Magnaflow Magnapack - Fitment from hell

[redsn95gt]

I feel like I have been wrestling an angry bear for the last day trying to get this magnaflow magnapack cat-back to fit my 95. The Driver side went on with a lot of problems but fits correctly, the passenger side is just plain hell. I don't see how its even possible to make it fit. The angle on the muffler inlet and the mid section pipe are not correct. That or the hanger position is welded on wrong. I've rotated the muffler as much as the hanger will allow and the mid section every which way to try to achieve an angle that lets the tail pipe hang low enough to fit but it keeps bumping on the gas tank inlet tube. Looking for any tips from anyone whos got one that fits. Pics would be awesome!

If you haven't guessed by now I'm laying on my back doing this, not fun at all. I'm pretty disappointed so far for such an expensive system, it fits like crap. I've heard such good things about magnaflow and how they fit good. I don't doubt the sound and performance are excellent but what worries me most is I do a lot of work on the car and if I need to change a component where the exhaust is in the way, I gotta deal with this bs every time.

 

[revhead347]

That sucks man. Have you tried rotating the flow tubes around a little. Magnaflow is usually good quality stuff. The last Dynomax setup I did was dirt cheap, and actually fit pretty decent. I won't go as far to say that it was perfect though.

Kurt

 

[MRaburn]

There were some 15677 systems that did have their hangers in a little bit of a bad position. Move those around to get the desired effect.

 

[MRaburn]

The flow tubes have a lot to do with it too, you can rotate those quite a bit and make sure you have the right one on the right side.

Here is a doc from my Magnaflow site...
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.pro3i.com/pdf/15677.pdf&pli=1

The longer one goes on the passenger side.

 

[redsn95gt]

Thanks guys- yea, been rotating that flow tube quite a bit. I'm pretty sure it's spot on in the right position right now, it looks nice and even with the x-pipe and the angle going into the muffler. Muffler is hanging in a nice spot away from other objects, but then the tail pipe fitment coming out of the muffler is not looking right. Touching the gas tank a bit. Hangers don't let it move too much. I was thinking if i can bend the hanger rod on the muffler a bit, that would cause it to drop a little more to the right spot. The doughnuts are getting stretched in the position it needs to be so its not natural.

Thanks for the doc, thats the one they had in the box. I put the longer tube on the passenger side as pictured. Also, i found it way easier to assemble the thing from tail pipe to x-pipe, opposite of what the instructions say. Once its connected to the x-pipe with bolts even loose its impossible to rotate. I left off the xpipe bolts and i can pull hard to get off the flow pipe to rotate and try again.

Im going to try to mount the tail pipe and see if it can force it down a little more.

 

[MRaburn]

Ya you just gotta play with it. Try to let it all hang naturally then start tightening from the x-pipe back. To clear the plastic from the gas tank I got the front section up to the muffler nice and tight, then rotate the rear tail section around to where it would clear the tank and tighten up. That might help.

You don't want it to be binded up, as in when you tighten, it needs to be where it wants to be, if not once you start driving it, the engine torque will a lot times move it back to where it wants to be or even break hangers.

 

[redsn95gt]

Ya you just gotta play with it. Try to let it all hang naturally then start tightening from the x-pipe back. To clear the plastic from the gas tank I got the front section up to the muffler nice and tight, then rotate the rear tail section around to where it would clear the tank and tighten up. That might help.

You don't want it to be binded up, as in when you tighten, it needs to be where it wants to be, if not once you start driving it, the engine torque will a lot times move it back to where it wants to be or even break hangers.

I understand- and at the same time i'm not having any success here, it doesn't seem to want to be on my car. I left everything loose, no clamps tight. When i started at the x-pipe, i would rotate the flow pipe into what looked like the correct angle, put on the muffler and its impossible to connect the tail pipe, it can't fit because the axles in the way you don't have clearance to slide it over. So then you have to connect the tail pipe first, then the muffler to the flow pipe but then its impossible to get the hanger to bolt to the car, no matter how you turn it, its inches from making it. So you bolt the tail pipe to the car first by the hanger, then fit the muffler, then fit the flow pipe, rotate everything so it fits together and squeeze it over the x-pipe. Now the end of the tail pipe is sticking up towards the bumper. The muffler is less than 1" from fuel hard lines. If you put the tip on, its pressing up into the bumper. The driver side is hanging out just fine, plenty of clearance, loose enough to turn pieces. The passenger side everythings crammed together so hard you can't adjust it without taking something off. I just don't get it. I've spent hours taking it on and off, it doesn't fit. This kit says 96-98 but i purchased it for 94-95. I hope they didn't kill the 94-95 kit to say 96-98 is close nuff with issues.

