Do any of you have any starla stories?
My first experience was with a cat-back system for 240. It went together, but I recall having some difficulty that definitely was not there with the "genuine" volvo cat-back system costing almost twice as much.
This post is inspired by my experience with the starla downpipe. This one for the early 84, does not seem to be offered by bosal in the catalogs, the brand I'm more impressed with. The starla downpipe survived but 30K in a little over a year. So I granted walker-starla the benefit of my doubt and ordered another. Here's the story in pictorial:
 
The pipe with 30K on it broke at the extremity of the weld joint to the flange.

It was beginning to make some noise.

And leak some.
 
So I replaced it.

But the new pipe was not assembled correctly.

The provisions for the mounting bracket aren't properly positioned, so the spacers have a 1/4" gap at their ends. I had to find longer bolts to accomodate the defect, and the result will be stress at the welds.
I think I'm going to try harder to find Bosal alternatives next time. Any similar or opposing thoughts? Worst case, I might have to plunk down genuine volvo prices.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore
|