Well this is necessary for these headers, and more than just these actually. . Most over 1 3/4 are going to have some clearance issues in that area... sorry to tell you, but as you know there isn't a lot of room down there to begin with, then you are trying to wedge 4 1 7/8 pipes down in that tight place anyway. ...

 

Going with a tubular K-frame is a great mod for several reasons. Much more clearance for things, lighter weight and they look great.

 

Progress Update:

Spent a few hours last night.
Dropped the header again and clearanced the k-member, probably knocked out nearly 1/2" with the grinder. Bolted everything all back up.

Next swapped out my cross member and put the stock piece back on.
Mounted the TA back to the tail shaft for now until I can find a more permanent solution. I forgot how much of a PIA that was, glad I had extra hands. Had to lower the trans and remount the clamshell, pull the torque arm right off the rear and then work back to it.

I will go back to it tonight. Setup the Y pipe, and then play around adjusting my pinion angle. Amongst a few other things.

 

Poorly designed my ***. This is MOST 1 7/8 headers to begin with.

Maybe you should have spent 4x more on a different brand, so you wouldn't have to "hack" your 15yr old car.

 

My speed engineering 1 7/8ths didn't rub the k member

 

Sorry for the late response to the post. We've been pretty tied up on the phones the last couple of days and I haven't had the chance to jump on here. In response to the fitment, we've seen them clear perfectly as with my own personal set and sometimes you have to very slightly grind on the k-member. It's not a difference in the headers as we've received a set back that was rubbing to exchange and compared them to a known set that cleared and there was no difference. My only guess is the difference in tolerances from GM when setting up the K-member. I'm sorry that I don't have any other go to answer for making them fit better other than to slightly grind on your K-member where it's touching. If you see where it's actually touching you will see that it will not hurt structural integrity. We design our headers to tuck up as tight as possible for the best ground clearance. Whenever there's another variable such as tolerance difference from GM or saggy motor mounts this can cause clearance issues. Most of our sets clear without issue. Though we do get the occasional call about the 1-7/8" headers touching the k-member.

As far as the driveshaft loop, I have seen the Lakewood and Spohn loops that look to be made of flat stock fit without clearance issues.

Lonnie

 

Thanks for the reply Lonnie.

I was curious about 2 things.

1: The Y pipe design, I was curious as to why it was designed in such a way you need to cut a couple inches off the stock length intermediate pipe? This issue seems to be unique to TSP Y-pipe.

2: Regarding torque arms and relocation. Are you aware of any full length combinations that allows clearance with this exhaust and a cross-member with mount relocation? One person chimed in earlier but was curious if you had additional experience.

Thanks again for the reply, these issues are just things I will have to work around and I suppose are different for different setups/cars. But for what it's worth I'm just sharing my experience.

I will say for the $ spent the headers are pretty nice, and the ground clearance with the Y is great as well as a respectable merge. Compared to my old stuff I expect a few more ponies.

Thanks,
Dan

 

I have the BMR torque arm relocation kit for the full length torque arm and it will clear the y-pipe set up. I have true duals on it now and they clear great as well.

As far as cutting the Y-pipe/ I-Pipe, it's primarily for the stock systems that you have to cut the I-pipe as you will have the neck down to fit the stock 2-1/2" I-pipe. If you have an aftermarket 3" system you just simply cut the neck down off of the Y-pipe to fit a 3" set up. There's not enough room in the Y-pipe with that nice merge to make the neck down an interchangeable piece. It does work out nice too in the fact that if you wish to change to a 3" set up you still have a Y-pipe that will work with that as well. All you have to do is cut the neck down off.

Lonnie

 

I can attest that the UMI full length with their TA relo will fit a 6spd.

 

So I think I found my problem...

Even after putting my TA back on the transmission I still don't have enough clearance. I started looking at this differently.

The only answer I can see is TSP's exhaust is not compatible at all with Spohn full length torque arms.

The design of the arm has the straight edge of the ladder at the top, where as other arm's (aka BMR) have the straight edge at the bottom. The bottom being straight would grant more clearance.

Take a look at the pics, Lonnie, let me know what you think do I need a new TA?

 

I have a new BMR torque arm on order. As soon as it comes in I hope to wrap this up.

 

Then why are there so many people complaining of fitment problems?

