Don't worry; I'll take plenty of photos when I am done. That way you can make a thread of "What Not To Do" when mod'ing cars/trucks LOL

 

Well, Fords, anyway! LMAO

 

Going to try and put up the exhaust tonight, if it's not too windy outside. I got nothing done over the weekend. My Mom got a bad stomach bug and had to take care of her. Yesterday, the wind numbed my fingers and I could only put up the exhaust hangers before quitting. If it's like that tonight; I might just throw glasspacks up there and run it to the mechanic like that. And then deal with getting real mufflers up there when I get it back.

 

Supposed to be warmer the next few days, man. Maybe you'll get time to get something done. BUT make sure your Mom is okay before you do anything to that car.

 

Definitely. But she did mention ever-so-subtly that she might want to drive/get out of the house when she gets better. Wish I had gotten the Crown Vic running; this would not be a problem had I accomplished that.

 

I got some time to work on the Grand Marquis yesterday. I put the X-pipe back up and ran into the same problem I had with the Crown VIc. The exhaust is too long. So I took it back down and figured out how to cut it back a little. Went back out and put it up again. For some reason it wouldn't go up; and for whatever reason the cutouts were hitting the floor pan and the X-pipe wasn't matching up. I looked at it, scratched my head, took everything down and started cutting. My first mistake; as if I sat and looked at the mismatched X-pipe a little longer, I would have realized that I reversed the pipes at the flange because I failed to mark them a week ago. So when I went back out and put them back together; the correct way, and they didn't match up again. Then I really started scratching what's left of my hair off my head. I then realized what I had done and took everything back down. I found a 2.5" coupling and a decent length scrap pipe and made one side longer at the 45* bend. Then went back under the car, measured it out, and cut the pipe to match the X-pipe. Put everything back up and realized that it is off center (using the driveshaft as the centerline), but pointing back straight. I'm okay with that because it's not a show car. The sun was going down and I needed to get cleaned up to make my meeting. I glanced at the X-pipe as I was packing up and now I am wondering if the system is still too long. I will see tomorrow when I get back out there.

 

I went back out there yesterday and put everything up. I realized that I just don't have the equipment, proper place, and skills to make this work the way I wanted it to. The mufflers, although moved back a bit, are still very close to the axle. And I don't have enough room to put the S-pipe to raise the mufflers. So, I did the only thing that I could think of and use 2 aviation clamps linked together and hung the mufflers; then used the clamps to raise them up a little. They point upwards now; but I don't fear them scraping anything. This is a job that I can't do without a welder. That has been the problem all along (with both cars). So, I will install the air intake, a new belt, and fill it up with oil to get it running so I can bring it to the mechanic for the oil dipstick tube repair. Then find a place that does exhaust systems and see if they can make what I got work. That's the plan for now. I will post pics later when I load them up.

 

The exhaust is almost up against the floorboard. I might have issues with the cutouts because they are the lowest point of the exhaust and I couldn't push them far enough back behind the floorboards without sacrificing the mufflers that I want to run. As you can see, I like to use flanges. They make taking the exhaust apart much easier. Hopefully this will make the oil dipstick tube removal/replacement easier for the mechanic.

I also scouted my current commute to work. There are a couple spots that I will want to avoid with my car. I will see what I have ins tore for me when I pout the car back on the ground; hopefully tonight if I get back early enough to load the tune and fire her up.

 

With all of the time and money you've spent on the exhaust on those cars, I think you'd be ahead if you'd just taken them to a competent muffler shop and let them do them. Just my personal opinion.

 

Yah, that's true. I think my problem is my lack of welding skills (despite my Dad being a great welder). Had I retained those skills from when I was a kid; this project wouldn't have been the bear that it is. Also, the original exhaust for the Crown Vic was a mix of Mustang and Impala components that worked kinda well together. My Malibu was a 3" single exhaust from Torque Tech; and the Doug Thorley Tri-Y headers matched up well to the exhaust (I did that system backwards). All in all; I also had my Dad's help with those cars. These last two projects I did by myself; which is probably why they go south so quickly. The good thing that came out of this is that I cleared a section of the basement out by using what I had left from the Crown Vic. Now I can shuffle stuff around and begin cleaning and sorting down there.

With all that said; she loud(ish)! Hooked the battery back up and loaded the tune last night and fired her up. Very rumbly at idle. Not at all what I expected; but very happy that she is running again. I will play with her over the weekend to see if I can get her out of the driveway without scraping the exhaust. That was the problem I had with the Crown Vic when I put the Malibu drag springs on that car. Had to use ramps to get her in and out of the driveway. I used those same mufflers (Dynomax# 17749) for the 1st dual exhaust upgrade on the Crown Vic. They made that car very quiet. Not sure why they are as loud as they are on my car. Could be that it's a SOHC vs the Crown Vic pushrod V8; and/or the longtubes that I am using for my car; I don't know. Surprisingly, my Dad liked the way it sounded. He is usually the one to say something/complain about the noise. He may be going deaf; which I will need to keep an eye on. As for my car; I am happy with it for now.