IE-SS exhaust proving a bear to fit

[ceylove]

Anyone out there installed an IE SS exhaust and have it just "bolt on"? I've got '75, '76 center exhaust. I have their and down pipe too. The bend on their down pipe is different than stock and where it bends to head towards the back of the car it's hitting the underside of the car. It will not bolt up to the header without hammering in my floot an inch or two. IE has been helpful on the phone and tells me it should fit but the bends just don't seem right. My solution is to cut it at the incorrect bends, bend it and re-weld it which I can do but it's a lot of time. I've gotten a lot of parts from IE and they continue to be helpful and a great source of info, but this exhaust has been a bear!

[02for2]

Welcome to the Club!

The IE system isn't all that well thought through. A couple minor design changes would make it great.

You do not need to cut and weld anything. There is a very narrow 'Sweet Spot' where everything will line up, at least so that it's not rubbing anywhere. I think it's essential to have two pairs of hands and two sets of eyes in getting it all to go.

Also, make certain IE sent you the right parts - there are two different systems - one for early and one for late models. The hangers are located differently and I know of 3 instances where IE sent out the wrong muffler section, incl. mine.

I also had a situation with the downpipe not lining up and cut too short and after arguing with Jeff who claimed it was jig-built and therefore HAD to fit, they finally sent me out a replacement which bolted right in.

After all is said and done, it's a very nice system... But, only after all is said and done.

Cheers!

[rijco]

Similar experience, but there is a sweet spot where everything will line up - keep all the connections loose and keep moving things around until you can make it work. We ended up adding an additional attachment point to reduce movement and that helped as well.

[JohnC]

yep, keep fiddling. If you move any one piece, all the others are affected. For me, it is just trial and error. I had it right, then changed my guibo and back to the drawing board. Eventually you will get it to fit if you're patient.

[jgerry2002]

The BIGGEST problem is its way too easy to flip the center section upside down. You'll spend all day to sorta try to get it to fit and walk away wondering why this or that isn't cut shorter or bent this way or that way.

Flip it over... and try it again. Do that, and the whole damn thing will bolt in less than an hour.

Next issue, replace those "slip" clamps with old fashioned muffler clamps, and voila, the exhaust will bolt in and not need to be touched for a long time.