BBK exhaust driving me crazy

[black'vert]

Well I finally finished the H/C/I swap and added a set of bbk equal length ceramic coated shorty headers to my existing bbk H-pipe. So far I have dropped the H-pipe 5 times and I cannot get the damn thing to seal up at the collectors. I can get the passenger side to line up and seal but then the driver's side leaks. The drivers side pipe looks like it is butting up against the collector flange. Am I the only one that has gone through this?

I always thought that matching components from the same company was supposed to be a good thing? WTF?

 

[N8Miller]

is it a factory defect? were they matched up before you did the hci swap?

 

[vikingpower]

I had the same problem with my BBK long tubes and h-pipe, but it was all because of those stupid hanger pins that go into the factory hanger mounts above the transmission. I got tired of messing with them so I cut the pins off and now bolting up the pipe to the headers is cheesecake. I made a hanger out of that perforated steel stuff from Ace hardware and some stainless bolts and attatched it to the seat bolts where they poke out under the floor pan. Works friggin great! If you need more details or pics lemme know.

 

[black'vert]

I cut the stupid pins off too, but I have the H-pipe to the point where it is hitting on the driver's side of the crossmember and it still bottoms out on the collector flange. The H pipe was on the car with the stock everything when I got it, the headers I bought used from a friend. I also replaced the shot factory motor mounts with energy suspension poly ones.

 

[vikingpower]

Hhhmmmm... if I was you I would take the h pipe out and the header and put the two flanges together out in the open where you can see them mate together to see why they are not sealing, I'd bet its the headers since you didnt have any problems with your h-pipe before. With your new HCI, long tubes would make a helluva difference over shorties, in case you were thinking about other options...