Help! - 348 Muffler alignment | FerrariChat
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Help! - 348 Muffler alignment

Discussion in '348/355' started by dasadrew, Feb 22, 2006.

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  1. dasadrew

    dasadrew Formula Junior

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    Drew H.
    #1 dasadrew, Feb 22, 2006
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I've just dumped the Fuchs Sports Muffler from the previous owner (too loud for me - not subtle enough!) and fitted an original muffler with all original fixings.

    Problem is, it seems to sit very low (see tailpipes) although I lifted it by hand when tightening the bolts. The shockmount springs are quite depressed. If I were to jack it up before tightening the retaining bolts, then the springs would be even more crushed as the muffler tries to resume its ground hugging position.

    Am I missing out on some procedural trick? Should I loosen off the cats at the header ends or something? I'm afraid of putting too much stress into the set up. Are those spring shockmounts adjustable?

    Thanks for any help!
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  2. BT

    BT F1 World Champ
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    #2 BT, Feb 22, 2006
    It looks like if you take the exhaust off the spring shock mounts, you can turn the mounts a few times to raise them up on the springs??? Maybe that is how they are adjusted? Seems like the exhaust is almost 1" low in the picture. Is there a difference between the single can exhaust and the dual can exhaust for mounting heights? My car has the two can exhaust. Worst case I would say you should have the exhaust tips adjusted at a local muffler shop. Should not be a big problem.
    BT
     
  3. dasadrew

    dasadrew Formula Junior

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    #3 dasadrew, Feb 22, 2006
    Hmmmm. I wasn't too clear on explaining the dilemma. I COULD loosen off the nuts, lift the box up, and retighten. Then the pipes would be ok, and the mounting nuts would be more centered. BUT, to get it up I would have to lever it with some 2" x 4" or a car-jack, then it would be (in my opinion) quite straining on the headers/cats.
     
  4. Steve Magnusson

    Steve Magnusson Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #4 Steve Magnusson, Feb 22, 2006
    Did you also try loosening the joints between the headers and the cat inlets when the silencer joints are loose?

    Since the locations of the header outlets and the tailpipes are fixed, you sometimes need to move more than one thing around to account for the slight differences between parts (e.g., if your cats were angled up a bit more from the headers would this raise the tailpipes and help put the silencer mounting bolts closer to vertical?).
     
  5. dasadrew

    dasadrew Formula Junior

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    #5 dasadrew, Feb 22, 2006
    To be honest, I didn't! It was getting dark and cold and I sort of thought the Fuchs inlet pipes would be in the same position as the standard ones. Now you mention it, I guess about 0,5mm slack at the cat/header joint would probably give me the 2 cm needed. The cat/muffler seems to be pretty non-adjustable as it's a pipe-in-pipe fitment.
     
  6. Steve Magnusson

    Steve Magnusson Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #6 Steve Magnusson, Feb 22, 2006
    Well, they try to be, but these are long, welded tubular parts -- I'd bet that the location of the header outlets on any 348 varies by at least +/- 1/2 inch in all 3 dimensions car-to-car. This is why they use the donut gasket + cone seat arrangement (usually in a couple/few places) -- (if everything's loose ;)) it gives the extra degrees-of-freedom needed to fit the rest of the system between two fixed locations.
     
  7. dasadrew

    dasadrew Formula Junior

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    #7 dasadrew, Feb 22, 2006
    Yeah - my innocence probably comes from working in aerospace manufacturing! Should know better! :D
     
  8. BT

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    #8 BT, Feb 22, 2006
    I understand the question better now. Still don't have your answer though.
    BT
     
  9. dasadrew

    dasadrew Formula Junior

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    #9 dasadrew, Mar 19, 2006
    Well, the outside temperature went above 0°C at the weekend so I got to those Cat/Header joints and, hey presto, it worked! Just loosened them off a bit and the muffler almost sprang into correct position on its own! Cheers for the pointer in the right direction!
     
  10. BigAl

    BigAl F1 Veteran

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    #10 BigAl, Mar 19, 2006
    Encountered the same thing on my 308 when I got a new Larini exhaust. I'm just living with it for now.
     
  11. ernie

    ernie Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #11 ernie, Mar 19, 2006
    So what did you do with the Fuchs?
     
  12. dasadrew

    dasadrew Formula Junior

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    #12 dasadrew, Mar 19, 2006
    probably be on eBay soon!

    To be honest, I find the sound of the standard exhaust pretty awful at idle (=non-existent) and boring in town. When it's opened up though (and when the system is nice and hot for some reason) it gives a stunning roar. It's a Euro GTS, so has the Spider single can set up.

    Now that I've confirmed I'm happy with the standard, I wanted to polish up the Fuchs and sell.

    The above is coupled with the fact that the local feds in Munich are actually taking to confiscating/impounding cars with non-type-approved changes - especially to emissions bits.
     

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