Powerflow exhausts

[Pillock]

YoHad my local Powerflow dealer knock me up a cat replacement pipe for the golf today, and I'm utterly amazed. It was probably like asking Carol Vorderman to find the square root of 36 but the dude just got on with it, half an hour later one cat in the bin and two feet of stainless steel under the car. They'll make anything for anything, just have a stock of stainless tube, various silencers, a pipe bender, and a weldy thing. I was really impressed to find a place that doesn't just fit bits that arrive on the back of a van, they actually have to, you know, think about stuff.Unfortunately my lambda had died a death - as in two of the wires were missing, which explains the rpm hunting at idle! So I need to go get another, but he didn't have a blanking plug so tomorrow, he's gonna take it back off, weld the nut on for the lambda and refit it for free. Nice.

[trigger]

I went with my mate years ago to Top Gear in St. Albans to get a powerflow system fitted to his 1994 Prelude, they only took a couple of hours from scratch to make and fit the exhaust whist we nipped into the town for a beer, my mate had a choice of tailpipe to pick from as well as how loud he wanted it.It transformed his car and it sounded lovely driving back through the Dartford tunnel and got even better over time as it carboned up.

[Pillock]

I'm really tempted to get them to make the rest of the system, even though it's got a few-month-old GSF jobbie on from the ex-cat back. They look so nice

[Spottedlaurel]

I’ve had a couple of full Powerflow systems on old Datsuns/Nissans, at about £300-350 the cost was equal to just buying the full mild steel system let alone fitting so well worthwhile, plus it should last longer and as Trigger suggests they can tweak the silencers etc to adjust the sound (the 300C’s V6 sounded lovely).My local place also cut out and replaced the failed flexi joint on my Camry, and when the system eventually needs doing on that I shall go stainless. Ditto on the Laurel (which again I’ll get made to sound just a bit more fruity, it being a ‘six’).Power & Performance do them in Norwich. The bloke is well into rods and customs so there’s always other interesting cars to be seen there. I did once have an issue with the joint onto the manifold, but they kept at it until it was done properly.

[mnde]

Hmm this looks interesting... because the GSA's exhaust system is shite. A combination of pattern front pipes, bent intermediate pipe, pipes banging against something, blowing manifold, huge blow from somewhere when driving through standing water.... It would be nice to rip it all off and get something custom made and stainless. The joints between the front pipes and the y pipe are a traditional GS weak spot. I'd not heard of Powerflow, only PD Gough...Mark.

[Minimad5]

Glad this was mentioned, thanks Pillock !As i now know were to go for the Rebel exhaust

[Spottedlaurel]

Benefit with Powerflow is you’re not relying on them having a pattern or supplying from stock, they just make it up to suit with the car up in the air. So they can give a bit more clearance, adjust it to overcome any problem areas or whatever.I suspect the workmanship may vary from one place to another, so try and talk with people who’ve used them before. Some might not be so sympathetic to ‘classics’, for example, if all they do are multiple outlet systems on 1.2 Corsas, etc. There again, they might like the chance to do something a bit more unusual.On some of my cars (and this includes the Camry) there are parts of the exhaust which can’t be obtained as pattern components, and OE stuff is £££’s, so it’s a good option.

[Pillock]

Powerflow are nationwide, although often hidden in fast-fit places - mine is in a Mr Tyre, with only a sign outside saying the manufacture exhausts to give the game away. Quality I guess can differ, although they seem to give the job to just one person at the branch so you won't get a work experience lad waving a welding torch around the fuel tank. I've just been back to have the lambda fitted, nothing more to pay - in fact I even offered, since it took him ages (thanks to me getting the sensor with the wrong plug on....), but they said no.I was therefore forced to write a letter to their head office saying thanks. I like doing that, I love the idea that someone gets dragged into an office with "Oi, we've had a letter about you.... well done"

[GJR 11L]

Glad this was mentioned, thanks Pillock !

 

As i now know were to go for the Rebel exhaust

Nobody, and I mean nobody on this planet, has a pattern, best bet for any small four-wheeler like the Rebel is to ask Fin at R3W about making you up a system using a car from another member as the template.

Cheapest option is the kitten register's stainless systems in 1¼" or 1½" depending on personal taste, not many remaining and the pipe-forming genius who built their stock died a while ago....

[Minimad5]

If i understand correctly, a company such as Powerflow don't go from a pattern, they make there own "in house" exhausts up ?So this "Should not" be a problem (fingers crossed)Thanks for the heads-up though GJR

[Station]

I took my Astra to Peco in Birkenhead a number of years ago and they stuck a whole system on for 60 quid - they hadn't done one before and used it as a pattern for stock exhausts. It wasn't a horrid, loud chavvy one either.

[Pillock]

If i understand correctly, a company such as Powerflow don't go from a pattern, they make there own "in house" exhausts up ?So this "Should not" be a problem (fingers crossed)Thanks for the heads-up though GJR

Yeah, Powerflow dealers have a stock of straight tube, different diameters, and a bending machine. They just work out a rough shape, start bending, test fit, few more bends etc etc. So patterns aren't a problem but you might find quality of "solution" varies from site to site.

[Tayne]

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[GJR 11L]

....you might find quality of "solution" varies from site to site.

Nail on head there. I've heard generally only good things about Powerflow, but the difficulty with the Rebel's system is that there's very little room around the system where it passes through the chassis outriggers and in the bit that tail-exit version have from the section, aft of the rear outrigger, that goes up over the chassis side rail then down, under the back axle. Find a good fabricator and you're home and dry, find one who makes any one bend only a few minutes off the intended angle and it'll rattle annoyingly for evermore. The register's ss systems were made on one car (one of mine as it happened) and even they didn't allow for the differences between individual chassis or the variation in the position of the engine relative to the chassis and inner wings, however, there again, as long as standard mandrel bends aren't used, and you hit lucky with the person doing the bending, then Powerflow should be a winning solution.