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Post by oneowner88lx on Dec 30, 2011 9:42:18 GMT -5
This picture shows the angle of the over-the-axle pipe. Here you can see how the wider muffler helps with fitment by moving the muffler outlet over toward driver's side. The narrower magnaflow had the muffler's outlet toward passenger's side by about 2" which caused mid pipe to hit floor and the over-the-axle pipe to lay right on the upper control arm. So we will run it like this until funds are available to replace the upper control arms. Then we will tuck it up tight and install tail pipe.
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fox4dr
Boosting 10 psi
Posts: 44
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Post by fox4dr on Jan 2, 2012 11:23:21 GMT -5
Hopefully you dont make the mistake that I have already have...
Do some research on upper arm bushings. You need the stock type for suspension compliance. Full tech at MM site. I would NEVER again swap in stiffer upper bushings...ever hear of snap oversteer? Bent axle flange, bent wheel and some soiled pants. Second spin caused no damage. Third, went into oncoming lanes but traffic was light....
I also have Stingers turbo to bumper 3"/Magnaflow system and suffer the same clearance issues. Car is winter parked and the required mods to the exhaust will include shorting/tucking up the downpipe and adding a flex pipe after-cat,allowing an almost ridged mount muffler (allowing for fore/aft movement) and reshape/flatten over axle tailpipe.
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Post by oneowner88lx on Jan 3, 2012 23:09:30 GMT -5
Hopefully you dont make the mistake that I have already have... Do some research on upper arm bushings. You need the stock type for suspension compliance. Full tech at MM site. I would NEVER again swap in stiffer upper bushings...ever hear of snap oversteer? Bent axle flange, bent wheel and some soiled pants. Second spin caused no damage. Third, went into oncoming lanes but traffic was light.... Fox, not following what you mean about the upper control arms. I went over to Maximum Motorsports and looked around did not see any article that said stay with rubber bushings. By the way we have new rubber bushings in the upper center of the rear and plan to keep them. |
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fox4dr
Boosting 10 psi
Posts: 44
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Post by fox4dr on Jan 5, 2012 8:48:04 GMT -5
Well I did make ASSumtions you would replace your uppers with a narrower tubular urethane bushed style and if that is the case here's a little bit from their page on new replacement Ford upper arms.-
"We performed extensive testing of rear upper control arm bushing materials during the development of our Panhard Bar. When retaining the original four-link suspension, the best compromise between resistance to suspension bind, best control of axle position, best ride quality, and least potential damage to the chassis, is to retain rubber bushings in the rear upper control arms. This is especially important when adding a Panhard Bar. The compliance of a rubber-bushed upper control arm is required when a Panhard bar is added to the Mustang four-link suspension.
When installed on a 1979-93 Mustang, these control arms, with their stiffer rubber bushings, help limit axle wind-up and side-to-side motion, but will not damage your Mustang's upper control arm mounting points (torque boxes) as a standard urethane-bushed upper control arm would.
See our extended technical information about bushing material choices in our Rear Lower Control Arm tech section."
That is just the tip of the iceberg....so much testing/research and info from that group and on that site....kinda like why this info forum is here.
All I'm saying is find the clearance some other way-besides swapping uppers.
I am.
FYI- my snap spinouts were in a Fox body (LTD LX) with better rear weight distribution than a Mustang, and in the dry too! With a big flat torque curve (not like a more peaky turbo car) this car is very easy to modulate. But get in the torque/power to soon in a curve or through some bumps- look out.
This car is slated for a Steeda 5 link2 but I'm getting way off tangent here...
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Post by Stinger on Jan 5, 2012 14:36:37 GMT -5
I've never found tubular upper control arms to be an issue as long as the rubber bushings in the axle housing are retained (which seems to be what is being said above). You just need rubber bushings at one end in the uppers, not both ends. This is when not running a panhard. With a panhard, rubber may be required at both ends.
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Post by oneowner88lx on Jan 5, 2012 18:23:28 GMT -5
Ok thanks for the info. We have new rubber bushings on the axle housing which we plan to keep. We didn't pick rubber because we were smart just didn't feel like burning out the rubber and putting poly bushings in there. Plus we thought it would give a little better ride being a street car.
It also sounds like if you run a Maximum Motorsports pan hard and torque arm you really need rubber bushings.
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Post by khantyranitar on Feb 16, 2012 1:16:58 GMT -5
When I installed the Stinger system on my '87 TC, there were fitment issues as well. One thing I have found is that no matter how well constructed a bolt on exhaust system is, they almost always need to be modified. So this is not meant to diminish or demean your product at all, just stating what I have observed. Even high end expensive kits for Corvettes, Ferrarris, Porches, etc, almost always need at least some alteration to fit correctly. sometimes you can get lucky. In my car, the down pipe and driver set tailpipe fit perfectly. The y-pipe had an incorrect spread and had to be altered, and the passenger side pipe needed to be bent in multiple locations, and trimmed several times before it cleared the axle without touching the body or fuel tank anywhere. I had mine installed at a muffler shop, so non of these alterations where a problem, it just took a little more time. The finial result was awesome, and it was still a better result and less expensive that building it all from scratch. Plus it was all mandrel bent, so no flow restrictions, a custom made system would have been bent with whatever bender the shop had and would not have been mandrel bent.
I supplied my own muffler, a WickedFlow MAX. I had no issues with the offset of the muffler.
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Post by oneowner88lx on Mar 2, 2012 21:34:23 GMT -5
Will be bolting these UPR chrome molly arms on in the next week or so. They will give us more clearance:
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Post by oneowner88lx on Mar 11, 2012 19:42:32 GMT -5
One very long and hard day in the garage today. Got the Stinger 3" elbow in the mail. Nice piece but some casting/weld clean up was in order.
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Post by oneowner88lx on Mar 11, 2012 19:45:05 GMT -5
Couple minutes with the air grinder and burr, much better.
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Post by oneowner88lx on Mar 11, 2012 19:49:51 GMT -5
There was not enough straight section on the down pipe to run a butt connector clamp so I had to weld some flanges on I had laying around. This was very difficult cause you have to get the down pipe positioned correctly. What I did was tack the flange onto the down pipe first then bolt the other flange to it. Then set the entire exhaust system in place and from the top tack the other flange to the elbow. Then take it off and fully weld.
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Post by oneowner88lx on Mar 11, 2012 19:52:21 GMT -5
Maybe one day I can weld as good as Stinger but not today. Strong yes, leak free yes, pretty no.
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Post by oneowner88lx on Mar 11, 2012 19:53:59 GMT -5
Comparison between a stock and a Stringer 3" elbow.
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Post by oneowner88lx on Mar 11, 2012 19:56:44 GMT -5
So I put the new control arms on and put it all back together. The UPR upper arms provide a lot of clearance so the exhaust tucks all the way. Over the axle pipe clears control arms and frame rail nicely. Aftermarket heavy duty exhaust hanger keeps system from moving so no banging around. Mid pipe clears the floor nicely.
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Post by oneowner88lx on Mar 11, 2012 19:59:39 GMT -5
Here is the exhaust hanger. Note the upper control arm clearance. Muffler is raised about 1.5" inches compared to before and over the axle pipe clears fine now.
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