Cat back adjustments

[SavonRene]

Hey everyone,

I recently installed a new cat back on my 2016 Mustang GT. I was pretty successful lining the mufflers and tips up in the center of the valence but after driving for a little while they look to have settled and rub against the plastic. Anyone have and tips/advice on perfectly aligning the system?

Thanks,

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[BmacIL]

What catback? I've had to do this before on my own and others'. The clamps relax a little with heat cycles at first and need to be retightened sometimes. With mine, I make sure the clamps are loose, and the forward hanger bolt is loose, push/hold the muffler as high as it'll go, and then tighten the clamps and hanger bolts.

 

[Mustang_Lou]

Sometimes there's just nothing you can do but take it to an exhaust shop where they'll heat up the rear hangers, put a piece of pipe into the muffler tip and then bend away until it lines up. That's what I had to do.

 

[SavonRene]

What catback? I've had to do this before on my own and others'. The clamps relax a little with heat cycles at first and need to be retightened sometimes. With mine, I make sure the clamps are loose, and the forward hanger bolt is loose, push/hold the muffler as high as it'll go, and then tighten the clamps and hanger bolts.

I just got the Corsa Sport Catback and I absolutely love it, I actually just bought it on the forum. It's not obnoxiously loud but really wakes the car up past 4K. Thanks for the advice I'll give this a try.

 

[SavonRene]

Stick a long pry bar in the pipe and push the direction you want it moved. Worked for me.

Is that a quick fix, or is that method still holding up for you?

 

[SavonRene]

Sometimes there's just nothing you can do but take it to an exhaust shop where they'll heat up the rear hangers, put a piece of pipe into the muffler tip and then bend away until it lines up. That's what I had to do.

I took it to a shop and that's Exactly what I was told but I refuse to spend any money on someone else's labor until I exhaust all other option I can do myself.

 

[Mustang_Lou]

Stick a long pry bar in the pipe and push the direction you want it moved. Worked for me.

Can you elaborate? What "pipe" did you put the long pry bar in as I'm going to say that you'll put a nice dent into the inside of the exhaust pipe by doing that. Or did you put it inside the muffler?

Or did you mean put a piece of long pipe over the hanger and bend that?

 

[BmacIL]

I just got the Corsa Sport Catback and I absolutely love it, I actually just bought it on the forum. It's not obnoxiously loud but really wakes the car up past 4K. Thanks for the advice I'll give this a try.

It should work great to fix the problem. Fantastic choice, btw.

 

[Zelek]

Here's what I did for my Corsa Sport:

1. Put a towel or something soft over the end of your jack.
2. With the X-pipe clamp loose, lift up the muffler with the jack and position it where you want it with the tip. I actually put it just a tad higher than where I wanted it and it settled just slightly lower than where I had it set.
3. Tighten down the clamp on the X-pipe/
4. Drop down jack and check tip alignment.

This has kept my left side tip perfectly aligned for a year now. I'm sure there's multiple ways to do it, but I had success with this one.

 

[BmacIL]

Here's what I did for my Corsa Sport:

1. Put a towel or something soft over the end of your jack.
2. With the X-pipe clamp loose, lift up the muffler with the jack and position it where you want it with the tip. I actually put it just a tad higher than where I wanted it and it settled just slightly lower than where I had it set.
3. Tighten down the clamp on the X-pipe/
4. Drop down jack and check tip alignment.

This has kept my left side tip perfectly aligned for a year now. I'm sure there's multiple ways to do it, but I had success with this one.

Yup basically this. The other thing you have to also look out for with this system is that the fore-aft position of the axleback into the X-pipe also has an effect on the left-right position of the tips. Get the tip in the 12-to-3 o'clock region of the circle before tightening, and then when it's released it will sit in the center.

 

[rum_punch_ruby]

After being perfectly centered when i installed the drivers side has come off center a bit too. Quick adjustment needed

 

[SavonRene]

Here's what I did for my Corsa Sport:

1. Put a towel or something soft over the end of your jack.
2. With the X-pipe clamp loose, lift up the muffler with the jack and position it where you want it with the tip. I actually put it just a tad higher than where I wanted it and it settled just slightly lower than where I had it set.
3. Tighten down the clamp on the X-pipe/
4. Drop down jack and check tip alignment.

This has kept my left side tip perfectly aligned for a year now. I'm sure there's multiple ways to do it, but I had success with this one.

Are you loosening any of the hanger bolts also or just the X-Pipe clamp?

 

[SavonRene]

After being perfectly centered when i installed the drivers side has come off center a bit too. Quick adjustment needed

Same here that damn driver side pipe is getting on my nerves, the passenger side has been perfect since the day of initial install aha

 

[BmacIL]

Are you loosening any of the hanger bolts also or just the X-Pipe clamp?

Loosening the hanger bolts lets the hanger rotate a few degrees too. It depends on how much you need.

 

[Mustang_Lou]

Same here that damn driver side pipe is getting on my nerves, the passenger side has been perfect since the day of initial install aha

What I did over the weekend to align was:

1. loosen all of the exhaust clamps enough so the pipe can rotate inside (keep the car's hangers bolted up)

2. use a jack with a board across it to lift the resonator area so it's level

3. fold or roll up 2 pieces of identical rag so you've got 2 long strips

4. squeeze the rolled up rags around the exhaust tips in such a way that your tips are where you want them to be - the tips shouldn't be able to move up, left, or right

5. now tighten the exhaust clamps working from the back of the car to the front


That's the best method I've found.

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