Spec exhaust fitment - (is bending it legal)

#1

Just got the Spec exhaust on the car and its up against the rear frame cross member. I plan to take it to a muffler shop to have the joints and a tranny mount tab welded on. Would it violate any rules if I had the shop put in a downward bend to miss the frame ?
Thanks
Paul

#2

The guys who put my exhaust on were able to join the rearmost portion to the main section (they meet near the rear subframe) at an angle that allowed the tail end of the exhaust to exit the body near the stock location. The two sections didn’t slide together as far as designed, but it beat having the end of the pipe angled down to the ground.

That way the exhaust is not modified but it works. I don’t know if bending it would technically break the rules but there’s no need to chance it.

The guys had to safety wire the rear section on because the mounting tabs didn’t line up with anything that made any sense

Steve D.

#3

I have seen plenty of posts about fitment problems, but most have complained about the collector or hanging too low.
This actually hangs too high.I even put the old rubber donuts back on because they were a tad longer. I hung the muffler off the donuts then matched up the next sections. With the collector in place and the muffler in place the remaining sections had to shoot diagonally across the car and then straighten up to meet the muffler. The design was not the best. I did a little research and nothing in the SE30 regs says you can’t bend the exhaust to fit. Maybe a bend or two just in front of the muffler would do the trick.
Thanks
Paul

#4

Steve D wrote:

[quote]The guys who put my exhaust on were able to join the rearmost portion to the main section (they meet near the rear subframe) at an angle that allowed the tail end of the exhaust to exit the body near the stock location. The two sections didn’t slide together as far as designed, but it beat having the end of the pipe angled down to the ground.

That way the exhaust is not modified but it works. I don’t know if bending it would technically break the rules but there’s no need to chance it.

The guys had to safety wire the rear section on because the mounting tabs didn’t line up with anything that made any sense

Steve D.[/quote]

Steve,

If the tabs on the muffler don’t line up you may want to make sure you don’t have it on backwards. Don’t ask me how I know but when you get it right it is right there with the factory rubber doughnuts. Now if the doughnuts and brackets are gone it my be hard to see.

Michael
#36
Great Lakes Region

#5

I have installed two now, one on a 89 and another on a 88. The 89’s collector hands too low and frequently gets caught during loading on my trailer, but the rest seems to line up great.

The 88 on the other hand has a situation like yours where it makes contact with the rear subframe and it required a lot of “force” to get it to mount to the two rear stock hangars. The good side of that is that the majority of the piping hangs tight to the body and is not as much of a nuisance as the 89.

What’s the difference between the two you ask? I have no effin clue. :laugh:

My suspicions lead me to believe it has something to do with the collector location or angle. It’s already such a PITA to mount the exhaust to the collector that maybe something bent as we were hammering the two pieces together.

#6

nevr2L8 wrote:

It’s kind of backwards, but you have to approach the rules from this perspective:

1.3. Only modifications specifically authorized are allowed…

Specifically pertaining to the the exhaust:

9.3.4.1.1 The following parts must be used and assembled as designed by the manufacturer…

Without assembly instructions it is a little tough to figure out the “as designed” part. But it would appear that my muffler may be installed backwards. Good thing I mentioned “the guys who put my exhaust on”!!

No wonder I was so far down on power at nationals. :ohmy: :laugh:

Steve D.

#7

I have an 88 and the exhaust runs tight against the rear sub-frame but it didn’t need to be bent to make it fit. The hangers also line up perfectly.

#8

It would really help if the exhaust came with instructions, graphics/pics, notches or markings in order to assemble the entire unit properly.
I’m no welder, so I took it a muffler shop and took them all afternoon to figure it out how to assemble the entire set up. Fortunately they only charged what they quoted me first and not 4+ hours of labor.
Does anybody have any pics?

#9

Hmmm . . .

It did not take me more than an hour to get it mounted.

Getting the collector to slide on the pipes was a bear - we had to grind down the downpipes and bang out a bend in the collector tubing. And as far as the other stuff lining up - well, my friend whose lift I was using helped me finesse the rest of it together. I wouldn’t say we bent anything, but he did actually hang from the center section at one point to get the fitment right. :stuck_out_tongue:

As far as the muffler - it lined up with the donuts. Mine even had a label on it telling me which direction it was intended to go.