Raising Exhaust

[Bainzy]

I've always thought my stainless twin sports exhaust hung too low at the back, and it's never been kind on the bobbins that hold it up at the back of the car. The new rear spring makes the car sit high with no negative camber at all, so before I add a lowering block I decided to turn my attention to the exhaust.

For 6 quid I picked up a pair of universal exhaust hanging brackets from Halfords, and these bolted on really nicely to the diff mounting holes as you can see in the photos. Unfortunately, when I'd raised the exhaust Y piece up a substantial amount here, I realised this was then lifting up the backboxes too high - pressing the tailpipes tightly against the rear valance; not good. I thus had to drop the mounts down enough to avoid this, and it's put me not much better than when I started in terms of ground clearance. At least the bobbins at the back aren't taking all that weight, but I'm no closer to fitting a lowering block.

The lowest point you can see in the photos is 4 inches off the ground, and that's unloaded. It doesn't ground out every time I go over a speed bump, but it can do sometimes. If the car gets lowered further it'll probably be a common thing. As you can see, the Y piece is far from straight - it's been made with a kink before it reaches the backboxes in order to rake the tailpipes upwards.

Is this fixable such as heating it up and trying to bend it, and is it something I could conceivably do in the garage at home? Comments/suggestions welcome.  :)

[jamespworth]

nice i like this might get some of these myself at some point

[JohnD]

Bainzy,
You see the cutout in the Diff.mounting plate, in your own photo?
That's where a single exhaust pipe should run, so yours is rather low.  Can you raise it any at the front?
And the Y-piece, where the single front-to-rear pipe divides, should be canted, so that the actual divider points down, and then the tail pipes point up.  This allows a dip in the middle that clears the diff mount plate, for the rear of the silencer boxes to be higher and the tail pipes lower, clearing the valances.
This pic of Silverback soon after it was built shows what I mean, although I cheated by removing the spare wheel well, doing without a rear valance, and even needing cutouts in the lower edge of the tailgate.

John

[Alex]

Bainzy.....do you have a nut n bolt missing from your prop to diff flange?It certainly looks like it.....

Where are your silencers....your y piece looks a bit far back to mecan you slide it over the centre pipe some more or even slide the centre pipe forward creating the same solution?

[aar0sc]

Copied wholesale from my post in the TSSC, here's mine:



Aa

[Hammertime]

Did you ever get this sorted? I have the same problem with a "double s" system. I contacted double s who told me that it is correct to have the 2 branches of the "Y" kicking up but when I try to fit it looks like yours. I would say I could get away with making the "Y" level or did you manage to angle the feed side down to resolve the issue as recommended by JohnD.

[Bainzy]

I got in touch with Gareth Livesley who'd fixed it on his GT6, him and his Dad gently heated it in a straight part of the pipe just before it splits into a Y and bent it to allow it to come higher up. Never got round to trying it myself though.

In the end I just got a single large bore exhaust, which doesn't quite make the car sound like an F1 car anymore but has a nice character of its own. In two minds really as to whether to eventually sell the twin exhaust or put it back on and try this fix, and right now I've got lots of other improvements to the car that I'm more bothered about so it's just sat in the shed.