Side Pipes

July 24, 2016

  When I first tried putting the side pipes on something was clearly wrong.  They were pointed in weird directions.  After some back and forth on the forums I discovered that I had the J-pipes in the wrong place.  The J-pipes go in between the header attached to the engine and the side pipe.  The longer J-pipe was supposed to go on the drivers side.  After switching them I found that the collar that attaches the J-pipe to the header interfered with the oil temperature sender on the driver's side.  This could be fixed with a T attachment or one could move the sender down to the oil pan.  I didn't mess with what is already there so instead I ground down a notch in the collar to give some room.  By the way, the manuals never said anything about which J-pipe goes where.  Lastly, put your socket headed bolts on the inside.  You won't get a ratchet on them on the outside in some places.
  So you might think, ok that's a reasonable amount of frustration for one job.  Wrong.  Next you have to put on the rubber hangers that hold the side pipes off the frame.  The bigger one went first and wasn't too tough.  The smaller one however required drilling a hole high up close to the footbox floors through the 2" x 2" steel cross member of the frame.  Under the car going across the back of the footbox flooring is another cross piece that prevents you from holding a drill level.  In the manual they showed someone using a 90 degree drill to be able to fit in there.  I didn't have that tool and neither did a few of my friends I asked.  Maybe I should have bought it.  Instead I tried to drill this hole from the other side, inside the footbox to the outside. I started with small drill bits, and when I came out in the wrong place I plugged the hole with silicone and a rivet.  Michele was super helpful in tightening this bolt as one person can't reach under the car and inside the footbox to access both ends of the bolt.  Thanks Michele!  Not ideal but I got it done and I guess that's how a lot of this project has seemed.
  Here's the end product:

Driver's side

Passenger side

Michele and I testing it out.  It sounds much better than before!