My Car: Bull-X Volkswagen MK7 Golf R Cast Outlet Downpipe w/ Install Guide

Bull-X Volkswagen MK7 Golf R Cast Outlet Downpipe, $899 from Emmanuele Design since I also got the Cat. Here’s the thread I started that exhaustively goes through the install with a ton of photos. Probably the best place to get everything in its full form if you’re curious.

Overall, I’m happy. No CEL, turbo spool up is insanely fast. It just feels like the car can finally breathe and take advantage of a full power band…can’t wait to get it tuned on Monday!

Here are a few photos below and the instructions. I’m making this a “read more” entry because it’s a LOT of content to go through but you’ll be able to successfully remove the stock MK7 Golf R Downpipe and replace it with an aftermarket one with no problem using this guide.

The Bull-X Catted Downpipe for MK7 Golf R is personally, the first downpipe I’ve ever had that’s aftermarket. The MK6 R was my first turbo vehicle so you should take this review with a grain of salt. Ahead of the purchase, I spent a lot of time on YouTube and forums reading as much as possible about downpipe and what I should expect. Here are a few assumptions I had:

• Noise. I expected a lot of cabin noise even at idle and some rumble as well as a lot of noise when opening things up and aggressively hitting the throttle.
• Cabin Heat. Call me crazy but a larger downpipe and (after tune) increased boost would lead to a very hot downpipe.
• It’s larger and I assumed I’d feel some heat near my pedal foot back to where my right leg is.
• Vibrations at idle or at certain areas of the power band or when on a bumpy road I’d hear the pipe hitting the bottom of the car a bit Hotter engine bay

Short thoughts: I drove the car today for 40 minutes from local 25MPH roads to 70MPH Interstates with 2-3 hard pulls with the heat on and radio off. No vibrations, no noises that were not straight up engine noise amplified by the larger downpipe. I did feel that the area under my shifter / cup holders was pretty warm and I have no idea if it’s related to the DP because I’ve never had one aftermarket before. The noise was way louder than I expected. I’m happy with the noise level and can’t imagine ever getting an aftermarket exhaust. Anyone getting exhaust w/o a downpipe is crazy. get the DP first and then see you want more. This is without doing a VCDS coding to force all exhaust valves open at once. Inside the cabin, you really hear a lot more (i have the sound actuator disabled) and with the windows down, people hear you coming if you’re really riding the throttle but don’t if you’re just cruising. There’s a loud rumble at idle.

Power: Keep in mind I installed all of these at the same time: GFB DV+ Spulen Throttle / Turbo Outlet Pipe 034 Motorsport Aluminum Dogbone Insert Mount and Downpipe

• The turbo spools up so freaking fast. It’s kind of ridiculous how quickly I’m at 20 PSI. This engine just breathes at a new level that I didn’t think was possible.
• The throw you back in the seat feeling isn’t there but I’m not surprised. This car has zero software modifications / tuning.
• I think the car is quicker but it’s not some night and day experience.
• In the video (posted later) I comment on how hot the engine was. After a while pulling hard @ highway speeds with a few different gears, I got home and the engine bay is much cooler. I was revving @ idle and that caused the bay to be much hotter than normal.
• The DP has no heat shield or protection itself while the VW one does. I’m pretty sure there’s a reason VW has this. It made the VW DP very hard to take out but I kind of wish this one had more heat shield built into the welding.
• There are also 4 bolts that the VW DP screws into between the clamp @ turbo and the harnesses under the car. The bull-X doesn’t have these. Why?

I’m sure the UM tune will take this thing to another level. If you’re keeping the car stock (no tuning) and getting a DP, $899 isn’t money well spent. You’re getting more power, noise, it feels great but it’s a lot to spend on a hunk of metal. I guess the same can be said for those exhaust systems or $400 Air Intakes but this one really needs to be paired with a tune.

The most amazing thing is that this DP on my golf R didn’t throw a CEL. In fact, given all of the hardware installed @ once and 40 minutes of driving and I didn’t have a single service warning. I’m posting my VCDS log file below for you guys to browse because maybe I’m missing something?

My oil temp averaged 2-5 degrees higher than normal. Coolant temp was normal.

Install:

if you have an MK7 Golf R and you want to install the Bull-X downpipe, here’s what Emmanuele Design LLC gave me over email on removing the VW OEM Downpipe:

• – Disconnect v-band at turbo
• – Remove 2 8mm nuts holding on CV shield (a ball head allen works best here)
• – Remove M8 (IIRC) triple square to remove driveshaft shield
• – Remove 12mm nuts holding downpipe bracket to block
• – Remove 3 10mm 12-point bolts holding in driveshaft (need long extension and swivel)
• – Remove two 15mm bolts holding doggone to block
• – Push engine towards front of the car to free driveshaft, Swing driveshaft all the way to the driver side
• – Remove 13mm bolts on downpipe bracket and 13mm sleeve clamp
• – Remove downpipe

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Installing the Bull-X is the opposite except you don’t need to reconnect the 12MM Nuts holding downpipe to block. I found it to be 4 that had to be removed. Turn the DP connection to resonator until you have a good gap between DP & the heat shield and don’t over tighten the clamps. I did notice that the clamp connecting DP to my turbo went way tighter than I would have expected. I thought surely I was going to over tighten and screw up the thread. Instead, I saw a picture from another Bull-X install and realized I had a ways to go on that tighten.

