197 Exchaust Manifold - Banging on Anti Roll Bar?

[Daverb]

I'm looking at buying a 197 - it's making a strange noise pulling away - a rumbling sound from down under the footwell area.

The company I'm buying the car from say they have now fixed it. The exhaust manifold where it has 2 pipes had sagged and was rubbing against the anti roll bar. They have welded it to straighten it again and it now no longer makes the noise / rubs off the anti roll bar.

I have searched on Cliosport and no one ever seems to have mentioned it as a problem.

Does it sound viable? Has anyone had this problem before?

 

[Yiannis197]

First time I hear this. Is that even possible?

I've heard of manifolds touching the subframe but not the OEM ones but the aftermarket (Toyo). This can be rectified using an after market lower engine mount or Powerflex bushes on the existing one.

Maybe your mounts are knackered causing excessive engine movement? Are you sure you've got the OEM manifold on?

 

[Chris]

Sounds a bit fishy to me, never heard of one sagging, not entirely sure thats even possible, I've had one off the car and they are very rigid. Have you HPI checked the car, has it had an accident repair and they have not repaired this?

 

[Daverb]

They say it's HPI clear.

I wonder if the engine mount at the rear is knackered and the exhaust is hitting off the subframe not the anti roll bar?

Ive not bought the car yet but have put a deposit down.

 

[Daverb]

From this picture it does look perfectly possible. Especially with a knackered engine mount. I wasn't sure how the exhaust was routed.

http://www.zcars.com.au/images/clio-renault-sport-197-f1-team-r2712.jpg

 

[Chris]

Thats a decent picture and handy to have, saved it, cheers.

Yeah it does look possible to be completely fair.

 

[J_gadd4]

it might be a dead pre cat , mine used to rumble rattle when pulling away , put a ktec Y pipe on and job was sorted !

 

[Yiannis197]

I don't believe it is possible. The gap between the ARB and the manifold is quite big and if the engine movement is excessive the manifold will initially touch the subframe and then stop there, won't go further than that. But I might be massively mistaken...

 

[Chris]

I don't believe it is possible. The gap between the ARB and the manifold is quite big and if the engine movement is excessive the manifold will initially touch the subframe and then stop there, won't go further than that. But I might be massively mistaken...

Well this is what I thought until I saw that picture.

It wont be a dead pre cat as the garage have said they have sorted it, and that would have been a new manifold jobby if it was the precat.

 

[Rocketron]

They'll have welded up the flexi pipes I bet you, how they done it without removing the subframe I do not know, ask them what the job entailed? How they gone about fixing it and Google blown blown flexi pipes for the clio 197. When I bought mine it had new flexi pipes replaced, thought nothing of it as they'd replaced them at some previous stage of the cars life, only to find they'd tried to do it on the car and the welds weren't sufficient to seal the flexi pipes from blowing a little from the bad welds where it's hard to reach.

 

[Daverb]

I ended up speaking to the manager about this and he has said they dropped the subframe, removed the manifold and fitted new flexis.

Asked to test drive car again and see the car on the ramp which they have agreed to so will see how it goes.