Exhaust leaks after up pipe install

Recently picked up a 2005 legacy gt from a friend of a friend for cheap. It had the catted stock up pipe and 180k miles on it. I decided to replace it with an invidia up pipe.

 

Did a bunch of research and decided to drop both exhaust headers whith the crosspipe attached. Mainly because it meant buying less exhaust gaskets. I used all new grimmspead gaskets for both headers, the bottom and top of the up pipe and the downpipe.

 

I also had to pull the turbo completely out because when it was recently replaced the shop installed some random oil drain tube with worm clamps and it was leaking. I swapped that out for a stock tube with new spring clamps instead.

 

Reinstalled everything with the new grimmspead gaskets (the 20% thicker ones). I torqued everything down to 26 lb feet on the headers, up pipe and down...

 

Started it up, no cell so I apparently got the 2.2k resistor installed correctly. And there a ton of smoke coming from the engine. I wasn't too worried at first because I did spill a bunch of coolant on the engine when removing the turbo. I checked all of the connections where I installed new gaskets and all of them were smoking. Do new gaskets smoke at first? Is it possible that I screwed up so much that I now have 5 separate exhaust leaks?

 

I let the car heat up a bit idling and then shut it off. I'm afraid to drive it like this. I'm probably going to loosen everything up and then re-torque it again....I feel like I caused more problems than I solved with this repair

Apparently Google was failing me earlier when I was trying to research this. I just found some good posts about torque order and using some copper rtv. I'll have to disassemble and try it again.

Your results will likely be much better if you toss that Invidia POS and install a used STi UP.

Did you wrap the up pipe? If so wrap will smoke for a while. Unless you have excessive blow by or other mechanical problem exhaust leak shouldn’t look like smoke but more noticeably make noise.

Im thinking the smoke was more from coolant burning off and possibly some residual pb blaster burning off.

 

After looking at the headers it looked more like exhaust coming out of a car that hasn't warmed up yet. Like Soo much was escaping that it was almost like I didn't have the headers on at all. I did not wrap the up pipe so that isn't an issue. I'm going to pull everything apart, clean the contract surfaces and then finger tight everything. Then follow a torque order I found on a wrx forum.

I'm going to be replacing my crossover and up-pipe gaskets with the grimmspeed ones here soon. Do you mind posting the link you found for the torque order?

I'm going to be replacing my crossover and up-pipe gaskets with the grimmspeed ones here soon. Do you mind posting the link you found for the torque order?

 

I can't find the link anymore but here's the instructions I copied to my phone so I could reference them while working on it.

 

 

1. Finger-tighten the top up-pipe flange enough to contact the gasket only. Do not tighten with a wrench yet.*

2. Finger-tighten the passengers side*exhaust*manifold. Do not tighten with a wrench yet.

3. Tighten the bolts connecting the up-pipe to the passengers side*exhaust*manifold. Use a wrench and tighten fully.

4. Finger-tighten drivers side*exhaust*manifold to the cylinder head. Do not use wrench yet.

5. Tighten the passengers side*exhaust*manifold to the driver side*exhaust*manifold. Use a wrench and tighten fully.

6. Tighten the three nuts on the top of the up-pipe connecting it to the turbocharger. Use a wrench and tighten fully.

7. Tighten both*exhaust*manifolds at the cylinder heads. Use a wrench and tighten fully.

8. Tighten the two nuts on the top of the up-pipe (brackets) connecting the turbocharger to the motor. Use a wrench and tighten fully.

 

 

Seemed to work too. I don't seem to have any leaks now. I skipped the crossover pipe steps as I didn't loosen those bolts.

 

Now I need to install a ptp turbo blanket as the car didn't have a turbo heatehield when I bought it. I found a torn boot on one of the front axels so I need to swap an axel in. And I have shifter bushings to install. But it runs now. Feel a little dumb though, It through a P0031 code because I started it before plugging in the front O2 sensor. Oops.

Your results will likely be much better if you toss that Invidia POS and install a used STi UP.

 

Ran Invidia for 30k miles or so with 0 issues. Just use two gaskets at the header.

Ran Invidia for 30k miles or so with 0 issues. Just use two gaskets at the header.

 

Seemed high quality to me. Welds liked good.came with a plug for the egt bung and all the studs. The grimmspead gaskets worked good. Just needed to tighten things in the right order. Car comes under boost about 500 rpm sooner which seems about right from what I read.

I also have had good results with that up pipe. I will say after 5 or 6 years I had to remove it and have the bottom flange welded. My buddies body shop did that for me.

 

I also bolt the turbo to the up pipe, makes it easier to remove with the turbo or the up pipe without removing the turbo.

Invidia UP=JUNK. The bottom flange is not aligned correctly when welded. They refuse to stand behind them.

Invidia UP=JUNK. The bottom flange is not aligned correctly when welded. They refuse to stand behind them.

 

Is this a fairly new development? My 2013 one fit fine and didn't crack, I think accidentally double up the gasket at the header to up pipe helped. Only reason I removed it is because I went with EQL header, but then got a GS header with up pipe after (which sounds like it has an exhaust leak now )

I was having issues sealing up my DP and the passenger manifold. I got the grimm double thick as well. Not knowing exactly where theit leak was my issue. I jacked up the car, sprayed soapy water all over the gasket areas. Fired up the car and quickly slid under to find the leaks. It was mainly one area on the manifold that had some rust. Got some cleaner and sand paper and was able to fix it quickly. That should at least tell you where the leak is so you are not wasting time.