Here are a few more exchanges with Emmanuele’s group:

We have a number of customers running the catted version with no tune, and they have reported CEL-free operation. So I would say you’ll be fine without a spacer. We can refund the spacer cost if you prefer. (They were right. I didn’t need the spacer)

Me:

Hi team. I’m totally stuck. Myself and my mechanic are working on this on a Sunday and I can’t get the OEM downpipe out. That’s my problem but the Golf R’s drive shaft for the rear wheels is just totally in the way. They were helpful as you guys here were as well that drive shaft had to be removed.

Them (re: so few bolts getting BullX DP connected versus stock DP):

No, that connection is not needed as the downpipe bolts to the block at the turbo. To bolt to the block as well would minimize the flex joint movement too much. I can call you in a bit to discuss install if you’d like.

For the DP + Heat shield/ O2 Sensor being too short after install:

You need to rotate the bent section to add more clearance there. You can also bent the heat shield back a bit to increase clearance.

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Also, the O2 will reach the harness. We do not clip the lowest clip but clip into the other ones. The wire is wrapped from the factory to be heat resistant. If you have any questions, please reach out to me as we have installed dozens of these.

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I am happy to help. What you want to do it connect the bent section at both ends but do not tighten it. Then rotate it to find a good clearance from the center heat shield. Once you have clearance, I would still use a long screw driver to bend back the shielding in that tunnel, as heat will cause the downpipe to expand. I would also bend up the shielding a bit where it ends below the driveshaft (toward the rear).

As you guys can see, I’ve never done my own car work before. Haven’t even changed the oil so the customer support from Emmanuele was fantastic and they walked me through everything. Note though I had access to unlimited tools and a hydraulic lift for 3 straight days so I certainly had an ideal situation for this to go okay with some patience.

When bending heat shields, you can bend things back as long as you don’t go too crazy. Here are some pictures below that I’ve captioned for you guys:

Removing the stock downpipe



That’s quite a heat shield that’s fastened to a few screws that are very hard to get to…you’re gonna want to do all of this stuff when the car is very cooled down. None of the DPs I saw have these heat shields / extra connections to the car. A bit worrying


OEM Downpipe harnessed to car


Disconnected from Resonator (I did this a little too prematurely). Keep a note of how tight the screws are on things you’re going to replace. It’s good to have an idea of how tight to screw things back in





This is ME trying to take out the downpipe like an idiot for the next 2-3 hours

STILL TRYING!!!!……




There’s a joke in here somewhere. I spend 2 hours watching GTI MK7 Downpipe videos but those dudes don’t have a drive shaft!!!




I start this thread and my prayers are answered.


OOOOH disconnect the drive shaft??!?! Um…How?


Well, unscrew 3 bolts holding it in place. You’ll need a wrench with a very long extension and the right connector for the job. If you turn both front wheels together (you’ll need long arms or a buddy), you can turn the shaft holder shown above (this is the front of the car) and get to all 3 bolts without having to move the heat shield completely off the drive shaft


This part was way harder than I’m making it look. Russ has a gigantic crowbar against the engine AFTER we’ve unscrewed two large bolts that hold the dog bone in place. We unscrewed the 3 drive shaft screws, then the 2 dog bone bolts then crow bar the engine swinging it forward about 1.5 inches. while he was doing that with all of his weight, I’m busy pushing the drive shaft off to the side. Here’s the secret to getting the drive shaft to move over toward the drive side….turn it counter clockwise. Just pushing on it even if freed from the engine will still not move it.



DONE! 


Disconnecting the O2 sensor from stock downpipe

to get the stock downpipe out, you still need to remove a heat shield covering ABS / CV joint area AND you’ll have to bend in that heat shield that was formerly covering the drive shaft. It bends back if you aren’t too rough on it. 

SUCCESS YOU’VE REMOVED THE DP!!!

Installing the aftermarket is really easy. Despite being larger, it has no heat shield connected (very concerning) and is just lighter and easier to handle. I brought it up through he hole about half-way, installed the O2 sensor, hooked it up into the lower engine harness rubber footy thing and then attached clamp into turbo.

Then you just need to get all of the pipes to work together in unison. The two included clamps hold the DP to 3″ extension pipe to a 3″ to 2.5″ converter that goes into the resonator. Then you can use the stock VW clamp for that 2.5″ extension to resonator. If you have a 3″ aftermarket exhaust, you won’t need that 3 to 2.5 thingy.

Keep in mind the DP will expand when hot so clear the heat shield especially that hump where the DP connects to the 3″ extension pipe.

Here are a few after photos:

















It’s a GTI but anyone on the fence about doing this themselves, this video did make me feel a bit more confident. It’s all about reducing DIY anxiety.

Here’s my VCDS Log from a scan after I drove 40 minutes home after installing everything: No check engine light but the car certainly detects some changes were made.