V8 Vantage 200 Cell Cats Problem *images Below

[CHJ22]

Hello Chaps,

Not sure if this is the right place to be posting so please forgive me if I'm in the wrong section.

I bought a 2007 V8 Vantage last week and love it to bits.

I've read the many topics about how easy it is to increase power to the underpowered 4.3 V8V with a full stainless exhaust and 200 cell cats, so on Friday I bought some unbranded / custom cell cats from a exhaust maker and on Saturday booked the car into my local 'prestige' car garage to have them fitted.

Long story short the garage says they won't fit (kindly charged me 4 hours labor) the company who supplied them says they do ... *sigh

So I've got some pictures below, can anyone help me? I need to establish who is wrong ... do you think the cats fit or have I been had by the garage?

I have absolutely no mechanical knowledge so any help or comment much is appreciated.

Thanks

CJ

[CHJ22]

spikeyhead said:

I'm not an expert, but every time I've gone near any exhaust there's been a bit of pushing and shoving to get them to fit. That to me looks close enough that someone skilled in the art could make it fit. It also looks to me that they should have been closer out of the box. Can you take the car to where you bought the cats from, or get them to recommend a fitter? If you bought them to be delivered to you, then the distance selling regulations apply and you can return them for a full refund without any reason.

Many thanks for the quick reply. I bought the cats from a company in Surrey and I'm in Yorkshire so too far to go really, I do know of some exhaust fitters fairly local but I'm trying to be 100% sure that they will be a able to make them work without any leaks etc otherwise I'll be left with another labor bill. As you suggest I may have to send them back as they were advised to be 'plug n play' & bolt on and this clearly isn't the case.

I naively thought that this would be a 45 minute bolt on job ... in hindsight I should have just gone for a new rear back box instead!

[CHJ22]

Yeah I've heard about Bamford Rose they seem to get fantastic reviews but the are a tad too far for me to be honest. I bought the cell cats from a company called Demand Engineering in Surrey ... nice people but that gap where the two ends meet looks vast! X7LDA, Can you remember if yours looked the same?

[CHJ22]

Many thanks for all the comments / advice.

I've measured the cats at 44.8cm so they are only a tiny bit shorter than standard (thanks for the measurement David) but obliviously enough to cause a problem.

Brakke many thanks for the suggestion of cut & weld I may end up doing this if I keep them ... currently waiting for an email back off the company I bought them from so will keep you updated.

Neil it was always my intention to fit cell cats first for an increase in noise levels any gain in BHP is a welcome by product... I suspect a back box and cell cats will be a bit too noisy for what I'm after, so I want to see how I get on with the cats first.

I should know by now buy cheap buy twice.

[CHJ22]

Yeah I thought the same Gaz, apparently 4 hours was doing me a favor! Won't be going back.
I don't think they did try to slacken off the mid pipe it was mentioned but they weren't keen on doing so.