I am looking into buying slp headers lt w/ a 4inch y pipe and gutted cats... i have a 2000 ss vert a4 and i have heard things about the x brace at the bottom of the car interfering with the slp lts... just wondering if anyone knows anything; i did a seach and found nothing.

Thanks,
Dakota

 

I'm not sure how the SLPs are routed thru the X-brace, if going under it, it may scrap the ground very easily, and if going over it, I think it would have to be compressed a little as there is just not much clearence going over it and with the torque arm brace in there as well.
I'm planning on having a custom exhaust built and am routing the drvr side pipe right under the tranny tailshaft, so here's a link w/pics with what I did..custom made an 'X'-brace and relocated the torque arm with a Spohn torque arm kit that relocates the torque arm to terminate at the rear of where the current X-brace sits.
http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=395345

Now I have plenty of room over the custom X-brace and under the tailshaft to run the exhaust.

 

it looks like it was very well done... what did it cost to make that? do you have any plans for that?

 

I used this torque arm and tunnel brace from Spohn.
http://spohn.net/product.cfm?productid=1329

And then just purchased 4' of the thickest flat stock steel they had at Lowes or Home Depot and made the "X" brace, bending it slightly downward under the tail shaft to give me more clearence and welded the "X" together, then welded the "tabs" on the tranny mount for it to bolt to (could have used the stock mounts on the tranny brace, but they were on the top of the brace taking away from the clearance I needed under the tailshaft)
Then I just trimmed the edges and used a grinder to make it fit flush with the Spohn tunnel brace and then welded the "X" to the tunnel brace, then drilled the holes in the front of the "X" and the "Tabs" at the same time and bolted it together then painted it the same color red as the Spohn parts were.

The flat stock steel is roughly 3/8" thick and makes it very rigid.
I know some folks on here just removed the "X" brace altogether on their vert but I wanted to keep it there or some bracing if possible...GM put it on there for a reason and my 80k mile vert had enough rattles in it...but almost all are gone now except those inside the car after doing this and adding sub-frame connectors.

 

oh something I forgot to mention...with that torque arm, you will hear a little more drivetrain noise coming from the floorboard since it now connects the rear end assembly to the bottom of the floorboard....before it as isolated by being connected to the tranny tailshaft.

 

well i apprecaite all your help... my knowlege is very limited with cars seeing how i am only 16 and i teach myself everything and get help from you all... just gimme a while to reseach this because it is kinda a lot thanks for all the help though...

-Dakota

 

That's how I learned everything I know about cars, or taking it apart and figuring out how to get it back together with a Chiltons book
Only tools I needed for the job above was a welder, disk cut off saw (but you could did it with a hand hack saw, just take a bit longer) and a bench grinder (to make the ends nice and even/smooth), and a drill and big hammer (to bend the "X").