yea, slight bummer about the intake leak, but nothing too terrible int he grand scheme of things. Pulled everything apart one day last week and ordered a set of Edelbrock gaskets (same that were on it). Once they were delivered a few days later, I used some Permatex 90 minute rtv and got everything installed. Let it cure and fired up the car. No leaks, all set. Good stuff
I have been doing a whole lot of research on the exhaust components, mostly on thirdgen.org where I have a longgg thread discussing this topic. link:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/exha...ons-700-a.html There were a few options, but my budget is limited for this exhaust project so some of the high dollar custom built headers were not a realistic option. I knew I needed a 1.75" diameter primary tube and I wanted a long tube setup that maintained good ground clearance. The hooker super comps and dougs hang a little low,and my car is already low. A buddy of mine was going to give me his hooker super comps, but many of hte primaries were bashed in and would need a ton of work, plus some type of ceramic heat coating. They were my optionB. Option A, was a set of those chineese ebay headers that 3rd gen and even 4th gen guys have had pretty good success with. At $212 with free shipping I am willing to give them a try.
link:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/30361071372...151000b2p00004
These tuck up well and I have seen plenty of photos that show great clearance. Unfortunately they have a collector that goes from 3" and necks-down to 2.5". So my plan is to simply cut off the necked-down part and weld on my own flange or v-band at that point.
very long thread that has been going on for many years regarding these ebay longtubes:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/exha...gtubes-10.html
I am also pretty much settled on buying a 4" mufflex "cat back" setup. I have no desire to fight a set of dual 2.5" exhaust pipes to the back of the car. Not interested. The mufflex 4" will be tight in some key areas, but I think i ca make it work with much less headache than a dual pipe setup. I will have to decide on which muffler I want to go with, but I think i am going to skip a spintech, and probably go with the magnaflor or flowmaster. I do not care about having dual tailpipes, so it will be a single 4" in and 4" out muffler with a turndown under the bumper.
link:
https://mufflex-performance.com/1982...lowmaster.html
I called Denny at mufflex and he said there is no wiggle room on the price, even if I drove down to pick it up. He did say that prices are going up quite a bit for 2022, but he could lock me in at the previous listed price.
What all this means, is that I will be building my own collectors and y-pipe which will either incorporate a single 4" electric exhaust cut out or two 3" cut outs. I already have one 3" cutout, so if space allows I would do two 3" cutouts right after the collectors and before the merge. if not, I'll sell the 3" cutout that I have and buy a 4" instead. I've seen some fbody guys get creative and cut out pockets of the factory inner subframe rails. I might also do this too, and the car is solid-enough to do this because of subframe connectors and 6 point roll bar. I might have to build my own trans crossmember, and also modify the S&W relocated torque arm mount (which doubles as a driveshaft loop). So I have some work cut out for me this month, but I am ok with that.
I will end up selling the dynodons headers and y-pipe after my exhaust project is complete, so if anyone is interested, shoot me a PM. They are 1.75" primaries but a short/mid length header. The collectors are 2.5" and a ball-cup style mating surface. The y-pipe is in great shape and was cut/welded to gain extra ground clearance. I have had these on the car since about 2007, and they have served me very well. Probably will be for sale mid February.