Advice

[Bryan Boyle]

Well, if you've been following my threads...you know where I'm going right now.  Anyway, having removed all of the OEM exhaust...and wanting to at least mount the new muffler box on...how the heck do you get it to slot in?  If it doesn't bump the drive shaft, it gets caught on the cross member to get it far enough forward to snake the tailpipe out under the back...

Don't want to have to resort to taking the cross member out...but...was thinking...taking the diagonal brace on the right side off, and sneaking it in from underneath, over the drive shaft far enough coming up at an angle...then pushing back...

Anyone done this before (I'm sure some have!) with a quick (or workable) solution?

TIA.

[4129R]

On one car, I had to take the diagonal brace out to get the silencer in position. 3 bolts, no big deal.

[EuropaTC]

Does it work with the luggage tray out and going in from above ? That's how I've usually done any work with the exhaust but mine's a home made custom one so it might be different from the original ones.

Brian

[4129R]

Does it work with the luggage tray out and going in from above ? That's how I've usually done any work with the exhaust but mine's a home made custom one so it might be different from the original ones.

Brian

That doesn't work if the tail pipe is too long, which was what happened to me on one car.

Either drop the driveshaft (fiddly) or remove the diagonal brace (easier).

[Bryan Boyle]

Thanks everyone!

Diagonal brace is the key.  Remove, slide up from underneath over the drive shaft (the luggage box is out...since I'm working on cleaning the accumulated spooge off the inside and painting when I finish with the oil pan) forward far enough for the tailpipe to clear the rear cross member...twist and turn into position, fasten to tranny.  Took all of about a half hour, and in the interim once I had the muffler hung, took the diagonal brace to the big tub in the back full of cleaner (environmentally ok...the stuff Harbor Freight sells...smells like Fantastic cleaner), scrubbed it down with a stiff brush to get the crud off...rinsed, dried, a quick spit coat of zinc chromate primer (wore my organic vapor mask..., flashed off, then a couple coats of gloss black.

While that was drying...took my dremel with a stainless polishing wheel, cleaned up the upper bolt hole on the frame for the diagonal so the 2 grounds that are attached there had a clean surface, and burnished the ground wire ring terminals.  A little penetrox  on them...

Just a suggestion when you're putting bolts back in...normal practice is either down, in, or back.  The two bolts for the frame were in opposite directions...one inserted from the back, the other from the front...they're all facing the right way now (with new AN360 washers under fresh nylocs) and a star washer under the ring terminals to give some 'bite' to the ground lugs.
 
Just an update...needed a 'success' before tackling the oil pan.  I've probably got a good saturday's worth of work ahead of me to get it all done. 

(yes, that's a threaded insert on the top of the cross brace so I can bolt down the luggage box...same on the other side.)

[4129R]

When putting those diagonal braces back in, it is easier to put the central bolt in first, then use a round screwdriver to line up the second bolt, one of the pair, then once one of those two bolts is in place, the second should line up.

The diagonal is a squeeze to get in all lined up.