Here are a few pictures of the new setup with some of the old for comparison. I'll get some better pictures once I get it on a lift to change the oil.
The old headers and h-pipe. The rust is almost entirely superficial. I'll hang onto these and have them re-coated for use on a future project...hopefully.
The old h-pipe. You can see how well the high heat paint held up compared to the headers' ceramic coating. Not sure why this was, but I am impressed.
You can see here how low the old mufflers sat. The driver's side muffler sat about 4" below the floor pan while the passenger side had about 3.5" between itself and the floor pan. You can also see how big they are. Too big for that small little space. The flows fit much better in their place.
I did manage to snap a couple of pics during the install before we really got into it.
A trunk full of new exhaust parts.
I love the auto skills shop. Everything is so much easier with a two-post.
After the install.
It's difficult to tell from these pictures, but these headers really fit like a glove. Absolutely no clearance issues and no leaks. I also bought the Ford Racing chrome dipstick to replace my severely beaten up original. The routing of the stock '94-'95 dipstick makes it a terrible match for any headers other than the originals or unequal shorties. The mounting bracket broke off when I installed the last exhaust, so it was just kind of flopping around making contact with one of the header tubes. This caused an annoying rattle at certain RPMs which sounded very much like someone tapping on a chain link fence post. You can also probably see why the socket cap screws for header bolts wasn't the best of ideas for these headers. Some of the primary tubes (especially on the driver's side) come off of the exhaust port with such a sharp bend that once all of the header bolts were started in their respective threads, it was impossible to insert an allen key into them. Moreover, the bends also made it impossible to remove them without removing all of the header bolts at once (this meant switching them out for standard bolts wasn't an option). We ended up finding a 5/16" bit and slicing off a small piece with a cutoff wheel. We were then able to tighten the remaining bolts by inserting it and using an open end wrench.
These pictures show the generous amount of ground clearance we were able to get. The headers themselves clear much better than the old ones.
The flow tubes. These ended up being a limiting factor in getting the mufflers exactly the way we wanted them (this was probably the fault of the h-pipe). We were still able to tuck them up high enough to get exceptional ground clearance, but I don't know if I'll be able to fix the cockeyed tailpipe on the passenger side with the current flow tubes. We'll see. If I can't, I'll just have some fabricated when we get back to the states and just live with the cockeyed tailpipe until then. At least it doesn't affect the sound.
It's easy to see the amount of clearance gained from here. You can see that the mufflers sit about ¼" lower than the sub frame connectors. The old mufflers sat far below this (see above).
You can also see here how there are hangers on the LMR tailpipes which utilize the factory muffler hangers which negated my need for the adjustable hangers I had bought. I would highly recommend these tailpipes if you're looking for a set of cheaply priced stainless tails with good fitment.
I achieved my goal of effectively hiding the exhaust from a casual glance. You can't really see it at all. The old mufflers were very visible from the side.
I would have liked to have reused my original tailpipes, but I just couldn't get them to work with the elbow. I realized when I tried to install them that I would have needed a much shorter elbow with a slightly sharper angle than 45° to make them work. I'm very satisfied with these, though.
You can see the cockeyed passenger side pipe here. Hopefully I can fix it at least a little bit next time I get it on a lift. Thanks for watching!
Once again, thanks to
@95steedamustang. Not only did he coat the headers and remove the EGR bung, but he also removed the AIR tube from the h-pipe as well since I didn't want to simply cap it off. It was a bit of a task to get it all installed in one day, but I think the results were more than worth it.
