Pic 1:



Pic 2:



And the attached (pic 3):

 

Stock ride height? Looks pretty low to tell you the truth. Was the hanger that attaches to the tranny used?

 

I think my LTs have more ground clearance than that.

 

should barely be able to see it if at all from the side. might wanna get that redone. i see the dynomax sticker if thats a super turbo catback or just one of their catbacks thing should tuck up nice like the stock system. your problem might be in the catalytic converter bracket. i dont think the one you got has the bracket that attaches to the stock hanger hence why thats hanging so low. i wonder how its being held up more pics from underneath please.

 

Agreed, way low. Judging by the first picture, you should be able to tuck it up underneath better.

 

Well, it's dark now but there is easily 2-3 inches between the top of the cat and the bottom of the car. As far as I can tell, there is nothing holding the cat in place other than the Y-pipe and long, intermediate pipe.

Stock ride hieght: I worried I'm one speed bump away from a busted exhaust.

 

ask them if they can cut and weld the old hanger bracket from the old cat on to the new on somehow or somehow make it work with the stock hanger that holds the cat up to tuck the system up nicely.

 

Ya they really help, this coming from my old exhaust 2.5" system which didnt have that hanger and hung lower then my gf's RS which has a 3" system like yours, hers is completely tucked, you can still fit a jack under the exhaust to get to the frame behind.

 

I'll tell you why its low. The guy welded your cat to the y pipe which was a dumbass idea. If you ever need to get it apart (defective cat etc) you can't without cutting it all up. In order to weld at the top he probably stuck a piece of wood between the floor and the pipe to force it down so he could weld the top.....and then it stays at that height. He should have assembled it the factory way. You lose no performance through the origional type connections. I have know idea why there is a weld at the rear axle in pic #2. He should have shortened the pipe pointing up, to bring it closer to the floor. Lazy.....thats my evaluation.....lazy. Sad that you had to pay someone for that work. You can work with the front. Put your jack under the cat and jack it up.....use a torch and heat the front pipe where it comes under the frame cut out and where the rear pipe turns and follows the trans tunnel. As you are heating it will change shape and sit at this new height. Be carefull not to jack it too high or you will cause it to sit too high and rattle. Its kind of a hack way to raise it but since he welded it...your kind of stuck. That muffler should have slid over the 3 " pipe. He could have opened that inlet neck up to 3" with know problems.....I do it all the time. Did he have a bender?

 

looks ok, really low my true duals have more clearance than that, u shouldnt see that thing from the side. u shouldnt have much space from the cat to the floor board. i dont like dynomax they seem cheap to me...just my opinion. hows it sound? also your tips look like there pointing down way to much. i would rip this guy a new one but i dont want to say its all bad, hope u got the sound u want

 

Cadillac.......now that I think about it some more...I know what he did. Because he cut off the front of your rear exhaust pipe where the flare met the cat......that pipe is now shorter. Since its shorter and he welded it to the cat it pulls the over axle section forward. I'll bet if you get underneith, the over axle section will almost be hitting the shield (floor) behind the rear seats. It order to not let the pipe (on an angle) hit the floor he had to pull it down, which causes it to hang to low. Poor installation.

 

I feel bad now...

 

Why...did you do the install?

 

Rob,

No I was supposed to do the install but I got a new job offer & a new job and did not have time to do it for Mike. I would have never built it like that!!

Mike,

How do you like the headers? Does the car run better? Are you happy with them?

Questions, Questions, Questions...

 

Brett... don't worry about it, man! Having you help me do it all was really almost more than I was comfortable with. A generous offer, no doubt, but I understand the situation with work and that's all that needs to be said. Besides, rich relatives came through with a windfall as did Uncle Sam.

Additional information at this point is that the install was so low because the Y-pipe was was low under the car to begin with. Whatever. The cherry on top today was when the exhaust shop called me and said their 3 inch pipe didn't arrive today but he could go ahead and finish the job with 2.5 inch if I wanted him to.



Do they not understand why I got all these new parts in the first place? At this point I was worried about having them do anything else on my car and I was going to pull it out and bring it to Midas or someplace. Hell, any place would be better (maybe).

Anyway, I thought better of this plan and have decided to let them make it right. I'll give them almighty grief about charging me more if they do stating they originally delivered a substandard job in the first place like I wanted the crappy installation instead of the good one.



I'm off tomorrow and will be able to work on this and torment whoever I need to as long as it takes.

EDIT: I think it sounds great BTW.
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I totally agree with this assessment. I might use this text in an argument.

 

I hate to see people get bad service...hopefully they make it right. I wouldn't hold my breath though. It is ALOT of work to cut it apart and redo it since they welded everything together....that why I posted earlier that I like to use a factory style connection...if you have issues you can get it back apart.
I'm sure Brett would have done better work!

 

Isn't the factory way is to weld the cat to Y pipe? I know there's a ball and flange after the cat.

 

Made it right.







Now I have to get past the awesome new cat smell.

I'm starting to think I whine a lot. hehe

 

No....the factory cat is clamped on. The stupid part is they build a Y pipe and cat out of stainless then use a clamp and flange connection made out of steel that rots out 3-4 years before the pipe/cat!
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Whine alot? No I just think you are asking for fair value for your money. Glad to see they fixed you up. Are you happy with the rear part?

 

AND having beaked about the quality of the first install I will be the first to say that its all about the service. They may have made a mistake....but it how they handle the mistake is what makes a good shop. Looks like they handled it well.

 

Sounds good, sound clip to follow.

 

Mike,

Well looks good now. But how are the headers???? Do you like the improvment?

 

Still evaluating.

I drive to San Jose tomorrow to pick up Nick and check out GM Sports.

Need any hard to find parts?

 

when i had the stock exhaust and it was stock, the cat was fully welded to the Ypipe. i still have it laying in the bushes...over a year later lol

 

Not to argue but all the 3rd genr's had a clamped on cat. After about 5-6 years the clamp would rot off and the connection, even without a clamp, had been together so long that you could get em apart if you tried. Of coarse the proper technique (torch and a hammer ) would eventually coax them apart! Same with the cat...stainless cat and a steel flange and hanger. Flange and hanger rot out and the rear exhaust pipe would come disconnected. Built in obsolesance. The only ones I ever saw welded were the ones I myself welded because the Y pipe would develop a crack where the cat slipped on.