Pipe Symmetry Question
 

I just got my new (new to me) Pacific Roadster and have been going through it with a fine tooth comb. I noticed that the right and left exhaust placement does not match as you can see in the image. I would like to get the left side of the image to look like the right side. Is this something an exhaust shop can make an adjustment too relatively easily? If so, I might actually have them adjust both sides to fit a bit better, but at the minimum would like them to be symmetrical. Any tips/advice would be awesome...thanks!

You may be able to correct the alignment with a tapered spacer at the header/sidepipe connection flange. Something like these: New Page 1

Ted

Thanks for the response. That might come in handy for fine tuning later on. I am not sure if that will pull the pipe in closer like the right image. I am thinking it would need to be cut and re-welded, and probably the header pipe side.

At a guess I would say that this is because your engine is offset and when the pipes/headers were made they made them equal.

Should not be a big task to shorten the one the protrudes further, exhaust shops will sort this out.

Will they be able to cut and weld even if the pipes are ceramic coated?

Drive with your left arm out the side and it should balance out the aerodynamic drag. No problem.

No. Have to grind the ceramic off to weld. Then you can use some ceramic paint to touch it up, but it will show.

If you are picky enough to worry about the gap difference from side to side, you are not going to like the look after cutting and welding on ceramic.

Sorry, I didn't read your post correctly. I was thinking left side of the car vs. right side of the car (not left photo vs. right photo). If you would be satisfied with just having both sides the same distance from the body, you may be able to accomplish that with the the spacers I mentioned depending on how far the closer pipe needs to be moved away from the body. The spacers can be made a uniform thickness just to move the pipe farther from the body or the spacer can be made tapered to raise, lower or change parallelism.

Also, I just got done welding new mufflers into my sidepipes, and I can tell you that Old Dog is correct. The ceramic coating has to be ground off where the welds will be made. This may not be important because if you do as you've proposed, the welds probably won't be visible anyway and you can just do a touch up with a spray can.

Ted

Its a pretty noticeable gap in my opinion, but you are right, I probably wouldn't be stoked on the touch up since the car is just as clean under as it is on top.

If I just get a new header and get it aligned properly, I can send that out to get coated again right?

I would bring the right side in to match left side. The closer to the body, the less likely for your passenger to get "snake-bit"!

Maybe it is just the pictures, but it looks like the pipe in the left picture is welded funky to the front of the muffler. It looks like the muffler sits pretty parallel to the body line with the front being just a little further away than the rear, but the 4 pipes are welded at an angle and the gap from the pipes to the body looks very large and not parallel.

Stuff like that drives me nuts, but that would be a fair amount of work to fix it.

Thats what I am asking about. Picture left is the right side of the car. I am saying the same thing.

"Picky" was a poor choice of word, since it implies judgement. I should have used "concerned," "discriminatory," "astute", or well I just can't put my finger on the best word. **)

Yes you can build new and have it ceramic coated. Just make sure it is perfect before you have it coated. But will the new pipe match the other side. Maybe have to do both sides. This is not going to be inexpensive, but it may help your back to be sitting on a thinner wallet.

Is the header to side pipe connection a slip fit or a flange? I had slip fit that leaked fumes, and I converted it to a flange. That allowed me to adjust what I needed before welding. I touched it up with a ceramic paint. Color is similar, but noticeable. So I painted everything from the flange to the engine. The color difference from inside the engine bay to outside is not noticeable (if you know it and look for it you can see a difference, but with the shading under hood, the average person will not notice). The only place you can see a line, where the color changes, is under the car.

The ceramic paint does not hold up like a ceramic coating. It started to show rust in ~4 years on parts that were bare metal. I just touched it up again last year. Where I painted over the ceramic still looks good. I was concerned that the paint would not stick to ceramic. I cannot remember how I prepped the surface. I considered light sanding, but cannot remember if I did it.

I'm not recommending this, but it gave OK results for me. The paint has a slightly dull look compared to the ceramic coating. Being totally honest the paint in no way is as nice as a coating. OK for me may not be OK for you. Try putting some ceramic paint on you lawn mower exhaust and see what it looks like.

I know this sounds more than a little picky but I would replace both sides.

Whoever built the side pipes made multiple mistakes most of which have already been tagged by others in the thread. The whoops that visually offends me is the fact the fabricator did not use mandrel bends at the 90˚ point as the headers exit the fender. The result is squashed, ovulated piping.

The bending workmanship makes it look like the work was done by a 1950's muffler shop. The rest of your car looks too good to diminish it with this type of exhaust fabrication quality. The fix as others have already commented is not inexpensive. If you are stepping up for a complete replacement you ought to take the time to look at some of the stainless alternatives available out there. They are quite impressive in appearance and never rust. At the same time get a good set of large I.D. mufflers so you are not choking off the engine.

If you are handy with Cobra type upgrades you might want to buy the 90˚ bend pipes from places like Specialty Products Design (Click here=> spdexhaust.com). They also have CNC cut exhaust flanges, straight tubing and a variety of bend angles to help you complete the job. You can fab up your own headers and get them welded at a local welder with TIG capability. The finished pieces will be impressive and save you a fairly significant amount of money.

If you are shy about the fabbing process ICE Engine Works sells header fabrication kits that are in plastic. When you are done you cut your stainless pipes to match the plastic set up pieces and get them welded up. Click here => ICE Engine Works

Parting thought, the distance from the body you place the pipes tends to some extent be a balancing act between snakebite issues and cooking the paint on the car over time. Too close and the paint suffers, too far and the passengers who choose to forget your exit practices advice get bit — somewhat challenging dilemma but comes with the territory. I would fall down on the protecting the paint side of the argument.



Ed

I have a similar problem but mine resulted from an accident which bent the header....chech that first..

Thanks for the informative response. Sounds like I'll research, including your suggestions, a full exhaust replacement.

Thanks for the info!

Since I have flanges where between the header and the side pipe, couldn't I just have a new header made on the right side for now until I decide to replace the entire exhaust? You can see the left side is placed much better in the opening then the right side.

You'll have to remount the one side ...should be easy.....

Yeah......the headers bent ...the flange should be parralel to the frame...

OK, remove side pipe, cut off flange. cut side pipes as needed to move side pipe closer to header flange. weld flange back on. Measure ten times, cut once!
Easy-peasy !!
If you get new sidepipes, you'll have to do this procedure anyway, so think of this as practice for the big event!

Ted