![\"COBB](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/cobb_tuning_catted_downpipe.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>As I said earlier in this piece, the downpipe does not come early in the game. This means, you can\u2019t just buy the COBB down pipe and install it and go drive. Not only do you need a tune, but the downpipe will really work the best when paired with the Fiesta ST front mount intercooler<\/a> and intake. This is because you need to be able to manage the extra heat associated with the higher flow. Since you are also changing restrictive parts from the exhaust and turbo system, changing restrictive parts from the induction system makes sense as well.<\/p>\n The COBB OTS tune (off-the-shelf) for the Fiesta ST downpipe is the stage 3 tune for either 91 octane or 93 octane gas. For this off-the-shelf map to work, the downpipe needs to play together with the intercooler and intake. You might be able to get away with just the downpipe and the intercooler if you get a custom tune. However, that defeats any money savings from not getting the intake because the custom tune itself would end up costing twice as much as the intake. Plus, you\u2019ll want the COBB Accessport anyway in order to load tunes. Might as well make sure to follow the upgrade path in the correct order before you get to the downpipe.<\/p>\n For more on that, check out the RallyWays article about COBB Tuning Fiesta ST Stage Packages<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n When done right, the COBB Tuning Fiesta ST Downpipe will easily become your favorite mod. I\u2019m running mine with a complete Fiesta ST Stage 3 package. This includes the catback exhaust. However, I had installed the catback exhaust back at Stage 1, and while it had a slightly louder and deeper exhaust note it wasn\u2019t that much louder than stock. Plus, the tone was very close to that of stock, hiding those juicy burbles, pops and crackles on overrun.<\/p>\n I couldn\u2019t imagine running this car anymore without this downpipe. Truly awesome and I really love it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ah, but when I paired the downpipe to the catback exhaust, that\u2019s when the magic happened! The exhaust system immediately opened up. At slow revs, when you\u2019re crawling around below 5 MPH in parking lot, you can hear something there\u2026 You can hear the urge and power just waiting to get out. There\u2019s this low-level burble and intention coming from the engine that\u2019s quite intoxicating, in a good way.<\/p>\n Then, when you open her up, it\u2019s amazing! The engine sounds awesome, both inside and outside the car. At high revs, approaching a corner on the street when you let off the gas, the pops and crackles from the system are all joyful. Same thing goes for upshifts and downshifts. Just fun stuff!<\/p>\n I couldn\u2019t imagine running this car anymore without this downpipe. Truly awesome and I really love it.<\/p>\n Ah! But it doesn\u2019t come cheap. And I\u2019m not talking about the purchase price or even the fact that you need to make sure you\u2019re past the Stage 1 and Stage 2 mods first \u2014 I\u2019m talking about installation. You may do a lot of the work yourself, but this is one that might be worth taking to a professional.<\/p>\n See, a lot of other parts have to come off in order to install the COBB downpipe. Even so, it\u2019s a tight squeeze. The COBB downpipe itself is really not the issue however, the issue taking the Ford stock downpipe out. That\u2019s the real trick right there.<\/p>\n The stock Fiesta ST downpipe is bigger. It also has a big ol\u2019 heatshield attached to it. Finally, it has this ginormous bracket welded on to it with two big bolts that won\u2019t come off. This makes removing it a real chore.<\/p>\n I did the work myself. Since I was installing the intake and intercooler in the same session, I had all those stock parts off already. This means I had removed the plastic cowl near the top back of the engine bay as well and the front bumper, lights, stock intercooler and what not. The COBB catback exhaust was in place however, along with the new urethane exhaust hangers. I had installed those the week prior \u2014 because it was a quick and easy 2 hour job.<\/p>\n When removing the stock Fiesta ST downpipe I quickly found out I had to move the catback exhaust out of the way to make some space. This meant I had to remove the center chassis brace near the middle of the car that prevents the midpipe area of the exhaust to move lower. I had removed this already to install the catback, but I had to do it again now. I also removed one or two of the cat back exhaust polyurethane hangers. Then, I was able to pull the front section of the catback exhaust low enough to pull the stock downpipe down and out the back.