Well I didn’t get to the bumpsteer correction center link yet, but that’s totally ok by me because my priority (the exhaust) took precedence once the new parts showed up.
The exhaust cutouts were the first to arrive, they’re very nice pieces and much more compact than the Doug’s ones:
I didn’t get much of a chance to play with them for a couple days as we took Olds Cool on a couple of day trips, and by the time we were done the second shipment containing the new billet hangers had arrived, and a day early to boot.
Gotta love when parts show up earlier than expected.
I was not disappointed with the quality of these pieces either:
First thing I did was test fit these between the mufflers and the underside of the floor, and win yet again. The height fits the requirements perfectly, the only unforeseen hitch was that the diameter of the muffler is actually a little bigger than 3”. The clamps still fit over the mufflers, there’s just a small air gap between the halves that shouldn’t be there.
I have a buddy that’s a machinist that’s exceptionally good at making custom parts out of billet, so while this’ll work for now, I’ll probably get him to make me new top portions of the clamps to match the larger diameter pipe, and with shorter bolts so it looks proper.
Once I had established that the new hangers were going to work perfectly, I disassembled them and blue Loctited the bolts so nothing will rattle loose.
Holding the new cutouts up in place revealed that the flanges would need to be cut off and re-clocked, something that I had fully anticipated. It sucks and added a lot of extra work, but it is what it is. No sense in postponing the inevitable, just gotta get after it. I wanted to save and reuse the flanges, so I had to be a little careful in cutting them off.
No pictures of the flanges cleaned up and welded back on in the correct orientation, because it doesn’t look any different. Just clocked differently so that the cutouts fit.
So let’s cut to the chase shall we? The exhaust from the header flanges to the hangers at the back of the mufflers is now a total wrap. Everything fits and clears perfectly, and for the first time ever, it has cutouts installed on it complete with the turndowns. The hangers are perfectly centered on the mufflers and bolted to the underside of the floor.
Photobomb time, some of the pictures are pretty cool, so much detail visible in them.
So now that all the major modifications and the questionable areas have been addressed, the next step is to finally get back onto modifying the tailpipes to fit better and properly again. That’ll start tomorrow night, then it’ll be back to finishing the floor.
To say I’m pleased beyond belief is a major understatement. I couldn’t be happier with how it’s all coming together. Hopefully y’all liked the pictures, they really don’t do it justice but it’s the best I can do without it being on a lift.
Thanks to all that still bother to follow along, I’m getting the feeling I’m losing many viewers but their loss. Things are just starting to get interesting. Until next time,
D.
