Clearance Issue.... BIG one
Clearance Issue.... BIG one I have a 99 WS-6. It has been lowered 2" under stock lowering. I haven't had really any problems till i started messing with my exhaust. I had to get a new Y-pipe because of LT headers. That was a good 3" which DRASTICALLY reduced my clearance height. I still had a good 3" from my pipe to the ground.
Then i got cutouts
Of course NOW i scrape over freakin' railroad tracks. I measured with a ruler and i have MAYBE 1.5 inches from the pipe to the ground. It's hard as dump to drive in driveways and speed bumps are a HUGE "DO NOT".
I'm thinking i'll have to get new springs and RAISE the sucker. What would y'all suggest for both size and types of springs. I love the way it looks lowered so i don't want it to look like most stock TA's and Z-28's, i'm thinking maybe raise it one inch. I dunno, i'd like to get your opinions. Thank you for you help.
PS Please include links if you have any suggestions
Then i got cutouts
Of course NOW i scrape over freakin' railroad tracks. I measured with a ruler and i have MAYBE 1.5 inches from the pipe to the ground. It's hard as dump to drive in driveways and speed bumps are a HUGE "DO NOT". I'm thinking i'll have to get new springs and RAISE the sucker. What would y'all suggest for both size and types of springs. I love the way it looks lowered so i don't want it to look like most stock TA's and Z-28's, i'm thinking maybe raise it one inch. I dunno, i'd like to get your opinions. Thank you for you help.
PS Please include links if you have any suggestions
Is your clearance as bad as this?
Here are a couple things you can try before you go putting a lift kit in your WS6:
1) Take it to a muffler shop and see if they can get the i-pipe from the catback further into the over-the-axle pipe. This will bring the y-pipe closer to the floorboards and get you a little more clearance.
2) See if the muffler shop can fab you a better-fitting y-pipe.
3) See if the muffler shop can cut/flatten the cross brace that makes the y-pipe angle down, then make the y-pipe straighter and not go toward the ground.
4) Get a Mufflex y-pipe hanger to keep the y-pipe from banging the floorboard and tuck it just as close as you can.
I did most of the above (I passed on #4 in favor of a free G-Force special bump stop) and I rarely scrape now. Clearance is MUCH better than it was in the above pictures and that's with Hotchkis springs.
-Mike
Here are a couple things you can try before you go putting a lift kit in your WS6:
1) Take it to a muffler shop and see if they can get the i-pipe from the catback further into the over-the-axle pipe. This will bring the y-pipe closer to the floorboards and get you a little more clearance.
2) See if the muffler shop can fab you a better-fitting y-pipe.
3) See if the muffler shop can cut/flatten the cross brace that makes the y-pipe angle down, then make the y-pipe straighter and not go toward the ground.
4) Get a Mufflex y-pipe hanger to keep the y-pipe from banging the floorboard and tuck it just as close as you can.
I did most of the above (I passed on #4 in favor of a free G-Force special bump stop) and I rarely scrape now. Clearance is MUCH better than it was in the above pictures and that's with Hotchkis springs.
-Mike
I'll get some pics up as soon as i can. All i can say is that mine is lower than the pictures you posted.
About messing with the Y-pipe. They already hammered it down some. They couldn't even get it off the ramp so they had to flatten the pipe EXACTLY where your picture shows. The passenger side is of NO concern at all. It's all the drivers side. I was going to put on electric cutouts but now i don't have ANY room. The motor housing bumps up against the frame of the car (lift point) and the holes won't even line up. So i'll have to stick with the blockoff plates and send back the motors. Stinx i know.
All the things you listed have either already been done or CAN'T be done. The pipe is as close to the floor board as it can be. Though option number one is a consideration. I'll talk to the muff shop about that. I'll try and get some pics posted. But right now i don't have a computer. It's in the shop getting fixed as well (STUPID TROJANS!!!!
)
About messing with the Y-pipe. They already hammered it down some. They couldn't even get it off the ramp so they had to flatten the pipe EXACTLY where your picture shows. The passenger side is of NO concern at all. It's all the drivers side. I was going to put on electric cutouts but now i don't have ANY room. The motor housing bumps up against the frame of the car (lift point) and the holes won't even line up. So i'll have to stick with the blockoff plates and send back the motors. Stinx i know.
All the things you listed have either already been done or CAN'T be done. The pipe is as close to the floor board as it can be. Though option number one is a consideration. I'll talk to the muff shop about that. I'll try and get some pics posted. But right now i don't have a computer. It's in the shop getting fixed as well (STUPID TROJANS!!!!
) 
On The Tree
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 199
Likes: 0
From: SeaCoast NH
Same problem here. An exhaust shop did everything they could and I got almost an inch of clearance back but the y sometimes rattles on the floor. But I think its better than hitting the ground. I think since Ive done this I may have bottomed out once.
Originally Posted by stang killer
got any pics of the bump stop?
Another thing you can do is use oval exhaust tubing
Another thing you can do is use oval exhaust tubing
I'll try to take some pictures of the bump stop this week. I just haven't had time to mess with the BCoD in a while. The bump stop is nothing fancy, just some thick fireproof material that has been folded into a square and jammed between the floorboard and the y-pipe. Cheap, but effective. The reference to it in my sig is a joke, with "G-Fab" meaning "Ghetto Fabulous".
