A new & improved thread on my exhaust joys. Making progress.

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After taking car of house stuff & letting myself to take some time away from the exhaust work I'm back at it. For those keeping score, I have the fubared Pypes kit (SGG12S) & Jegs Stainless kit (30525). I'll start with the Jegs kit, picked it up for the price (& it seems to be simmular to the Summit kits 680146, 680146SS) to see if its better than they Pypes kit. It fits OK but it seems to be ment for thier crossmember, pipes don't line up with the G-Force unit I'm using. The tails have clamp on extensions but looks like you could add a pair of bends in place for side exits but may exit farther back than they should. I'm not 100% on what direction I'm going with this set but they are here if needed & if I don't either I'll return them to Jegs or I may offer them for what I paid (cheaper than thier list or sale prices.) Now to the original b*st*rd child. As those who read my other threads, the passenger side tail was bent wrong by Pypes, sent replacement with same issues. Thier solution was to let me find someone to rebend thier lifetime warranty pipe. No luck, went with a new bent section. Found a place to bend a better angle & it works but it's 14 gauge (heavy) & hard to clamp in place to mock up. Double checked the angle needed (80 deg) & found one on Fleabay. It is 16 gauge like the kits, actually a better bend than the heavier one. Now I have a strait section on order to fill the void from cutting the bad bend off for the first new bend & to have a O.D. section to mate the muffler to the second new bend (I.D. at both ends.) Next section I'll be tackling will be the X-pipe. I'm looking at getting pairs of 15 & 50 deg bends to match up to the down pipes. After all of this I am thinking I should of gotten the SGG10S kit as others have had a easier installation than I am, I should of payed better attention to the geometry teacher instead of the hot red head in my class. Whats the odds of Pypes comping me for the time/money invested into fixing thier mistake that they admited to? Think I got a better chance winning both the Power Ball & Mega Millions in the same week.

 

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Here is the restart with the Pypes kit with just the drivers side tail pipe in place. I know not having the weight of the body to compress the suspension to the proper ride height. I used the driveshaft as a center line for the X-pipe to help to get the pipes in position under the X-member humps. This also gives me an idea on how to set the left & right pipes to replace the X-pipe as I still have a tight fit with it under the driveshaft. Don't mind my artistic abilities but this is the best rendition of the proposed change. As long as everything goes according to plan I'll be able to get everything lined up & have the wiggle room to adjust after there is a body on the frame again. Then next will be the down pipe & cat on the passenger side since that side is a bit of a tight fitto keep the cat under the heat shield.

 

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My rendition is too big to up load. I'll have to make small file for it.

 

[pontiacgp]

that's nice but I want to see a picture of the hot red head.....

 

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that's nice but I want to see a picture of the hot red head.....

That was 29 years ago, not sure if she's still hot. Wish I had a year book from that year to show her.

 

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Got my "parts" pipe in today to cut up to adjust the lenth between the new elbow & the cut in the tail to remove the bad bend & to join the muffler to the other end. I has double I.D. ends so a small O.D. joiner will be needed. Other than getting some single bolt band clamps I could have a cat back set up with an X-pipe for now but I'll be working on its' true dual replacement. I'm going to try not to cut it up incase someone else could use it. (one of the reason I bought another pipe instead of cutting the two straight extention pipes.) Now getting ahead somewhat I have been checking out the passenger side down pipe & comparing it to the O.E. type Y-pipes I'm watching on Fleabay & noticed that the angle on the pipe for '64-'77 A-bodies may not be the best for a 4th gen A (sorry, mine's an A by birth so I'll be referring as such.) Unless I can find a good flange end to work with the manifolds casted in donut I'll have to hack up the down pipe. This will also give some needed adjustment to get the cat under the heat shield a little better. From the steel flange I had made for sucj mock ups I'm looking at about a 45-50 deg angle to go straight down, then it looks like a 85-90 deg go get under the floor. But I'll still have to still find an angle to get the pipe inboard to be center under the X-member. The other side I'll be able to gt away with a ball socket joint to correct the pipe angle to line up, just have to find the sweet spot to put it. After getting a few of these pipes set up I'm going to have to find someone to weld it so I'm not dumping money into uneeded clamps. Maybe the next big investment should be a good gas welder.

 

[foxtrot]

That was 29 years ago, not sure if she's still hot. Wish I had a year book from that year to show her.

If the redhead is your wife, I would think that she should always be as hot to you today as she was 29 years ago. After all she puts up with all of this car stuff. Just saying. ;-)

 

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If the redhead is your wife, I would think that she should always be as hot to you today as she was 29 years ago. After all she puts up with all of this car stuff. Just saying. ;-)

The wife is not the red head, haven't seen that girl since she graduated. The wife hates the Monte, part that it is scatterd in pieces in the garage & her parents property, and then the fact it's a clutch car (she can't drive one.)

 

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Did something Pypes couldn't do, get both tails & mufflers line up just right to connect the X-pipe.
Now I'll have to do some adjustment (cut out) to the axle bend as it is closer to the spring/shock X-member that the drivers side. Easier than dealing with the bend (& easier than some peoples ex's, sister's, mother's...) I now have a clearer picture of what to do so I can have the new pipes match the path of the X-pipe & may allow me to keep the passenger side down pipe more outboard than if I was using year correct manifolds. So I may have a Jegs stainless kit for sale soon unless I foolishly find another ride to work on.

 

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Even more progress. Now to figure our how smart I am to connect the manifold to the preferred cat location on the passenger side.