[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Full tilt goodies . Great build on the car .
I can relate to adjusting for less rumble and less roar.

[Gator67]

Headers are all tacked up. The bottom of the V bands won't extend below the horizontal plane of the subframe...should have at least 1.25" more ground clearance. I had the headers built to work with a 90 degree oil filter housing and PF61 filter (I plan on removing the remote oil filter system), and they install from the bottom without having to lift the engine. There's also plenty of room around the starter and they're far enough away from the Butler poly mounts so I don't have to worry about the mounts melting. With R&P, the steering shaft has to go through the LH side header, but plenty of room to install and remove the shaft with the header in place. I decided to go with mild steel and will have them Cerakoted. Stainless would have been 2x as expensive. With the money savings, I'll have him build the rest of the exhaust (he'll use stainless for that). He'll be able to keep everything up high, and try to go over the axle this time.

I'm thinking of going with Borla XS muffler, but still a little undecided on that.

[R 70 Judge]

Fantastic clearance with those headers.

As for mufflers... I really like how my 3" hooker aerochamber mufflers sound. Very unique sound. I'm not sure if they would be quieter than what you currently have. I can grab a video and send it to you if you like. Just let me know

[Gator67]

The tri-y's are all welded up now and fit great. I didn't mention this before, but the header guy based these off of sets he's started to build for 2nd gen guys here locally. He 3D scanned the engine bay of a friend's 70 TA (factory subframe) and built jigs. The first set, which went in my friend's TA, work great. There's tons more ground clearance and they sound terrific...he said they feel noticeably more torquey than the long tubes he was running before...Frank was also impressed. With 553ci, I didn't think it was possible for that car to feel more torquey.

Started making progress on the exhaust. Used oval pieces under the cross member to keep everything tucked up high, and short flex pipe to accommodate movement and prevent cracks. I don't love the idea of flex pipe, but it lasts a long time here in this dry climate. Planning to use three sets of v-bands...at the end of the headers, right before the x pipe, and right after the mufflers. Decided to use 14" Borla XS pros.

This project has snowballed a little. First, with the exhaust being up so high, the factory park brake cable set-up will no longer work. I'll probably go a Lokar universal cable kit, and route the RH side cable above the rear end, but not sure yet. Second, I'll need to reroute the fuel line to the throttle body, which will involve making a new line. I'll also need to reroute the hydraulic line from the clutch MC.

Oh, I had assumed the catch-can was empty, but found it had about an ounce of oil in it, so that will be staying put. I will be eliminating the remote oil filter so that will clean things up a bit.

[keith k]

A lot of care going into that exhaust system. Nice!

[Gator67]

Here are the new headers and exhaust. It was a lot of effort and expense to gain a half inch or so of ground clearance, but that's all I really needed, and I don't think we could get it up much higher unless we went with 2.5" pipe. I decided to do turn downs instead of normal factory style tips...just think the turn down's look better on a lowered car. The Borlas are a little quieter than the Race Pros, but can't drive her yet to see how she sounds at speed. I bought a premade fuel line from Fragola and I can't get it to stop seeping from the fitting. I made all the other lines with Earl's Speed Flex/Speed Seal and zero problems....so I guess I'll make my own with that stuff to replace the leaker.

[Gator67]

Got the car sorted out over the holidays and drove her around quite it bit. The Borlas are a lot quieter than the Race Pros when cruising around and on the highway...absolutely no drone...in fact, they seem even quieter than the Dynamax Super Turbos in my goat. Can comfortably hold a conversation in the car now, which is what I wanted. The idle also sounds different...the tone just seems tighter or sharper for the lack of a better word. Folks who like that deep rumble you get from a Magnaflow or Flowmaster probably wouldn't be a fan of these. Having said this, it's difficult to attribute the change in sound to the mufflers given that I also switched out the long tubes for the mid-length tri-y's. The car does seem snappier overall...everyone who's driven the car has made the same observation. So maybe there's some truth to the idea that the tri-y design increases low-midrange torque. Frank had planned to compare some long tubes to Patrick's tri-y's on the dyno last week (Patrick is the header/exhaust fabricator) but I heard that got postponed. We adjusted the exhaust tips so that they're exactly the same on both sides. Not much left to do on the car other than drive it.

[SD455DJ]

Gator67, simply awesome! The level of detail and quality is amazing! Love the results!

Dennis

[Dave M]

Great job on that car!