Mick's 70 Lowlight

Had plans on getting a bit more done on the bus today but got a bit sidetracked by the Speedster. Did manage to get the exhaust offered up to see how it fits. I opted for an el-cheapo sidewinder in stainless to replace the vintage speed that I had been running previously. Mostly as it's better flowing than the VS unit but also as the tail pipe on the VS unit scrapes on my driveway (you can just see it in the banner photo above).

Another thing I wanted to check out was the fit of the exhaust with the rear moustache bar and also whether the J-pipes that I have would work with the new exhaust. After getting the exhaust loosely fitted it was clear that the angle of the flanges on the J tubes would need to be reorientated as the holes did not line up. The flanges would also need a little persuading to align properly. The moustache bar pretty much fits with no dramas, it slightly fouls the silencer, but nothing that a little clearancing cannot solve.

One thing that was clear, which is quite unfortunate, is that the system sits quite low. In fact it is level with the moustache bar, which I was actually hoping to replace with a custom made one to give me some more ground clearance (previously the moustache bar was the lowest point). This means that I don't gain any ground clearance by fitting this style of system.

That said, it looks like the tail pipe sits a lot further forwards so my issue with the tail pipe scraping the driveway should hopefully be resolved.

I also trial fitted the rear valence to see how the system fitted up behind it. To be honest there is a heap of room behind the valence that that system could tuck up into if it was modified. At this stage I don't think I will do this. I rarely had ground clearance issues as the moustache bar sits 100mm from the ground. It might be something that I look into if I decide to go lower.

There's a couple of things to sort out - namely the flanges on the J tubes and I also need to make up a bracket to support the rear of the silencer. I also need to weld in a bung for the O2 sensor. As there is a heap of room behind the valence I am tempted to mount it on the top as this is nicely tucked out of the way but I'm not 100% sure if this will clash with the rear valence mountings. I guess I will leave this until after the engine is installed just to be sure.