2006 Z51. I have the B&B PRT system. I took it to two exhaust shops, and the tips are toed-in at an angle. Nobody knows why, and nobody knows how to fix it. I feel I have left no stone unturned.

I just spent nearly $1,700 including installation for the PRTs and B&B x-pipe. I am seriously bummed out about the whole thing. I need to know if this is a B&B fitment issue (I purchased the parts from southerncarparts.com).

Or could it be that the over-axle pipes are on the wrong way (is that even possible? Can they be put on wrong to cause the exhaust to not align properly, or do they only go on one way? Same with the mufflers?)

I am seriously stressing out about having paid for this system and it not fitting properly. I ordered the right one, trust me on that. It also bumps and rubs and makes noises when I go over bumps.


Erik

 

The pipes and mufflers should have been marked left and right. I don't think you can put either on in the wrong location. Did you try swapping in the original h pipe to see how that affected alignment? Also with the over axle pipes being a slip fit to the h pipe, they can be clocked wrong and cause clearance and muffler alignment problems. Sounds like a bad install. I hope they didn't weld them! Not every person working in an exhaust shop is going to be highly skilled.
Do you have a corvette shop near you you can have check it out for you?

 

I have to do an out of state business trip, if you can wait till next month I will take a crack at it for free.

You bring it to my house and I should be able to get this straightened out for you.


DJ

 

I had the original H pipe on there first, then thought it was bent. So, I bought a B&B x-pipe. Nothing changed.

The over axle pipes can be clocked wrong? As in, on their Z-axis?

No, they got them the best they could and tacked them so they didn't move anymore. They managed to get them just a hair straighter than they were...just a hair.

I took them to another exhaust shop before the x-pipe install and before they were tack welded. This guy has done hundreds of vettes over his 30 years. He couldn't figure it out either.

 

Double check the part #'s on the boxes. Maybe one of them is for an 09+

 

I have a set of PRT's on my '13 A6 base, and I noticed a similar issue to what you describe. In addition, the over-axle pipe started tapping against the frame, so I had a local muffler shop fix that for $100 a few months back. They still didn't look right, but I said whatever.

Well, a few days ago, they started making noise again, and I have acquired a very nice jack/stand setup over the past few months, and I was tired of paying people to fix a problem that shouldn't exist.

Well, turns out that one of the exhaust hangers had pretty much fallen off, and the axle-pipe had torqued itself because of that. A few hours of wrestling later, and I had everything aligned properly again. Now it looks perfect and my tape measure confirms that the pipes are within 1/4" of the same position on each side.

All I can say is that the alignment of the axle pipes does indeed influence the alignment of the mufflers. The axle pipes should be loosened and adjusted while the mufflers are bolted to the frame so that the mufflers are in the correct position and the pipe is not at risk of contacting the frame or transaxle. Unfortunately, if the pipes have been tacked in place (horrible idea with any aftermarket system, IMO), it's going to be quite fun trying to turn those pipes, unless you want to have them cut and re-welded.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

That's very generous, thank you. I will take you up on that offer. I will get the tack welds cut before I come down, of course.

I must warn you, however...I would be very surprised if you somehow manage to get them any straighter. Short of bending the over-axle pipes, I just don't see how it can be done (nor can the exhaust gurus I visited - shops with very high reviews). If you are still willing, then of course I would love to have you take a crack at them for me.

And if you do get them straight...

 

Thanks for the response. The frame tapping happened to me, and seems to be in remission at the moment.

My exhaust hangers are in perfect health. The mufflers aren't stressing against the hangers, either.

Tack welding an aftermarket system is the only way to ensure the alignment stays permanent (too many joints and too much stress on the clamps from the heat cycles). Getting the welds cut isn't really a big deal, IMHO. I prefer them to be tack welded.

My alignment may look somewhat acceptable at the moment to most, but it still drives me nucking futs that I paid all that money and can't have even close to perfect/direct fitment. It's ludicrous.

I know that Borla had QC issues with their exhausts a couple years back, and there was a brief time when none of their C6 systems had proper fitment. Mr. Borla himself came onto this board to apologize and cited "process improvement" as the culprit. They redesigned their over-axle pipes, sent them to the sufferers, paid them a labor credit, and nobody had any more issues. Maybe B&B is having issues. It seems that the only thing my system needs for a perfect fit are over-axle pipes that are bent a little bit more in the opposite direction (probably at the muffler inlet side), so as to cause the tips to not be pigeon-toed/toed-in so much.

 

Getting the tack welds off would be great. I honestly would be suprized if I could not fix it. It sounds like it could be a little challenge. I am all up for that.

 

Your frustration is definitely understandable. Honestly, I have about a week's worth of experience with welding, so I've only messed with mig welding two steel plates at a 90 degree angle. Exhaust pipes are WAY above my experience level, so I'll take your word on the tack welds.

I still wish people would use v-bands though. My Pfadt headers use them between the longtubes and the midpipes. Seems like a very elegant (expensive) solution. You would not believe the trouble I had to go to to loosen the clamps from the muffler in the position that it was in (like, 2 u-joints and 6 inches worth of extensions, plus a deep socket and an impact wrench). Makes me wonder how the shop even got the darn thing tightened in the first place. Actually getting the dang pipe to rotate after loosening the clamps is a whole 'nother story.....


Back on topic, the only thing I can think of would be that your original shop may have flipped the pipes between the driver and passenger sides on accident. Other than that, bent in shipping, etc?

In the end though, for me, these mufflers could've looked like absolute crap (well, as long as they didn't look worse than the factory 2.5" tips...) and I wouldn't have really cared just because of the sound quality!

 

Awesome. Please let me know when you might be available to do this.

 

Just in case it has to be bent, mikes muffler shop can bend them in a few minutes. They 3 minutes from my house.

 

See...I just don't know for sure if that is even possible, to get the over-axle pipes bass-ackwards like that. As for being bent in shipping...I don't think so. The packaging/padding was pretty much nuke proof.

I do hear you though. The stock tips looked like they belonged on a Miata.

 

Nice! The shops around here hem and haw about bending the pipes. They're too scared to do it for some reason.

 

I installed the B&B PRTs on my 07 coupe back in 2011, but they are connected to the LG Super Pro headers kit. So there could be slight differences in the designs? It took very little adjustment to get the tips to center and align perfectly. I also used the LG clamps to connect the PRT axle-back (no welding). The muffler and over-axle pipe from B&B were one weldment for each side, with the only connection made at the LG mid-pipes. They were side specific, based on the position of the muffler hanger.

That probably isn't much help, but I will try to post up some pictures for reference later tonight.

 

Yesterday we took the cat back out and laid it out on my driveway.

- The pipes were installed on the proper sides as well as the mufflers.
- Yes, it would have bothered anyone, not acceptable alignment at all.

What we could see is the the only way you could make the tips exit straight back was not possible due to the over axle pipes hitting the diff. The pipes had to be rotated to far inward.

I had an original 08 X-pipe sitting above my garage, we matched that up and the exit angles were different.

We installed the factory X-pipe and were able to adjust the exhaust as it should.

I believe Erik has a photo of the difference, so maybe it is a 09' and up X pipe.


DJ

 

All attributed to a stroke of bad luck

I just want to say, again, how much I appreciate your helping hand. You went above and beyond the call for me (especially with your X-pipe donation.)

All is as it should be in the exhaust department. Now for those fouled headlight lenses...

I will post pics soon.