After driving one season, it was
apparent that a few areas needed attention.
A few rattles were remedied, and the front
shocks were tightened up.

 

The exhaust system was dragging on the ground at more or less all times. No speed bump was unscratched. Even tracks worn into the pavement were too much on occation, and resulted in dragging the exhaust. The Hooker headers were much too low, and they seemed a good starting point. Here, small slices of tubing has been cut away to shorten the headers, about 1" in the front, and 1-¼" from the rear pipes. (December 2009)

Some grinding and tweaking later, some misalignment is evident. An old "custamization" is seen here (arrow), one bend tried to occupy the same space as the frame. At least 3" of empty space on the other side of the tube. Shame on you, Hooker!

After welding and a squirt of heat resistant rattle can paint, There's now about 1" more ground clearance at the front and 2" at the collector flange. The headers are now about the height of the engine and transmission oil pans. The right hand side header required some more work, as one pipe had to be rerouted around the oil filter.

The right hand side exhaust was fabricated from bends and straight 3" aluminized piping and tucked real tight under the floors. After finishing, the welds were painted with heat resistant rattle can paint to reduce rusting. The muffler is tucked up under the rear seat. (February 2009)

On the drivers side, the transmission cross member was notched for the exhaust pipe. The Oldsmobiles usually have only on exhaust pipe on the right hand side. The notch is about 8" wide to accommodate the special flattened piece of tubing. To the right the header collector flange can be seen.

This is two pics of the "special flattened piece of tubing". The 2" part on the top is what will be under the notch in the tranny cross bar. The idea is to raise the exhausts ground clearance by at least two inches, and this is what it takes. The lower pic is a top view of the flattened tubing. It took some maths to determine the width of the 2" part, but now it has the same cross sectional area as the round 3" tubing.

This is a scetch of the exhaust system. Gray is the old design, and red is the design now under construction.

A photo of the exhaust system. A lot of hangers, two of which at the rear of the transmission, are
hopefully going to make it last a long time.

Here's a photo from circa 1973 with Richard Petty and his Plymouth Road Runner.