1998 2.0 8v Cuprasport

[canopy_man]

New to this board so please be patient!

I own a 1998 8v 2.0 Cuprasport. Until 3 weeks ago it had the original standard exhaust (only 50,000 miles and totally 100% original car). Anyway it was replaced by the garage as the old one was blowing and was an MOT failure. They fitted a steel (not stainless) copy exhaust (£177 rip-off?) which was far more on show than the discrete original. I noticed the exhaust tail was tight to the underside of the bumper. I thought nothing more of it, but it was much noisier than the old one with a hole in it!

Anyway, over the weekend the rear silencer started to knock against something whilst driving. I popped it back to the garage today (non-franchise) and they took a look. I pointed out the touching tailpipe and said I would not accept them 'chopping' out the bumper. Guess what they did! And what's worse, it now sounds like a total bag of nails. It sounds really grumbly. The knocking noise was apparently caused by some sort of rubber 'buffer' pad which is attached to the body to stop the rear silencer from knocking......they reckon they cured the knocking but its even worse!

As for the general exhaust noise, they reckon it is to do with it being a new exhaust (I smell lots of BS!)

They replaced the mid and rear silencers. Have they bodged another Ibiza model exhaust to fit? Or even a Polo exhaust?

Is the 2.0L 8v Cuprasport exhaust unique to that car?

Feeling fed up about it all. Advice pls? Should I get an original Seat exhaust? How much for back and mid section? (I am not interested in a stainless steel or performance exhaust. A bog standard one will do me fine).

A penny for your thoughts??

 

[Smithy]

Jesus. I had dilema's with my exhaust back in summer, sounds like same symptoms.

Some of the cheap manufactors that supply "copies" have sh1t copies basically. The problem is with mid section joining rear back box, some manufactorers supply the parts with same bore size, so one can't sleeve the other. There is a sleeve on the orig exhaust, and the garage probably re-used it. But this isn't a riggid enough solution, and when the exhaust gets hot, it expands and there's a lot of movement. The whole exhaust system expands towards the back of the car and the back box starts knocking all over the place.

In the end, Pro Tyre got a part from another manufacturer, which had a different diameter to the backbox. My backbox was still chopped very slightly as the tail pipe petruded and I wasn't going to accept them cutting the rear skirt. I think with the correct mid-section the backbox lines up and fits a lot better too, sorted in the end

 

[16v-cuprasport]

ive had to buy a new exhaust system for my Cupra...........ive had the same things before as above with other cars............so i bit the bullet and went down the local dealer.......with engine/chassis numbers and ordered one........cos was....to say the least not cheap...but fit was just like it came off the factory in 1997..........i lot of money yes...........but am a pickie bugger and hate knocks and rattles.

 

[C11PRA DC]

Try this place:

http://www.exhaustshack.co.uk/?source=googleadwords

£60 notes inc del. for an OEM bosal rear box!!

 

[hopkinsgm]

Sounds to me very much like you've actually had a back box for a 93-96 model fitted - the rear bumper was different and the pipe exited though a cut-out in the bumper. 97-99 models have no such cut-out in the bumper, so the tailpipe points downwards and is pretty stealthy.

I had a pattern exhaust fitted to my '99 when it collapsed between the mid section and the back box - a common rot trap, and as the back box is only supported from one side, once this area starts rotting out, the weight of the back box helps tear the pipe apart. Nice design Seat...

Incidentally, the OE pipe is one section from the cat back, and while in theory it *is* possible to cut the pipe off and just replace the back box to the OE mid section, it doesn't work very well.

An aluminsied steel replacement for everything cat back for my car came in at less than £200, which I didn't think was at all bad. Fit is excellent, and i've not heard it knock any more than the OE system did before it collapsed as described above - after it collapsed, it knocked loads, but fortunately the exhaust was that fecking noisy you didn't really hear it...

 

[canopy_man]

Thanks for the reply hopkinsgm. My further investigations suggest you are 100% correct. They have fitted an early exhaust to a late car.

It is apparently going to be corrected tomorrow! We'll wait and see. Strangely enough, we are coming up to Swindon on Saturday........ via Devizes, hopefully in the Cupra if it is fixed!

Regarding my hacked up bumper, any ideas? The final bottom trim appears to be a separate item but it apparently is not........whole new bumper then?

Should I suggest to the garage that they tidy up the 'cut' and they fit some fancy exhaust (with an oval end) that at least looks half decent? At least it saves (the garage) the cost of a new bumper.

 

[hopkinsgm]

Can't be 100% sure as it's been a while since i've looked, and I can't even pop out to check my car as it's in Swindon and i'm not but IIRC the lower trim is made of a black slightly rubbery plastic, different from the main bumper. But i think the pieces are bonded together, effectively making them a single part. So to do the job right, yes, it's going to need a new bumper. Going for an aftermarket exhaust that would fill the recently created hole is an option to tidy things up a bit, but depending on what gets fitted, you may find that it makes a right old racket (tho that may be your bag - personally I don't like fat tailpipes, but that's just me).

Another option that *may* appeal and look a bit more OE and not quite so boy racer would be to get your helpful exhaust fitters to fit a back box from a mk3 Ibiza 20vT - this had twin pipes, and on a mk3 exited from a recess in the rear bumper. I don't know if the recess part might be available as a seperate item that could be fitted into a modified mk2 bumper. Or for that matter, it should be possible to bolt a mk3 back bumper straight on...

 

[canopy_man]

Thanks hopkinsgm. Noisy boy racer exhausts are not my thing at all. As quiet as possible pls! I suppose the means a totally standard unit?

 

[hopkinsgm]

it suggests something OE-ish or pattern part. something else you may want to consider... stainless exhausts don't "soot up" to anything like the extent (or anything like as quickly) that mild steel ones do. Soot collecting on the inside of the exhaust damps down any vibration of the pipe, so mild steel exhausts tend to get quieter in the first month or so and then stay at about that sort of volume until they fall apart. Stainless exhausts tend to retain that "pingy" tone a lot longer, and as a general rule tend to be a bit louder anyway, even without the sooting up issues.

One thing that does stick in my mind is that the mid section is actually very important from a noise point of view. Several of the aftermarket systems suffer from resonating mid sections at motorway cruising speeds, which would probably make them pretty tiresome to live with on a lengthy journey.

The good news about going for an OE type system is that it's actually a fairly efficient arrangement anyway - there's not much in the way of power gains to be had by fitting some enormous pipe on the back. Being 2 inch pipe throughout helps...

 

[canopy_man]

UPDATE:

Thanks for all the help. The garage managed to source the correct copy rear section (a nice BOSAL one), but none of his wholesalers sell the middle section. Apparently it is 'in development'. I guess the demand is too low??

Or is it? Does anyone know where they can source a decent 97-99 middle box? I know it is on one or two websites, but are they actually available?

The exhaust is not blowing anymore, but the early model middle box is a bit boomy at motorway speeds.

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[m0rk]

it's not that it's the early model, it's that it's made of thinner steel & the baffles aren't 'so good'

 

[Smithy]

same midsection as the 1.9 TDI and older 1.8 16v irc

In developement my arse

 

[Scoby]

New to this board so please be patient!

They fitted a steel (not stainless) copy exhaust (£177 rip-off?)

I had that problem when i got my Ibiza, it was not an original SEAT exhaust and it knocked like f**k. Anyway the garage i purchased it from replaced it with an original and I have not had any problems since.