Got the y-pipe cleaned up, sanded down, and shot it with VHT primer followed by a coat of VHT paint. Across all my avenues of car buddies that I asked, most said to avoid the heat wrap, but some said to do it thats the route I went (for now). if it turns out to be a problem, I'll just take it off. I used plenty of metal zip ties and faced all of the tails upwards. Out of the 50 foot rol of heat wrap, I was only left with about 1 foot of leftover. whew!
I installed both HBX-1 oxygen sensor extenders (important for nitrous) and then I installed the holley o2 sensor in the drivers side bung and the new AEM o2 sensor in the passenger side bung. When it was all said and done, they are 6.5 inches from the v-band at the header . I am happy with the placement and the angle of them. Bolted up the y-pipe and those v-bands work great; they just sucked everything together nice and tight. Took some time to locate the best position for the main 4"pipe and welded on a hanger for it. Got the up-and-over axle pipe in, as well as the magnaflow muffler. Welded up a hanger for the tailpipe and tightened everything up. I will re-tighten all fasteners after a few heat cycles. Did a test fire up in open-loop and was happy that the violent sound of the open headers was noticeably muffled. For a street-car, this is perfect. In the video (iphone 7 camera) it sounds quieter, but it has some deep ground-pounding thump to it. My experience with magnaflow mufflers has been that they are a little quieter at first and after a bit of use, it will get a little louder. Not sure if its for other styles of magnaflow mufflers, but we will see. As it is right this moment, its really good sounding. However, no matter what, this whole exhaust system will flow tons better than my old system, and that was the primary goal.
video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLdrrhktakU
some photos.
Next, after tightening fasteners, I want to check/adjust the driveline angles since things probably shifted a bit when I built the whole trans-crossmember. Some other quick undercarriage projects and then its time to get this thing on the ground, so I can road test it and take some measurements of the underside clearance on everything exhaust/frame related. After that, I have to install the 3 new gauges into the a-pillar gauge pod and install carpet, seats, and whatnot. Then it is on to probably a few measurements and ordering the new rear drag wheels and tires.
still mostly thinking of the 15" Jegs ssr star wheels (to match the front skinnies) and then a MT ET Street SS tire in the 275/65/15 range.