as400jockey

I have a 66 coupe. Barn find. It's a mutt. Not the original engine. 67 hood. Not the original nose. All drum brakes... so either a rare 66 or not a 66 frame (more likely). I tried finding the vin on the frame left rear... no joy.

This isn't the original engine, and it has headers and a 2.5 inch exhaust system. The pipe on the driver's side is very nearly touching the floor pan. See attached pics.

First pic shows the header and pipe assemblies. Note all the clamps... Not sure if this is a frankenstein creation of this this is typical for a header system.

Second pic shows the view from the driver's side. Very tight.

3rd shows a little bit of daylight when backlit. but not much... can't be 3/16th of an inch...

4th shows the view from the tranny side.

5th shows the passenger side header with more room.

The question is - what do I do about this? I have some header wrap tape to put on for now. Is there any wiggle room on either the engine mounts (doesn't look like it) to drop down the engine a little.. Or wiggle room on the transmission mount to drop down that down a little (again... doesn't look like it). Or if I can get the short pipe just downstream of the flanged reducer to loosen so that I can rotate it just a little... but this car has been sitting for 20 years so that doesn't feel likely...

Any recommendations?

MOXIE62

Junk the whole exhaust system and put on exhaust manifolds and new pipes and mufflers. Manifolds are fairly cheap if you do not care about numbers and dates and it will be a lot quieter.

R66

Plus, if you drive it as is, you may notice the pipe banging the floor pan. You have rubber motor mounts that flex under engine torque.