Exhaust Jedi's, help! Post install, pre tune ??'s
 

Need to pick your brains folks since I'm no exhaust expert. I have a few ?'s before my tune on Sunday.
I had my Pacesetter's and TSP catted Y hooked up to my GMMG today and noticed a few things:
1. I have a very noticeable ticking. It seems to be mainly on the driver's side. I'm trying to think of the best way to describe it. It's very fast and seems to near the merge of header's to Y, I think. I've tried to brace against the exhuast at various places but, it seems very solid, seems to be free of points that would rub or cause rattling, and doesn't seem to have any leaks. I didn't expect so much noise from so far up front. Is it just in need of tune?
2. I was wondering about the clearance. It seems to be lower than I expected for a header/ catback. I've included pictures below.
3. I noticed that it looks like one of the ends for the rear o2's is hanging down below the headers. Unfortunately, no pic. Can I just tuck it up? How is the best way to remove them? I'm having them tuned out, no sims.
Thanks all,
Bob
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...a/100_1636.jpg http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...a/100_1635.jpg http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...a/100_1634.jpg

clearance issues occur when you install LT's, sometimes worse than others, the ticking sounds like a leak to me, maybe a pin hole somewhere in the welds

That y pipe is a piece.

Do you have to have cats?

No, I don't need cats. I have race style headers. I went with them because it seemed the consensus was that a GMMG was too raspy with an ORY. Mainly my concern is all of this popping and ticking. I've never heard an exhaust that was that noisy up front. I can even hear it bouncing off of cars I pass.
What's a good way too test for leakage?

Did you change the springs to lower the car? That will give header clearance headaches.

Looks like you had the pipes welded up. I see sub frame connectors... hard to see the collectors on the headers. I'd like to see a pic with the car jacked up so you can see where the headers end with a good shot of the Y pipe. Looks like the Y might be angled down too much.

Band clamps are the way to go. Only way to see if the leak is at the joints is to hold you hand close to it while the car is running. If you feel a leak, clamp tighter or do the foil trick. Take the clamp off, wrap foil around the pipe then reapply the clamp. The ticking is just a normal thing going from factory steel to a thinner steel setup. Mine and my buddies do it also, but it's not too noticeable. Check for leaks.

Yeah, I'm getting ready to go check now. It just seems that there shouldn't be so much knocking, popping, or ticking from the front. It really reflects off of cars and buildings. By the way, I love yuor exhaust clips. They're why I went to headers and GMMG:nod: