The ERA Slabside Q and A Thread

[fintubi]

I'm in the midst of dealing with this on 3014. Here's what I've accomplished/learned so far:

1. My kit came with the following parts:

- 2x headers
- 2x J-shaped pipes connecting the header collectors to the muffler inlets
- 2x Dynomax 17762 mufflers with clamps
- 2x J-shaped pipes from muffler outlets to tailpipes
- 2x tailpipes, including the "hump" over the rear axle
- 4x weld-on tabs to connect header collectors to the J-pipes
- 2x weld-on hangers for the pipes aft of the mufflers under the rocker panels
- 2x weld-on hangers for the pipes at the apex of the hump over the rear axle
- 2x weld-on hangers for the tailpipes as they exit to either side of the spare tire well

The frame is already drilled for the first and second hangers. The third hangers (next to spare tire well) need tapped holes; so I called ERA and they supplied a pair of rivet nuts that can be drilled/expanded into the frame tubing at the appropriate spot.


2. I dry-fitted the system on the car and cut the header collectors and J-pipe outlets to get the mufflers to land in the right place. The collector length determines how low the part of the system under the rocker panels sits; and the J-pipe length sets the fore-and-aft position of the muffler. It required a fair amount of cutting of the collectors to get the bottom surfaces of the J-pipes and mufflers roughly flush with the bottom of the frame rails. I don't think the dry-fit photos (linked below) show the system tucked quite as high as I eventually got it. My exhaust isn't significantly lower than frame rails or oil pan at any point.

3. I marked the location of the header tabs on the headers and J-pipes, had them tack-welded at a shop, double-checked the fit at home, and then had them final-welded at the same shop.

4. Since no further welding was needed on everything up to and including the mufflers, I had these parts ceramic coated by Accessories Plus, a local shop.

5. I've installed everything up to the mufflers on the car so it is driveable (muffler outlet wired up).

6. I'm taking the car to a local shop this week to have the following done:

- weld on the hangers under the rockers. These are the first support for the system after the cylinder heads. Dan at ERA says these can screw into either the frame outrigger immediately aft of the mufflers, or the next one back (immediately forward of the wheel well).

- weld the connection between the muffler outlet pipe and the tailpipe. This joint is in the corner of the wheel well; Dan says there is likely not enough space for a clamp and I believe him.

- weld the hanger onto the tailpipe at the apex of the hump over the axle

- weld the hangers onto the tailpipe where it hangs under the frame by the spare tire well. I have not installed the nutserts for these hangers yet since the location isn't set yet. Since the frame rail is running at a downward angle here, a small error in hole location means a large error in fit between the hanger and pipe.

7. If all goes well, I'll remove the back half of the system and have it coated to match the front.

I'll let you know how I make out. The first shop I took it to for this work chickened out.

This photo and the ones following it show my dry-fitting exercise:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...NZQWNyY3k0MGRR

Bill