|
I installed an over-the-axle pipe; I got it in without major problems, and certainly without dropping the gas tank (!!!). I don't recall what angle I approached it from, but I think starting from the rear made the most sense. Lift the car by the frame and let the axle hang to give you plenty of room.
I had a resonator replaced under warranty by Volvo. The first bit of bad news was the resonator was no longer available as a separate item, but only as part of a cat-back exhaust kit. The good news was all these extra pieces weren't going to cost me a dime. No problem I thought, the rest of my exhaust was fairly new and in great shape, I'd just replace the resonator and keep the pipe and muffler for spares. But nooOOOOooo, they want ALL the 'old' pieces back in order to claim for warranty replacement. Okay, whatever, I'll replace the whole works...
Unfortunately, somewhere along the line and for whatever reason Volvo changed the pipe routing from under- to over-the-axle. What that meant was the outlet on the replacement resonator takes a quick bend upwards to join up with the exhaust pipe. So even if I didn't want to I had little choice but to replace a near-new under-axle pipe with the over-axle pipe from the kit.
More bad news was the new pipe runs beside the gas tank and some kind of shield that runs below the frame behind the brake caliper. There is very little room in that space; the pipe is probably about an inch away from the gas tank, and about half an inch away from that shield. Rerouting an exhaust pipe to run that close to the gas tank makes me think this was a classic Ford move (think Pinto).
No matter how many times I've tried to "finesse" things around, the pipe keeps banging against the shield, so my next move will be to grind a section of the shield away or remove it altogether to keep the pipe from rubbing and to keep my sanity. A hack for sure. And that bend in the rear sway bar is now decidedly non-functional and awkward looking.
I sure wish Volvo had left things alone. This new design is a POS. Sure I got the resonator replaced under warranty, but I also got more than I bargained for. If you can still get an under-axle system by all means go that route. When it comes time to replace mine that's what I'll be doing.
|
