[s-cars] another Stromung failure

[Steve Powers]

My Stromung downpipe has failed pretty much catastrophically.It
started when I noticed this crack in the expansion bellows.

http://spowers.smugmug.com/photos/11150181-M.jpg
http://spowers.smugmug.com/photos/11150180-M.jpg

After I removed the bellows, I noticed that the wastegate exhaust tube
was loose. I figured I'd weld it back together myself, so I removed
the entire downpipe. Here's what I found.

http://spowers.smugmug.com/photos/11150184-M.jpg
http://spowers.smugmug.com/photos/11150178-M.jpg
http://spowers.smugmug.com/photos/11150173-M.jpg
http://spowers.smugmug.com/photos/11150175-M.jpg

This looks like either a welding and/or a design issue. Every joint in
that transition area is cracked. This is beyond what I want to tackle.
I plan to get this welded and reinforced here by an exhaust fabricator
(www.stansheaders.com) as the car is not driveable.

My call to Stromung met with an answering machine. I left a message.
My email to Stromung met with a "full mailbox" error. I also have an
email into Jeff.

Needless to say, I'm less than impressed at this failure just a year
since I installed it.

Steve Powers