Is there any downside to welding these things together? My downpipe is like this too, and its not on the car yet so now is as good a time as any to do that...

PROS: Doesn't leak. Doesn't come apart.

CONS: Pain in the fucking ass to take out depending on your turbo and downpipe size.

DO NOT WELD IT BEFORE YOU INSTALL IT THE FIRST TIME. Otherwise no guarantee that it will fit at all. Install it, get the exhaust installed and seated where you want it, then have someone put a tack weld on it. Remove-> Weld the rest of it-> GLORY.

3" on a 2560.
Definitely plan to weld it at some point. It seems like a very irritating failure.

haha, call it what you want, but this is what happened:
Attachment 189764

And I'm not sure that would be the simplest and cheapest method. Welding it was pretty much free, and I didn't have to run to the store :)
I can also cut the nuts off the pipe, and gain that much more clearance.

Do you have a hoist or are willing to remove the hotside to take the dp off?

I only have a floor jack so I found a better fastener and have had no problems for over a year, 10000mi with some track time.

See post 11 for diagram.

For those of you that still have the bolt/nut combo, and are having problems with the nut coming loose, you could just tack the bolt to the nut (so it can't back out). That way, if you ever need to take the thing apart again, you just cut the stupid bolt and take the 2 halves out. Replace it with new hardware after that, and you should be good to go.
I kinda wish I thought of that before welding the 2 downpipe sections together... oh well, they are just tacks.

Bringing back somewhat dead thread.

Has anyone successfully removed the DP as one unit from the bottom without taking the turbo off? The DP fit on another car, and pulled out as one unit from the top. I really want to weld this thing, I don't want to fight this issue if I don't have to. I'd do it myself but its not on the car yet.

Was thinking of doing what someone else on here did, coat hanger through the loop.

I was able to fish that thing in/out through the top many times. It takes a few tries to figure out how you have to turn it to accomplish it, but its possible and relatively quick once you get it figured out.

This was with a 1.6 though. YMMV of course. I did the coat hanger method and it lasted a long time like that before I took it apart to sell the setup. Many autocrosses and a track day if memory serves me correctly.

Getting it from the top was pretty simple with the turbo out of the way, but I didn't try to get it from the bottom which is what I would rather do.

Errr, may weld it. I don't see myself dropping the downpipe THAT often*
*now that I said that, I'm going to have to remove it a billion times.

Just give it a few quick tack welds. It doesn't have to be a full 360* weld.
BTW, I JUST got my downpipe bolt a week ago. BEGi- Home of the incredibly slow parts delivery... and they are OK with that.

Yea, unless it leaks from the slip joint.

Yeah, well if you think about it, its not sealed there anyway even with the bolt. I just shoved a jack under my back half and jacked the pipe up until it was well compressed (mocked using the bolt basically) and gave it 3 or 4 healthy tacks. Mine doesn't leak.:dunno:

Another vouch for the rusty coat hanger. The evidence burned off in a few thousand miles. Lasted longer than my engine.

Metal zip ties failed.

Put TWO coathangers in. WORKS.

So fucking stupid.

If it makes any difference now, mine is held together by the metal zip tie solution as that bolt location makes no logical sense. It seems to like the metal zips.

My 2.75" on a 2554 is welded. No problem taking out from above.