i've seen a couple threads and been asked via pm about some issues, so i figured it was time to just go into detail about my problems with this setup. originally i was holding off on this because of waiting for feedback/help from stainless works, but apparently they have no desire to keep up with customer service.
this is based off the factory connect cat back system. i have the svtpp, stock everything and i'm not lowered.
the fitment is a joke IMHO. you adjust and adjust, but its so ridiculous that can't get it not to bang the body when hitting a harder bump after the exhaust heats up! according to stainless works there should be about 1/2" clearance between the body and the pipe on the top side and 1/2" on the bar below. well once it heats up and expands it moves all over the place. there is great deal of movement with the exhaust when driving which bangs around. don't know if they designed it this way but it moves way too much. in my opinion, they should have designed it to connect somehow to all 3 exhaust hangers, but they only connect on the 2 furthest back hangers. which i believe allows a lot of movement. which doesn't work at all for such small clearance! and because of the design, you can't get it perfectly centered in the cut out and not have it bump on the spare tire cavity in the body on the driver's side. some people are fine with the exhaust tips not being equally centered, but i hate it when it doesn't sit right in the cut out. the design should have allowed for greater movement or alignment to get it sitting right. to have it sit right, you have such small gaps between body parts and exhaust. i mean its retarded to have 1/4-1/2" gaps that disappear as things heat up, then you are down to a few millimeters of clearance and trying to tweak a few millimeters of clearance to get things to look right and not bang around. and an exhaust system shouldn't be designed that when its cold the tips sit flush and centered in the cut out, but then heat up and is 1/4-3/8" off center and almost touching the plastic.
also i had an issue with defective pipes. each side of exhaust is made up from several pieces of pipe you put together. the passenger side over axle piece of pipe wouldn't completely seat in the joining pipe. it would only go so far in and would stop. you install the pipes while under the car. problem is that there is absolutely no way to know that it didn't seat all the way in until you drive it and have it bang around like crazy. when installing it feels like it is seated all the way down because it wouldn't budge any deeper in the joining pipe. and once you drive it, things expand, etc and lock in place. it took banging the living hell out of the pipe to get it apart! i mean a good 1/2 hour under the car with a rubber mallet and tore up hands! once i got it apart i lined the pipes up next to each other and could see from the marks and scuffs that the over axle pipe wouldn't seat far enough down in the expanded joint of the next pipe. it had about 3/4" that it should have been able to slide into the pipe but wouldn't go in. so i sprayed oil, lube and pushed like mad with the pipes on my work bench and it wouldn't seat all the way in the adjoining pipe. it took the rubber mallet and pounding it over and over and finally it would go the distance down into the pipe, but it was like a vice grip welded in place!! the only way i could get it to go down all the way in the expanded pipe was to dremel a tiny cut in the over axle pipe the length of the joint to allow it to compress so it would seat down in the mating pipe. doing so allowed for the pipe to seat down enough now that it removed most of the banging around, but still will bang occassionally on harder bumps in road.
so i called stainless works to find out what the issues are...
i explained all of my problems w/ the exhaust. 1st their excuse is that i did the installation wrong! apparently they want you to use a drive-on ramp when doing the installation! i have a 2 post lift and was told that i shouldn't have used the lift! WTF! who designs an exhaust system to use a drive on ramp when 90% of the planet is going to jack the car up or have it on a lift?!?!? and further more, who DOESN'T tell you this prior to installing if that's what they need you to do??? there were absolutely no instructions or directions or anything stating this at all. pipes in a box with a catalog was all there was. but apparently others are having the same issues as me as well... and the guy i talked to made it sound like they are looking at reworking the design of exhaust etc. but i reiterated the fact that the pipes were screwed up out of the box and no way to know until you install them and find out the problem. i said i needed a new section of the 3 feet of bent pipe (which was dinged up now from beating on it and cut to get it to fit) and suggested they let people know of the problems up front and to let people know to not install on jacks or a lift. they guy said he would "SELL" me the 3 feet of bent pipe for $250 and i'd get it in a month!!!! unreal! i told him there was no way i was paying anything for the pipes that were defective from the get go... further more the ridiculous idea of not installing on jacks or lifts and not letting people know what had to be done. so the guy (chris i believe was his name) said ok i understand, let me try to get this taken care of, i'll call you back in a little bit. well 3-4 weeks later and a couple voicemails i left to chris and i've still not heard anything back from them!
