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On 16 Feb 2005 at 21:49, Hal Sullivan wrote: > At 08:20 PM 2/16/05, Jim Adney wrote: > >I gave up on the aftermarket systems because I couldn't keep them tight, and > >because they didn't really fit the car well. They hit the body where the exit > >pipe is, and they always catch on the ground even with the car at stock height. > >I'm sure it would be possible to design a better one, but I couldn't find one > >at that time. > > While I know you've got reservations due to the muffler being so close to the > bellows, the "Over-the-top" does take care of the dragging issue. Can't speak > to the issue of hitting the body, though .. my Fasty still has the stock muffler > and I haven't paid much attention to T3 headers when I'm at the shop. This was just an issue when going in and out of rather ordinary driveways, but catching the tailpipe while slowly backing out of ones own driveway can really mess up the muffler. I can't say that I really understand the problem well, but somehow the aftermarket exit pipes manage to be both too high and too low. They hit the body on top and still hang down far enough to get it the way. I THINK that the only way around this would be to exit via that little notch in the bodywork where the stock tailpipe fits, but there may be more to it than this. To be fair, I find that the late, large diameter, OE tailpipe also drags sometimes. I fix this by hacksawing an angled end on it, just like the early ones. I could do this to the aftermarket ones, too, but its chromed there and bigger, and bell-mouthed, so that wouldn't work as nicely. I never had any trouble with the muffler or header actually dragging. Do the "over the top" headers exit at the OE location? I don't think making a heat shield for these would be much of a problem. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~