Help With Exhaust Install

[NSXROC]

I am seeking advice on what can be done to improve my current exhaust install.

I recently bought a HKS exhaust for my car. I went to a muffler shop to have the exhaust installed. It took the guy 1.5 hour to finish the install and for some reason, it didn't come out perfect.

The left exhaust tip is not sitting right in middle of the rear valence hollow(I have a 2002 rear valence), but the right exhaust tip is in perfect position.

The guy tried a adjust the left exhaust tip, but there was no improvement. He said there's nothing that can be done!

Any advice on what I should do next or how to adjust the exhaust?

Thanks in advance.

 

[1TITENSX]

Found some good info here. Check out post #15. In particular, note the next to last sentence.

 

[D'Ecosse]

... The left exhaust tip is not sitting right in middle of the rear valence hollow(I have a 2002 rear valence), but the right exhaust tip is in perfect position.

The guy tried a adjust the left exhaust tip, but there was no improvement. He said there's nothing that can be done! ....

If the right is indeed centered & appears the left is the one that is "off", then there is nothing you can do to get a perfectly centered pair of tips - any adjustments to the position of one will affect the other. It may be possible to adjust the way it hangs (per the reference suggested by 1TITENSX above) to give common spacing between the tips & the valance but you will end up with both being off-center wrt the valance.

Cairo94507 had the exact issue you are talking about - he had purchased a Comptech exhaust. Comptech recognized the problem that his unit had not been fabricated correctly with one of the pipes bent out of spec and they replaced it for him - even re-installing it! Great service in my book.
See here for reference.

Measure center to center on your exhaust tips, I get 43-1/4" and mine is perfectly centered between the '02+ valance - mine is a Comptech also, but it shouldn't matter which brand exhaust regarding the center- center dimension. (To simplify "guessing" the center point, just measure from left side of left tip to left side of right tip & that will be same as center-center measurement): any significant deviation (3/4" made a huge difference visually!) means that your exhaust is not fabricated such that it can be centered between the valance openings. Actually, you can also make the same relative measurement between your OEM exhaust & the new one & see how much different they are.

If not close to spec (I would suggest anything more than +/- 1/4") then you should contact your supplier/manufacturer to see how they will accommodate the problem.

 

[NSXROC]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I am going to ask the guy who I had purchased the exhaust from to help me re-align the exhaust or even reinstalling it.

I bought the exhaust and rear valence from the same guy and when they were on his 91, they looked perfect. Exhaust tips both centered in the two rear valence hollows. This is why I didn't understand the problem.

 

[Cairo94507]

Good luck with the exhaust. D'Ecosse is correct, they had to replace my exhaust because one of the mandrel bends was off for the driver side tip.

 

[LJSB]

Stand behind your car about 1 ft from the bumper, facing the front of the car and look down.
Looking down wards move your head to the front, toward the cabin until both exhaust tips disappear from view.
Now move slowly back and looking down across the face of the bumper, see that both exhaust tips appear at the same time and at the same angle.
I have found that the problem can be that the exhaust, while level on the horizontal plane, can be "cocked" and make it "appear" to be in the center on one side and off from the other.



You may need to bend one of the pipes a bit. Bending things is fun. :smile: