Road Runner Nest

Apparently I love doing the same job over and over again. Never leave me alone on a Memorial Day weekend: I was under the damned Road Runner for 10 hours today!

The arsenal:

brand-new repro '68-'69 hi-po exhaust manifolds (replaced my cracked OEM ones)
one tti exhaust system (2.5-inch, X-pipe, turn downs)
one freely exchanged passenger-side head pipe to accommodate the new exhaust manifold (thanks tti!)

This ought to be a snap, right? Heard all them good things about tti. Spent the coin. What could go wrong... First, I torqued down the freshly coated exhaust manifolds. Next I started the tti exhaust installation from the rear forwards per instruction. Well, after several attempts to get the alignment right (read: random pieces of the exhaust slamming into the ground as I jiggle other pieces, which also fall to the ground), I finally think I get it right and torque the exhaust flanges down, only to undo them again because the driver's side pipe keeps ending up right against the driveshaft, frame, and torsion bar. My thoughts at the time? Must be the aftermarket exhaust manifolds--No, wait. Only the passenger side was replaced. Hmmm... Oh well! I'm meant to be Mopar-less... I wonder what my buddy Dave's doing right now? Maybe we can go to the bar... Oh crap, it's already midnight... Maybe Cops is on. Nope. Darn... Back to the Mopar.

After stubbornly deciding to give up on it after 10 hours under the car (I'm STILL in pain), I decide to tackle SOMETHING so I can have SOME sense of satisfaction before I go to sleep tonight: I decide to fix that damned rear shock that's been off the car forever for reasons long forgotten. Being the OCD thinker that I am, I consult the shock's torque settings in the factory service manual. I note that the manual states the car should be on the ground when torqued, so I finger tighten the bolts and I lower the rear (which I had raised so I could get under the car to do the exhaust) and, as I did so, watched the entire tti exhaust come beautifully into alignment. OMG! That was the issue all along! I had the rear on jackstands! Son of a...

I'm so ashamed to post this, but it's too late to grab a beer with my buddy Dave and rant to him about it. Tomorrow will be torquing everything down to spec, presuming I can even fit under the car!

I could never fit under a car with out raising it. Muffler shops raise the cars high in the air to do exhaust work, But when they do they raise the WHOLE car up EVANLY. Try using 4 jack stands set to the same height.

lol don't you love exhaust? i've had to re-do exhaust so many times (mainly when using manifolds down to side-pipes...YUCK), that i just saved-up a little bit and being the thrifty guy i am bought the summit kit to bolt on to my "cheap" hedmans (which don't need to be modified to get in at all, unlike a lot of the higher priced pieces)...wouldn't you know it it all went together perfectly - still need to do final adjustments of everything, but i knew the rebuild was coming so i wasn't completely concerned with getting it exact until the motor's finished-up.


at least you got it figured out

Now that I think about it I wonder if I could have bent or cracked the exhaust when I lowered it. I had the flange bolts torqued, but the rest of it was "finger tight". I really need to buy more jack stands so I can get under there and do it right. I was working off of two at the rear.

One thing that doesn't make sense to me, if the car was up on stands, under the axle, wouldn't that simulate the car being down on the tires, since the weight of the car is on the suspension?

I guess it worked for you, which is great, but I'm surprised that it made that much difference.

Well, I actually had it on jackstands at the rear frame, not directly under the axle. Was I supposed to lift it by the axle? Oops... Oh well, it SEEMS to be on there and all torqued down so if I fatigued it in any way, time will tell.

Most times you do an exhaust the rear axle is suspended, typically you need to ,to get the pipe over the axle. I had some similar issues when installing my 2.5" with an "H" Pipe. The guys at TTI told me nothing ever comes out perfect so a little bit of tweeking may be necessary. I wasn't real happy, but I could see his point. Either way, I've had it for 13 years and it's looks as good as the day I installed it. Now I want the headers, well when the economy stabilizes a bit.

patrick wrote:Well, I actually had it on jackstands at the rear frame, not directly under the axle. Was I supposed to lift it by the axle? Oops... Oh well, it SEEMS to be on there and all torqued down so if I fatigued it in any way, time will tell.

Well, that's right, to jack it up under the frame rails, to drop the axle and get the pies over. I missunderstood you in thinking you had the jackstands under the axle, hence my mistake.

Again, glad it all worked out for you.