Finally managed to remove my downpipe - one sheared bolt and much cursing later, I had to take the midpipe off with it as no amount of swearing would split them. I have now found the problem, there is a nice split around the pipe where it meets the flange (by the turbo). I have been told that it is not worth even considering welding it so I am now looking at what my options are, on a limited ish budget.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/OicNrZtbmss5t3O13
First question is should I go full decat (the uppipe is currently an ebay decat pipe - I will be swapping this out for a standard STI pipe once I have sorted out all of my downpipe woes). If I go this route I can get my broken downpipe bodged together for MOT. I have seen a Japspeed decat downpipe for ~£120, any good?
Do I go sports cat? If so do I look at second hand prodrive downpipes and decat midpipe? I haven't seen many, they appear hard to come by, and if I go this route do I really want to take the risk of buying something old that may fail in the near future. Again Japspeed do a 200 CPI sports cat with integrated midpipe (and required gaskets and fixings) for around ~£250 which is just within budget. But again I know nothing of the quality of them and I don't want to buy twice.
I don't think it is worth staying with standard full cat as I would be looking at upgrading in the future so may as well do it now.
Thanks
