Took my '17 SVR to a well-known performance shop to install my VelocityAP catted downpipes today and ran into some issues. While the pipes themselves are of great quality, it seems they're about 1-1.5" too short for the sealing ring to properly mate up to the SVR's midpipes. They would not sufficiently seat into the midpipes without otherwise having to pull the rest of the exhaust forward, thus pushing the tips much further in.

To anyone who's had the VAP 200-cell catted downpipes installed on an SVR, was there any fab work necessary?

 

Floating this to the top to get feedback from someone who has installed the downpipes on an SVR. I'm as capable mechanically as the average enthusiast and I only went to a shop because I don't have a lift. The shop is a very reputable one with a focus on track-prep and larger builds rather than simple bolt-ons, which is puzzling why this was a bigger challenge than anticipated. Unfortunately we didn't take pics of anything during the process and the car is now back to stock.

The pipes themselves are of excellent quality and I was unable to find a single report of fitment issues which leaves me at a loss for options. Perhaps there are additional changes to the SVR and/or variance by build-date?

 

Does the SVR use a different X pipe than the R?

 

The SVR has a totally different exhaust system than the R. (material and design). Hence, no surprise that the VAP downpipes for the R don't work quite right. Talk to Stuart. He will help you sort this out.

 

I've been connected with Stuart, and I must say his communication and overall level of service is among the best one could expect to receive. Truly a stand up guy and I hesitated to post this thread as I don't want to shine a negative light on his products.

The SVR's mid-pipes are different than the R's. However, as far as I know, the OEM catted downpipes are the same exact part number for the SVR and the R. That being said, what's the likeliness that the SVR's mid-pipes don't accept downpipes made for the R if the OEM pipes are interchangeable?

The only other member here who's fitted VAP downpipes to an SVR is cbroth1 and he did not report any issues. They were the catless pipes, however (now I'm thinkin screw it...might as well go catless since I've put in this much time/effort).

 

Yes.

 

The Catalyst/Downpipe sections on the SVR are exactly the same part as all the other FTypes, right up the Base V6. The only difference being that the AWD vs 2WD have a slightly different pipe run where they dog-leg back into the center of the car.

We have fitted these on SVR's, certainly cbroth's car but there's been a handful of others as well.

It isn't all that uncommon for us to get calls from people fitting exhaust center sections - the Aston Martin Secondary cat deletes for example - where they tell us the part is too short. What usually happens is that in order to remove the part, the whole exhaust system has to be shifted rearwards. Often there's tension on the system when it is done up on the car.

It therefore has to be shifted back into place, sometimes loosening off some other areas helps.

 

Thank you, Stuart. To remove the shop as a variable, I'll be having a different shop install the catless pipes when I receive them. I sent you an email.

 

Wanted to update this thread and report that the 200-cell catted pipes are successfully installed. It's beyond me why the first shop had such difficulty but the installation went perfectly smooth without incident the second time around. The owners of both shops know each other well so I'll have them discuss amongst themselves if the opportunity presents itself.

The car sounds like an absolute monster. With the valves open, the tone is deeper in the low-end with a sharper and slightly higher-pitched scream approaching redline, while cruising with the valves closed in standard mode is barely louder than stock. I will say however, cold-start is a bit obnoxious, and my tolerance for volume is on the very high end as I've had several 4-digit HP cars. Stuart, have you explored removing the cold-start sequence from the tune?

Not sure why I can't edit the thread title, but it's definitely misleading and I wouldn't want anyone to have the wrong impression. The pipes fit just fine and the issues were completely due to shop-error the first go around.

 

As I understand it, the valves require vacuum to close - either engine vacuum, or from an electric pump on older cars. Don't know how soon after start there's adequate vacuum to close them, but I suspect a quiet start would be difficult to implement.

 

Cold-start is something commonly defeated by tuners on various other cars (BMW, Corvette, GTR), and the valves are only a small factor in the noise volume. I believe these cars even have the valves closed during cold-start anyway.

Regardless, had some more seat time yesterday. Traction control is now limiting me in 2nd gear and on hard shifts to 3rd, something which did not occur before in the same exact road/weather/tire conditions. I'll have to get it to the track to measure any change, but overall very pleased.

 

Good point.

Note that a lot of the systems on the F-type are 'learning', so throttle response, shift points, etc. may adjust over time to your driving style. Many of us found the exhaust seemed to get a bit louder over time.

 

Hi,
I am considering adding VAP's sport cats to my SVR. Now that you have had them a little while, for a pure daily driver, looking for a little louder and perhaps a little lower tone, would you recommend them?

 

Absolutely. The change in tone can very simply be described as deeper and louder compared to stock. At idle or very light throttle, the increase in volume is minimal, but there is no question at moderate to full throttle. The bark in the mid-range under load particularly is my favorite part.

Recently when the car was in for service, the sound and the quality of the parts themselves drew praise from the crew at the dealer.

Do it. You won't regret it.

 

Best way to tame the Initial hi-rev cold start loudness?

 

Putting the car either in gear or in neutral immediately after starting tames it down significantly. I start it and put it in reverse right away to back out of the garage, but yes...cold-start is very loud otherwise.