<\/p>\n There might be a way to pull the stock downpipe out the top, right through the engine bay. But honestly, I couldn\u2019t do it no matter how much I tried. If I were to do it all over again, I would again take the stock downpipe out the bottom rear of the engine bay. Even so, it\u2019s still quite the contortionist act. You have to wiggle the stock pipe around quite a bit before it will come out. Also, be careful with the heat shields attached to the car. Those are easy to damage or make them look ugly thanks to the big bolts sticking out from the stock downpipe mounting bracket.<\/p>\n The COBB Fiesta ST downpipe then went in really easily in fact. Like all the COBB parts I installed on #RallyFist, the downpipe was a perfect fit. However, this one’s a little different. For all the other parts, the mounting points and hardware were all relatively the same as stock. But, for the downpipe it\u2019s a little different.<\/p>\n First, COBB\u2019s Fiesta ST downpipe has a stiffer flex unit. For this reason, it doesn\u2019t need the mounting bracket as the pipe stays firmly in place with just the turbo and exhaust mounting points. You won\u2019t be using the mounting bracket location that the stock downpipe uses \u2014 nor the hardware. In fact, I put those back on the car in the same location for safe keeping. However, make sure to tighten then to spec anyway. I lost one of the nuts because it vibrated itself out because I didn\u2019t torque it to spec. No biggie, as the nut was just sitting there on an empty stud – But if I ever want to bring the car back to stock I\u2019m going to source that nut.<\/p>\n The other thing to keep in mind is the fact that the COBB downpipe doesn\u2019t have a heatshield like the factory unit. This is fine, but the stock heatshield has some little mounting brackets to hold one of the O2 sensor wires off the hot pipe. When you mount the COBB down pipe, make sure to reroute said O2 sensor cable. Otherwise, Murphy says it\u2019s going to land right on the downpipe when it\u2019s hot and burn your car down. This was only a minor issue. What I did was use a zip-tie to route the O2 sensor wire away from the downpipe. Worked like a charm.<\/p>\n Finally, you\u2019ll be taking the heatshield off the stock downpipe at some point during the removal process. This leaves you with 4 little screws that you won\u2019t be using again. In fact, if I recall correctly, these where the only bolts that I had nowhere to put back in the car during the entire stage 3 upgrade. Everything else somehow went back in place somewhere. Even the nuts that weren\u2019t needed to mount the new downpipe still went back on the car for safe-keeping (that is until I lost one of course).<\/p>\n The reason I point out the above is because when I was done with the entire process, I had 4 screws left over and I couldn\u2019t figure out what they were for. Keep in mind, I had jumped all the way from Stage 1 to Stage 3. So, in one shot I installed the COBB Fiesta ST downpipe, intercooler, charge pipes and intake. That was lot of parts, screws and nuts coming off the car and back on in one shot. Easy to lose track of what\u2019s what if you\u2019re not careful.<\/p>\n I was pretty careful, but near the end of the process I was getting pretty tired and my brain had shut off. I had taken a break the night before halfway through the process, but towards the end I decided to finish the second part of install in one night. Again, I\u2019m talking about all the stage 3 parts here \u2014 not just the downpipe. My son who was helping me with the install, literally fell asleep under the car around 4 in the morning. I had to wake him up and send him to bed. Just minutes before, he kept saying, \u201cNo dad, I\u2019m fine. I\u2019m not tired. That is, until he fell completely asleep.\u201d<\/p>\n Anyway, what I was trying to say was that when I was done I had these 4 screws left and I couldn\u2019t figure out what they were for. It literally took me an hour of poking around trying to find out where they went. I finally figured out they were the downpipe heatshield screws and they weren\u2019t supposed to go back in the car anyway. What I did then was I mounted the heatshield back onto the stock downpipe for safe keeping and put the stock pipe away inside the same box the new downpipe came in.<\/p>\nCOBB Tuning Fiesta ST Downpipe Installation<\/h3>\n
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