Over the weekend, my brother and I installed an SLP x-pipe on my '98 GT (with high flow cats). Everything seemed to be going fine, until it was all in place. The driver's side pipe coming off the header pipe hangs down too low. I only have about 2.5" of ground clearance now.

I know that the instructions say to keep the pipes supported and loose until they are in place, then tighten them. We did that, but the driver's side is way off. I don't see any way of getting that pipe up any higher (it's on as far as it will go, and the bolts are cranked down tight). The passenger side looks fine.

Is it possible the pipe they sent me is too long? Or did we not do something right? I was thinking of going to Midas to have them shorten the pipe a little. Is that a good idea?

By the way, the car sounds really nice with the x-pipe on there, especially when I get on it. I can drive it, but I have to worry about going over bumps, or it bottoms out.

 

I put one of those on last summer with no problems...if the piece is on as far as it will go and you have tightened it down right...well it must be a manufacturing error, as I had no install problems like that. This would surprise me from SLP as the quality of their exhausts are very, very good.

Maybe contact SLP directly and explain the situation to them...see where that leads you?

 

It might be possible that they put the wrong head pipe in the kit you got. I have the same X on my 01, fit up just fine. Id probably call SLP and tell them.
You might be able to cut and reflare the end but if the bend in the pipe is not right for your car, cutting it may cause it to not fit at all.

 

I found a shop on the SLP website that installs their stuff (Gearhead Garage). I brought it to them and had them check it out. They basically took everything off and put it back on again (x-pipe to tips). They were able to get it about an inch and a quarter higher, and everything looks better (the tail pipes are aligned better than I had them before I put the x on).

But it still hangs pretty low. I've only got a little over 3.5" of clearance. I'm wondering how much clearance other people have with this pipe. My suspension is slightly lower than stock (about 3/4"), but I would think I should have another inch of clearance.

 

Here are a couple of pictures. The cat is too low (especially going over speed bumps).

http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g4...=100_2427a.jpg

http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g4...=100_2449a.jpg

It also doesn't seem like it's level like it should be. I'm going to send the pictures to SLP and see if they have any suggestions. I still think the pipe coming off the driver's side header is too long.

Performance wise, this pipe is great. I can really feel a difference. My brother and I went to two car shows this weekend. He drove his '05 and I drove my '98. Though I have no chance of beating him off the line, once we're rolling, I can at least keep up with him. I couldn't do that before. I need a tune to take full advantage of all the mods, but it's pretty good right now.

 

Your pipes should be about an inch higher than they are. A friend has an off-road X on his 94 5.0 and his it tucked up there nice and neat. The part going from the header to the bend is probably slightly longer than spec and should be possibly be swapped out. I'd call SLP's tech dept. and ask them what length there pipe is supposed to be from the part that connects to the header, to the center of the bend (or however they measure it.) It might be a faulty one that the factory didn't notice.

Or, it could just be a fluke and it's your car... Who knows... Either way I suggest taking it off and trying to push it on alittle further. Or, buy LTs and swap out that X for a shorter one and not worry about the X, just the LT instead!

Also, what catback do you have?

 

I have a Mac catback. I intalled that about 5 years ago.

I've thought about long tube headers. But I wanted to do that later. That's one of the reasons I went with SLP. Their modular system makes it so you can swap it out later without getting a new x-pipe.