There's a better solution. In South Africa VAnagons come from the factory
with a golf engine. And that means there is a FACTORY manifold for adapting
the I-4 to the VAnagon. Also a factory "down" pipe from the mani to the
cat/muffler.

I bought one of each when I was in SA in June, though I haven't used them
yet. If anyone is interested, I can take pictures and measurements of my
pieces, and post/email them to anyone who wants to make their own.

For the Audi engines, they use a different system which places the muff up
by the sliding door, roughly where we have the propane on our westies, and
then route the exhaust pipe back to the rear!

James

PS  I'm going back to SA in the begining of Nov.  I can check on parts for
anyone interested.

>Hi All,
>
>Another problem with the single outlet I4 exhaust manifold (as with all
>rabbit/golf exhaust manifolds) is that it dumps down between the 2nd and 3rd
>cylinders--right where the left side motor mount is located.  The audi/fox
>manifolds angle backwards (forwards in a Vanagon) as they drop down
>missing the
>motor mount.  After I saw Helmut's photos of SA's exhaust system I would have
>done mine the same--use an audi/fox twin downpipe (along with the audi/fox
>exhaust manifold) and cut the pipe after the 2 tubes merge into a single pipe.
>Then use a 180 degree mandrel bend to point the single exhaust pipe back
>to the
>rear of the van.  This is the simplest and probably the best exhaust I
>have seen
>for the diesel to gas conversions and the least amount of fabrication.
>
>Garth
>