For some reason, the pipes always come loose on my exhaust. I have the Mufflex 4 inch system and Y pipe for use with long tube headers. Anyway, ALL of the band clamps that they supplied were used. I have used band clamps before(I have a Dynatech Systemaxx full 3 in. exhaust system on my 98 Trans Am with no issues with the band clamps) and have never had any problems. But with this setup it seems that no matter how tight I make the clamps, you can still pull the pipes apart. When I took my car on its first road test yesterday(see my other thread for all the funny details!) the exhaust fell off in my driveway. I retightened the clamps back down past the 80ft. lbs. that they recommended to try to keep everything in place. I had the car just IDLING in my driveway, and the intermediate pipe fell off again! Has anyone els had this problem? Now, I'm not against getting it welded, but the whole reason for the band clamps is so that you can still service the exhaust system if you ever need to take it apart again. Are there other brands/styles of 4 inch band clamps that I can use that are better? Any input on this matter is gratly appreciated. Thanks, Paul Moore

Here's what I used....



Here's a 4" band clamp from Summit:

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

I retightened them after an initial heat cycle and they have been working great ever since.

Thanks for the reply! I actually brought my torque wrench home with me to check how tight the band clamps really were. Once I actually put the torque wrench on all the bolts, it was obvious that they were no where near the 80 ft. lbs that were needed. So, I retightened all the clamps to 80 ft. lbs with the torque wrench and now the exhaust feels tight and doesn't come loose.

why not just wled them .

Because the exhaust is pretty big and there are alot of other components I have yet to put on the car such as a torque arm, subframes, etc. and I need to be able to *reposition* the exhaust if it becomes necessary. Once I get everything in order and properly installed on the car, then I will commit to getting the exahust welded.

My fab guy took one look at the Mufflex-supplied clamps and said "we're not using these". I used 3 clamps, one on each headpipe and one 4" clamp just before the diff. That way I can drop the entire center-section of the exhaust for drivetrain servicing.

I read a magazine article about the 4 inch mufflex system lately and it was mentioned some clearance issues at or near the axle ? You guys have any problems with yours ?

My car has been lowered to where the axle only sits about 1" off the bump stops and the Mufflex system clears fine. Note that I do not run an upper panhard rod.

thx for the reply, obviously that panhard bar would hit normally ?

I purchased my car without the upper panhard bar, but it doesn't look like there is room. I'm going to try the BMR upper bar when I swap rearends for a 12-bolt. For what it's worth, see/feel no adverse effects with the upper bar removed (but my car is set up for straight line, not cornering).

Mine sits nice and tight with no issues. I even have my Panhard bar installed and it does not hit. As for the clamps, I welded mine and only used 1 and that was on the pipe going over the axle that way I could quickly disassemble it if I needed to drop the tank or something.