ERA folks...please help / getting frustrated

[SSSammy]

Kramer, we put the new motor in two weeks ago, got the tranny in last weekend on Sat and the side pipes on Monday. Surprisingly, the narrow gaps where the side pipes go through the body are now normal on the driver's side and have opened up at least an inch on the passenger side. When the motor was built, we reused my EBrock heads (with much rework), but the block is different. Same motor mounts and pipes. When we set the engine in, I did inadvertently drop it the last inch or so with the hoist. So it probably set down kinda hard like Chaplin's. The passenger side pipes are now too close to the *bottom* of the cutout. I'm thinking about how I undo this Maybe I loosen the nut on the passenger side mount and jack the engine up, then re-tighten the nut. Or shim it .. I'm not gonna take the motor out again .. it's ready to start! Planning on that Saturday.

I'd take a little dab of lacquer thinner to the paint marks on the ceramic pipes. But be very gentle. If you have not run those pipes at all, then the ceramic is not cured and is still relatively soft, according to my local coater. I just had mine re-done in satin like yours since that is what I had asked for in the first place and they came in flat black instead. Looked really butch, but they got grey after a few hundred miles.

Sam