I put my pacesetter long tubes in, have them all hooked up. I CAN NOT put the Y-Pipe on because it hits some type of brace since the car is a convertible, and I cant take this brace out of my car will flex and everything will rattle to pieces ...

Im sure someone on here has a convertible with long tubes, and a Y Pipe, so how the hell did you hook up the Y Pipe to the rest of the exhaust without removing the brace, It wont fit under it or between the brace and the floorboards/driveshaft/tailend. Im clueless, and need to get an exhaust ASAP.

 

Also, I called Pacesetter and they said theyve never had an issue with this before , but he also said he's never done an install on a Convertible ...

Somebody gimme a hand here and tell me what I need to do.

If it wasn't for the "pimp-ness" of a convertible,and the fact that it has 14,000 miles, I'd trade this motherf***er in on a hardtop.

 

get rid of the Y pipe and get a custom one made...

 

check other header manufacturers and see if they have a different Y-pipe for there long tube headers. If so, Pacesetter needs to step up the plate and get you a Y-pipe that will work or compensate you for having the existing Y-pipe modified. Tact will be your best tool to make this happen.
I am glad you are doing this before me because I was thinking about headers today when I was changing oil, oil filter and fuel filter.
I have a California Camaro Convertible and there is a very large tube included in the exhaust located below the driver-side stock exhaust manifold. What is this? Will I need to keep this when I install headers? It is ugly, looks very heavy and takes up allot of space.

 

well not sure if this will help u or not. I had a custom mufflex y-pipe put in for my hooker long tubes. They had to take the stock stamped x brace out in order for it to fit. Luckily at the same time, i had brought Kenne Brown subframe connectors. We deleted the x brace and welded the sfc's in and she feels really solid, much much more so than without them. Thats what i would do. get bmr's or kenne browns and be done with the issue. just will cost u some money.

 

I just bolted up my Jet-Hot Lt's and coated Y-pipe. Had to take off the X-brace too--no way the Y-pipe was going on otherwise. I've been told by other board members that the tunnel brace is not that big of deal. Either way, I'll be getting some SFC soon!

 

You can get longer bolts & use spacers or stacks of washers to lower the brace downward to clear the bigger y-pipe. Approximately an inch should do it & I've never had ground clearance problems. I've done this on a few Mufflex systems & it has worked well.

Hope this helps.

 

Lonnie Pavtis , My Dad made a similar suggestion to me earlier tonite before I went out. I was going to try this tommorow. Now that I know that it works, im definatly doing it ... Thanks.

This will jsut be a temporary fix for now anyways. I was going to get weld-in SFC's around the end of summer money provided ( Tryin to save so I can get a bike that needs some work )

 

that X brace is a peice of junk, get rid of it. i replaced mine with a lakewood driveshaft loop ($50), i also have Kenny brown DD sfc's. mine fit no problem.

 

Anybody got pics of this stock X-brace? I am too having a ton of trouble with the y-pipe install.

 

Ah!
You don't need that X brace.
It's not much of anything.
I took mine out 3 years ago and my car feels solid and doesn't rattle.
Shimm it or don't worry about it.

 

it is that big, black paint, stamped metal, thing that is bolted on both sides of tunnel. if you can't see it you are either too close or someone has already removed it. even I found and removed it when I was changing the rear motor mount. I reinstalled mine since it no longer rubbed and it has to add some strength to the pan. if I had SFC's I would remove the heavy troublesome X-brace.