Muffler clearance on 2nd gen TA
 

Hello,

Does anyone know how much ground clearance in necessary for mufflers not to scrape on the 2nd gen Firebirds? I want to put in a set of Flowmaster super 44's in my 79Trans Am, but I'm concerned if they'll fit or not. I currently have a set of Texas Trans Am mufflers in which are made thinner for that reason , but I want a newer set with better performance and sound. Does anyone already have Flowmasters in there's with any scraping issues? Thanks in advance!

Fred
1979 Trans Am
403- 410HP Olds!

Fred,
I am running 2-1/2" duals into 14" Dynomax Super Turbos. If installed properly, they will not scrape under normal conditions. I did have an issue
on certain bridge crossings where the asphalt meets the concrete but this
was cured by replacing my worn out air shocks. No problems since.
Car is 1976 Trans Am. I know these aren't FlowMasters but I would suspect
similar results from them.

David

get a new set of Texas T/A mufflers they are refractive just like the Noflowmaster.

2nd Gen ground clearnce.
 

It seems to me that some don,t understand just how the 2nd Gen cars underbody was desgined, it was not desgined for the normal undercar dual muffeler arrangment, they were made for a single transverse mounted muffeler, no matter if single or duals. This being the case I supose for more rear seat room? who knows, the end reasult is their is little room for a muffler in the normal position in front of the axle, thats why people ( like me) are having ground clearnce issiues ( in my case add 3" exhaust on top of that ) . So keeping this in mind when we shop for exhaust will save a lot of hasle later. hope this helps, BTW I knew I would have clearnce issues beforehand.
Jeff

The factory original exhaust on the 2nd gens with dual mufflers/resonators were not installed parallel to the ground but rather they were angled or sloped. Visuallize the inlet side being higher than the outlet side for both mufflers.

I believe the sole purpose of installing them as such was to maximize ground clearance on as much of the muffler body as possible.

Or, they thought it was esthetically more pleasing when viewed from behind (it does look cool, IMO).

My Formula originally came with the transverse muffler, but since 1983 I have always had dual exhaust w/dual mufflers installed similar to the factory angle noted above. I don't ever recall bottoming out.

clearance
 

I have 3' flowmasters with dual 3" system coming off the headers of my 455 78 bird. I've never had a issue hitting but I have stock spring/ride height.

I used mandrel bent pipes and custom fitted it- time consuming but well worth the effort.