfriends Peugeot 205 turbo on the santa pod strip, and got 14.9 sec, beat my boyfriends time in his own car, he he. Well dont like to brag.

Anyway, thanks for all the advice from everybody.

 

[DAVE77]

Mines dropped 60mm at the front and 70mm at the rear, and mine doesnt catch.

The 55mm drop at the rear on 1 spline is if you use the outside splines, I found that if you use the inside splines you can adjust the rear suspension to whatever hight you want.

Dave

 

[Ben j]

Quote: Originally posted by DAVE77 on 22 September 2003


Mines dropped 60mm at the front and 70mm at the rear, and mine doesnt catch.

The 55mm drop at the rear on 1 spline is if you use the outside splines, I found that if you use the inside splines you can adjust the rear suspension to whatever hight you want.

Dave

using inside splines? explain?

 

[Ben j]

dunno how u guys a thinking the name HAYLEY is a bloke anyway! fools! what engine is the 205 turbo cause that aint that fast for a turbo???

 

[DAVE77]

The spline on the inside ( where it slides into the bit in the middle of the axle), are a lot smaller than the splines on the outside, so you can adjust the rear suspension a bit more acuratley.

When I first lowered my car, I used the outside splines, but this lowered the car too much. So when I took it apart again (to put it back to standard, so I could take it to be lowered properly) I found that the splines on the inside where a lot smaller, so with a bit of trial and error, I got the rear level with the front, which had been lowered with springs about 6 months earlier.

 

[rsi turbo]

i thought the inside splines were only made to accept the torsion bar in only one position and also arent the outside ones 15mm per spline ??

 

[Jonesy]

mines lowered 70 at front and 60 at back, but its a clio mk2. The ktec exhaust bangs on my back axle, only when i have people in the back, or the roads are bumpy. Ive tried sorting it by moving and adjusting it but didnt really do anything. Ive given up now but im used to it.

 

[Ben j]

Quote: Originally posted by DAVE77 on 23 September 2003


The spline on the inside ( where it slides into the bit in the middle of the axle), are a lot smaller than the splines on the outside, so you can adjust the rear suspension a bit more acuratley.

When I first lowered my car, I used the outside splines, but this lowered the car too much. So when I took it apart again (to put it back to standard, so I could take it to be lowered properly) I found that the splines on the inside where a lot smaller, so with a bit of trial and error, I got the rear level with the front, which had been lowered with springs about 6 months earlier.







and u did it yaself? how easy is it to do?

 

[DAVE77]

Yeah, I lowered my car myself.

The trick is to get a couple of cans of wd40 and a wire brush, make sure you give the insides and outside parts of the torsion bar a good going over with a wire brush (to clean of any surface rust), then give all the linkages a good blast of wd40, youve got to do this about a week before you do the job (so it can get rite into the splines).

Its a good idea to give yourself about 1/2 a day to get it set up right.

Im a bit mechanically minded so to me, it was quite an easy job.

Youll also need a couple of high tensile nuts and bolts, and a few big washers to prise the torsion bars out.

 

[Ben j]

cool cheers mate