 

[MRaburn]

Its all the same under there... I would say its the hanger angle I remember this kit we did last year, they had a bad batch and you may have gotten it. Dont bend the hanger at the muffler, change the angle of the top part, push it downward I believe and that will change the angle of the muffler. I think I remember is was like somewhere around an inch we moved it down.

Look a the picture you may be able to see what it needs to bend down..

 

[redsn95gt]

Funny, my hangers don't look like that. I took some pics. You can see in my first pic.

Tried a new strategy- since the tail pipe was not positioning correctly, i worked from the back to the front to see if i could get the position right and making some marks by getting the tail pipe section to hang exactly in the spot i needed it to. I then attached the muffler and to keep that exact spot I rotated it to a certain position that it "wanted" to be in. Bang- it runs right into the floorpan towards the drive shaft. No twisting or turning helps, theres no way it can make it to a position where the flow pipe will fit without stressing it.

Here the hangers are positioned straight, no stretching. You can see the angle the muffler sits at when they are like this and where its pointed.
View attachment 159763

Tail pipe is mounted exactly where it should be. Rod slides into tip nicely.
View attachment 159765

Here you can see the muffler aiming directly for the floor pan.The driver's side to the left fits fine.
View attachment 159767

Here is a better shot. You can see by all the scratches, its been rubbing on there. There's fuel hard lines right on that hidden edge too. The flow pipe might be able to meet it, if the floor pan was not in the way. If I yank and bend the muffler to meet the flow pipe, my tail pipe gets all screwed up and goes into the bumper.
View attachment 159768

 

[MRaburn]

Lets try this, pretend the muffler has no hanger, take it out of the grommet. The hanger at the tailpipe is enough to support the system. So with that if you rotate the muffler around to where you think it should be how does it pan out, everything line up? If so I would cut that hanger off or leave it be then at some point get someone to reweld the hanger, it could just be in the wrong spot... what it looks liket to me.

 

[redsn95gt]

Didn't get any time to work on this today. I'm going to try my best to get to it tomorrow. I think what you suggested will work I already tried it and i think it fit. I'll let you know.

 

[redsn95gt]

Ok- spent about an hour today- ended up unbolting the hangers from the car, fitting all pieces together, then finding best position for the flow pipe that would let me force the hanger into place and i was then able to bolt it in. So its in, but its not fitting very gracefully. One doughnut is stretched out and the tail pipe is still tight up on the bumper. The flow pipe also barley touches a clip that ties down the fuel hard lines. I'm going to keep it like this (its not a daily driver) until I can take it to a muffler shop I know here and have the guy tweak it to get it to fit better. I think hes going to have to cut a little and re-weld the hanger bracket from the muffler.

Thanks for your help on this issue. Didn't get to really test it since car isn't ready to drive but it was making hard "barps" with very little throttle. Idle is only half as loud as it was with the dumps thankfully, should be interesting driving. Either way, Magnaflow has lost a notch in my book as result of this whole pain.

 

[wytstang]

Good luck man mine fits like complete crap on the passenger side. It has actually melted the bumper to the point I can not change the exhaust with out repairing/replacing the bumper. I have just learned to live with it. Did mine out of state and had to drive it back, it was too late to save

 

[zZsKyZz]

I'm really surprised people are having problems with magnaflow. I have the same system on my car and the installation was the easiest I've ever done. Have you replaced your hangers with the hangers they give you first? Also, if you're having problems getting over the rear axle, put the axle on jack stands then raise your car with a jack by a different point on the car, this will allow the suspension to raise the body of the car, making it a lot easier to do exhaust installs. Probably common knowledge, but it wasn't for me.. I'm a little slow :-x