I did buy the Mufflex piece, and was all set to have G-Force put it on for me, but they came up with the alternative. I bought the hanger/bump stop from Thunder Racing, and it's a really nice piece.
-Mike
Trending Topics
Don't change your suspension... Change the exhaust... I went with the Lanes True duals....
My car is lowered as well... @ least 2in.....
I have yet to scrape or drag my duals..
just my 02..
My car is lowered as well... @ least 2in.....
I have yet to scrape or drag my duals..
just my 02..
LS1 Tech Stories
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
Gas Monkey Built a 6-Wheel Ferrari Testarossa With a Corvette LT4 Engine
Verdad Gallardo
7 Most Reliable High-Performance Engines GM Has Ever Built
Verdad Gallardo
Amazing '71 Camaro Restomod Is Modern Muscle Car Under the Skin
Verdad Gallardo
6 Common C5 Corvette Failures and What's Involved In Repairing Them
Pouria Savadkouei
Retro Modern Bandit Pontiac Trans AM Comes With Burt Reynolds' Autograph
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Greatest Cadillac V Series Performance Models Ever, Ranked
Pouria Savadkouei
Top 10 Most Powerful Chevy Trucks Ever Made!
Hennessey's New Supercharged Silverado ZR2 Has 700 HP
Verdad Gallardo
Coachbuilt N2A Anteros Is an LS2-Powered C6 Corvette In Italian Clothes
Verdad Gallardo
Originally Posted by OneMeanZ
Guess if you have to raise it up, go with Ground Control. That way you can pick your ride height.
That's what I was going to suggest. I had to do it for stock y clearance on a prokit.
Just so you know that it CAN be done right, here are some pictures of another board member's setup (SLPSS9723). His is just about the best I've ever seen.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...08476527SluKmD
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...08476533jXqkRX
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...08476630VobshI
-Mike
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...08476527SluKmD
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...08476533jXqkRX
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...08476630VobshI
-Mike
Originally Posted by chupr0kabra
Holy crap! I guess I don't have any room to gripe! (no pun intended)
I still say you should take that to a GOOD muffler shop and see what they can do for you.
-Mike
I still say you should take that to a GOOD muffler shop and see what they can do for you.
-Mike
After 4 years of f'ing around with 'custom' exhausts, I had mine welded this time. Band clamps at the collector and merge. Also I have LT's with 2.5" collectors and a 2.5" y-pipe. Lowered on Eibach's, DD it when it's nice out. Still made plenty of power. 3.5" after the merge.
I hope UMI doesn't mind me using a picture from their site, but this is why I'm thinking of doing Kooks headers/y-pipe with their tunnel mounted torque arm for my 1.75" lowered T/A:
Looks like it has lots of clearance, eh? The Kooks setup is supposed to clear that torque arm, so I would assume similar clearance.
If you don't want to raise it up, you might want to try the Kooks ORY.
Looks like it has lots of clearance, eh? The Kooks setup is supposed to clear that torque arm, so I would assume similar clearance.
If you don't want to raise it up, you might want to try the Kooks ORY.
Last edited by JakeFusion; Nov 10, 2005 at 07:53 PM.
Originally Posted by PewterY2KZ28
Don't change your suspension... Change the exhaust... I went with the Lanes True duals....
My car is lowered as well... @ least 2in.....
I have yet to scrape or drag my duals..
just my 02..
My car is lowered as well... @ least 2in.....
I have yet to scrape or drag my duals..
just my 02..
Well, like i said, i can't spend a fortune on this. I really am considering true duals but right now i'm kinda in the ditch when it comes to money. I only have like $350 to spend. I'll end up getting true duals eventually but from what i hear you manage to obtain some MAJOR clearance issues with them. My friend had them on his WS-6 with stock springs and shocks and they were literally RIPPED OFF over speed bumps. He said they hung way too low, even with stock springs.
Can you show me some pics of a GOOD true dual setup on stock springs?
See in this picture where the y-pipe passes under those chassis stiffeners in two places? A notch can be cut in both of those to allow the Y on the drivers side to tuck up so close that the Y pipe can go back over the top of the tunnel brace where it belongs. Then this whole problem is eliminated. I did this with a 3 inch Y with a four inch output, so I'm sure any of you can do it. It also helps to have headers that tuck up close like QTP's. With the chassis stiffeners notched, you need to restore chassis strength by welding some U-channel in on TOP of the floor pan. This winds up being just in front of the drivers seat, under the carpet. You won't even know it's there.
Cal: Yeah, I know. I just need to find a shop willing to DO that. I took it to a reputable muffler shop (non-sponsor) on the advice of some members of this board, but I either caught the guy on a bad day or he just didn't want to do it. He ended up pushing the I-pipe of the catback further into the bend over the axle, which brought everything a little closer, but even when I suggested him either fabbing me something or helping me with the cross brace, he said, "It's a trade-off. You get these big aftermarket exhausts and you just aren't going to get ground clearance."
-Mike
-Mike
Originally Posted by chupr0kabra
Cal: Yeah, I know. I just need to find a shop willing to DO that. I took it to a reputable muffler shop (non-sponsor) on the advice of some members of this board, but I either caught the guy on a bad day or he just didn't want to do it. He ended up pushing the I-pipe of the catback further into the bend over the axle, which brought everything a little closer, but even when I suggested him either fabbing me something or helping me with the cross brace, he said, "It's a trade-off. You get these big aftermarket exhausts and you just aren't going to get ground clearance."
-Mike
-Mike