Maybe I should have spent 4x more on an American made product, not some cheap Chinese header that forces me to grind off pieces of my car. This is one of those cases where you get what you pay for.

 

One more time....I didn't have to grind anything to fit my speed engineering 1 7/8ths that cost less than tsps

 

Dude, do whatever you want. Seriously. Nobody is telling you that you HAVE to buy this that or the other.

Not every car is perfect and built to the same specs as the previous one that rolled off the line. Some have to grind, some don't. Motor mounts, stock, poly, solid, and pedestal all play a value as well.

What don't you understand about that?

You don't want Texas Speed headers, fine. We get that. It's your money. Spend it where you want. Knock off the "cheap Chinese" **** though.

 

I will chime in only to say the only issue I ever had with my TSP 1 7/8" headers was with the Y-pipe hitting the brace under my drivers seat, and to be totally honest, it was my fault, after re-clocking the the first section of the y pipe out of the header on the Drivers side, it does not touch, it is close, but it does not hit and I NEVER had any issues w/my k-member, keep in mind I have a vert and so far no drive shaft loop and I have a magnaflow and I did cut a few inches off my I pipe.

AFWIW: I think what people need to understand is EVERY F body is different, really, these are NOT precision made automobiles, these are massed produced in great quantities and the spec tolerances are all different. I work in a vehicle mass produced manufacturing facility (MIL vehics) and I see the tricks that have to be used to get things in "specs" sometimes. YMMV!

PS: what are the other cars in this killer looking garage, not to change the subject...and what paint did u use to paint your welds?

 

So an update from the weekend.

Long story short, I got the new BMR torque arm in along with my trans cross member with relocation. The Y-pipe then cleared fine. However due to me having to cut the necked part on the intermediate pipe I was not able to clamp down enough to get an even half decent seal. Even using a U bolt its still crappy and hangs a little.

So there are things you should be aware of if going the TSP route.
The headers are nice for the money and the Y pipe is built decent but the fitment sucks. It does however hug the floor well an has a nicer merge than other low cost options. They could have easily at least made it fit the intermediate pipe better without cutting. This would have not only fixed that problem but also allowed me to use my BMR driveshaft loop. The bends would only have been a little more aggressive.

So be aware that the Y pipe will not fit certain torque arms (spohn specifically). Grinding the k-member is very likely. It will not clear BMR or similar driveshaft loops that require the pipe to be fed over the top. You must also cut your I-pipe and ultimately weld it or get a flange welded.

So as the old saying goes, "You get what you pay for", for me this is holding true.

New Torque arm $350
New DS loop $150
Paying a shop to do some welding $100-200 approx.
For me I spent a ton of time working on this for something as simple as headers/exhaust.

This will put me up to the price of ARH, that would have taken only a short day to install. I spent a lot of time and I'm committed to this setup for now, but figured I'd lay out some facts for people to see what you might be getting into. I just need to get some welding done and it will be wrapped up.

 

Those numbers aren't exactly fair. If you plan ahead and buy a torque arm and DS loop that is designed to clear aftermarket headers and y pipes then there will be know extra cost. And $100-200 dollars better be for stainless steel TIG welds otherwise your over paying.

 

V band clamp might be a decent idea.

 

Just an FYI for everyone else reading this thread, we fully stand behind our products and offered DannoWS6 a full refund on the y-pipe provided that it hadn't been modified.... He chose to keep the y-pipe and change out the torque arm / driveshaft loop instead. So all costs needed to make this work is on him.

All in all, when running any aftermarket suspension parts and ordering exhaust products whether through us or anywhere else, it's always a good idea to call first to make sure there won't be any interference issues with your set up. This thread is a good example of that.

Lonnie

 

So just to be clear, my car already had long tube headers and a Y-pipe from another manufacturer. My torque arm and driveshaft loop were designed with headers in mind and cleared everything fine previously.

When I weld my exhaust up I would like to have the ability to separate the Y pipe from the intermediate pipe so its easier to work on the car. So I will have a reducer/flange added that will obviously increase cost marginally and I assume I will be charged at least an hour labor for everything so my pricing is a good guess.

As I stated in a previous post I'm not of the mindset to slam a vendor. I know when you mix and match parts things can happen. However I am just sharing my experience for face value. There are common challenges with this setup that from a consumer perspective you should be made aware of and from a vendor/builder perspective maybe they can regroup and attempt to make a better product.