i've installed exhaust systems on my last 3 cobras, couple of my mustangs and few of my trucks... never have i had the kind of pain in the ass as dealing with this setup.
this is based off the factory connect cat back system. i have the svtpp, stock everything and i'm not lowered.
the fitment is a joke IMHO. you adjust and adjust, but its so ridiculous that can't get it not to bang the body when hitting a harder bump after the exhaust heats up! according to stainless works there should be about 1/2" clearance between the body and the pipe on the top side and 1/2" on the bar below. well once it heats up and expands it moves all over the place. there is great deal of movement with the exhaust when driving which bangs around. don't know if they designed it this way but it moves way too much. in my opinion, they should have designed it to connect somehow to all 3 exhaust hangers, but they only connect on the 2 furthest back hangers. which i believe allows a lot of movement. which doesn't work at all for such small clearance! and because of the design, you can't get it perfectly centered in the cut out and not have it bump on the spare tire cavity in the body on the driver's side. some people are fine with the exhaust tips not being equally centered, but i hate it when it doesn't sit right in the cut out. the design should have allowed for greater movement or alignment to get it sitting right. to have it sit right, you have such small gaps between body parts and exhaust. i mean its retarded to have 1/4-1/2" gaps that disappear as things heat up, then you are down to a few millimeters of clearance and trying to tweak a few millimeters of clearance to get things to look right and not bang around. and an exhaust system shouldn't be designed that when its cold the tips sit flush and centered in the cut out, but then heat up and is 1/4-3/8" off center and almost touching the plastic.
also i had an issue with defective pipes. each side of exhaust is made up from several pieces of pipe you put together. the passenger side over axle piece of pipe wouldn't completely seat in the joining pipe. it would only go so far in and would stop. you install the pipes while under the car. problem is that there is absolutely no way to know that it didn't seat all the way in until you drive it and have it bang around like crazy. when installing it feels like it is seated all the way down because it wouldn't budge any deeper in the joining pipe. and once you drive it, things expand, etc and lock in place. it took banging the living hell out of the pipe to get it apart! i mean a good 1/2 hour under the car with a rubber mallet and tore up hands! once i got it apart i lined the pipes up next to each other and could see from the marks and scuffs that the over axle pipe wouldn't seat far enough down in the expanded joint of the next pipe. it had about 3/4" that it should have been able to slide into the pipe but wouldn't go in. so i sprayed oil, lube and pushed like mad with the pipes on my work bench and it wouldn't seat all the way in the adjoining pipe. it took the rubber mallet and pounding it over and over and finally it would go the distance down into the pipe, but it was like a vice grip welded in place!! the only way i could get it to go down all the way in the expanded pipe was to dremel a tiny cut in the over axle pipe the length of the joint to allow it to compress so it would seat down in the mating pipe. doing so allowed for the pipe to seat down enough now that it removed most of the banging around, but still will bang occassionally on harder bumps in road.
so i called stainless works to find out what the issues are...
i explained all of my problems w/ the exhaust. 1st their excuse is that i did the installation wrong! apparently they want you to use a drive-on ramp when doing the installation! i have a 2 post lift and was told that i shouldn't have used the lift! WTF! who designs an exhaust system to use a drive on ramp when 90% of the planet is going to jack the car up or have it on a lift?!?!? and further more, who DOESN'T tell you this prior to installing if that's what they need you to do??? there were absolutely no instructions or directions or anything stating this at all. pipes in a box with a catalog was all there was. but apparently others are having the same issues as me as well... and the guy i talked to made it sound like they are looking at reworking the design of exhaust etc. but i reiterated the fact that the pipes were screwed up out of the box and no way to know until you install them and find out the problem. i said i needed a new section of the 3 feet of bent pipe (which was dinged up now from beating on it and cut to get it to fit) and suggested they let people know of the problems up front and to let people know to not install on jacks or a lift. they guy said he would "SELL" me the 3 feet of bent pipe for $250 and i'd get it in a month!!!! unreal! i told him there was no way i was paying anything for the pipes that were defective from the get go... further more the ridiculous idea of not installing on jacks or lifts and not letting people know what had to be done. so the guy (chris i believe was his name) said ok i understand, let me try to get this taken care of, i'll call you back in a little bit. well 3-4 weeks later and a couple voicemails i left to chris and i've still not heard anything back from them!
i've installed exhaust systems on my last 3 cobras, couple of my mustangs and few of my trucks... never have i had the kind of pain in the ass as dealing with this setup.
