Because I haven't seen many threads on the subject, I thought some of you guys might like to know how I went about the exhaust clearance problem with the MM Panhard Bar. It was an ordeal to say the least:
After putting in my MM PHB on my Mach, I had dumps put on the exhaust just before the axle because my Magnaflow pipes did not clear. However, after driving enough long trips with my Magnapacks shaking everything in the car, I had to do something. I called every shop that I could find in the metro Atlanta area trying to find someone willing to custom fabricate me a catback setup and several places told me that it wasn't possible to get 2.5" tubing through there. I stumbled onto a new shop in Suwanee called Autofab Motorsports. The shop is run by some young guys who I would describe as racing junkies who finance their obsession by running a speed shop on the side. Although they specialize in bmw's and other imports, and I don't think they had ever done any serious work on a Mustang before, they were willing to accept the challenge.
I left the car with them for a week and when I returned, I got a chance to take a good look at everything and go for a test drive. First, the passenger's side front corner of the fuel tank would slightly nick the exhaust. The part of the tank in question looked like a sheet metal shield for the tank itself, so I watched the guys take an air hammer and bend back part of the shield. DO NOT USE THIS METHOD, I will explain later in greater detail. Unfortunately, just above the sheet metal was also the vapor breather line for the fuel tank that we didn't see. A few drops of fuel leaked out, but it wasn't a big deal and they put another hose around the puncture in a band-aid like fashion.
Next, the shop techs and I noticed the driver side end of the Panhard Rod impacting the exhaust during extremely heavy bumps. For those of you looking to do this, take your springs out and lift your rear axle to full bump so you can see how much this thing moves - you will be surprised. Anyways, the sound didn't bother me too much because it required a lot of suspension movement for me to hear anything, so I told them that I was satisfied for the time being, and they kindly responded that if the noise ever began to bother me that I could just bring it back and they would redo it now that they knew how much the suspension really moved.
I left the shop basically happy. The exhaust sounded much more to my liking - deeper, less rasp, more of a full sound. Best of all, my bones didn't rattle in my 1 hour drive back home. After I got out of the car I noticed a drip of fuel from the plastic shield. I thought the fuel hose band aid had come lose. I called the shop back and they said that they would replace the line and while they had the car they would go ahead and redo the driver's side of the piping so I could forget about it bumping the PHB. I made a point not to drive the car during the next week since I was leaking fuel. The day came when I planned to take the car back, so I went down to block to get some fuel before making the return trip to the shop. When I got back, as soon as I opened the door, I could hear the fuel hitting the floor of the garage.
The flow was about half the diameter of my pinky. Unfortunately, I had to leave the car as it was because it wouldn't stop leaking before I had to leave for a week long trip out of town.
When I came back, I noticed that the car had lost about 1/3 of a tank, but it wasn't dripping anymore. I had my brother follow me as I tried to drive the car back to the shop. I made it less than a mile before my brother called me to pull over because I was leaking badly again. I called the shop owner, and he gladly sent me a tow truck at his expense.
The guys at Autofab spent the next week working on the car. They found out that what we had thought was a sheet metal shield to the tank was the tank it self - there was no gasket inside. Even the slightest bit of air hammering can cause a leak, so don't make the same mistake I did. Since the tank was leaking, they replaced it with a new one along with all the hoses. To overcome the problem of that part of the tank, they slightly pinched the passenger side tubing just a hair. They also started over with the driver side exhaust so now it is tucked out of the way of the PHB. Maybe this is part is overboard, but they also put header wrap around the piping that is near the fuel tank - no complaints here. Everything works perfectly now and there are no leaks. They did all this at no additional cost to me.
Here are some pics:
1) Driver's Side - from this pic it looks like there is no way the PHB could come close to the piping, but at full bump it is close.
2) Passenger Side
3) Passenger Side - in this picture you can see where the lower left edge of the tank come close to the piping
4) Passenger Side- this pic shows just how tight it was to make it over the axle and through the chassis mount of the PHB.
5) Rear View
All in all this shop has surprised me. They made an honest mistake, but then they went way above and beyond to make things right and to make me happy. I know that they must have absorbed a pretty decent loss to do the right thing, (60 miles on a flatbed tow truck, new gas tank, several labor hours). The difficulty in getting this done has only made me appreciate it more, and I got a chance to get to know some cool guys. I would recommend Autofab Motorsports to anyone, especially if you need a catback for a PHB since they could crank it out pretty quickly and easily now that they've done one. The sound is better than I remember it, and I am completly satisfied.
Autofab Motorsports 877) 482-2221
Sorry this got to be so long
After putting in my MM PHB on my Mach, I had dumps put on the exhaust just before the axle because my Magnaflow pipes did not clear. However, after driving enough long trips with my Magnapacks shaking everything in the car, I had to do something. I called every shop that I could find in the metro Atlanta area trying to find someone willing to custom fabricate me a catback setup and several places told me that it wasn't possible to get 2.5" tubing through there. I stumbled onto a new shop in Suwanee called Autofab Motorsports. The shop is run by some young guys who I would describe as racing junkies who finance their obsession by running a speed shop on the side. Although they specialize in bmw's and other imports, and I don't think they had ever done any serious work on a Mustang before, they were willing to accept the challenge.
I left the car with them for a week and when I returned, I got a chance to take a good look at everything and go for a test drive. First, the passenger's side front corner of the fuel tank would slightly nick the exhaust. The part of the tank in question looked like a sheet metal shield for the tank itself, so I watched the guys take an air hammer and bend back part of the shield. DO NOT USE THIS METHOD, I will explain later in greater detail. Unfortunately, just above the sheet metal was also the vapor breather line for the fuel tank that we didn't see. A few drops of fuel leaked out, but it wasn't a big deal and they put another hose around the puncture in a band-aid like fashion.
Next, the shop techs and I noticed the driver side end of the Panhard Rod impacting the exhaust during extremely heavy bumps. For those of you looking to do this, take your springs out and lift your rear axle to full bump so you can see how much this thing moves - you will be surprised. Anyways, the sound didn't bother me too much because it required a lot of suspension movement for me to hear anything, so I told them that I was satisfied for the time being, and they kindly responded that if the noise ever began to bother me that I could just bring it back and they would redo it now that they knew how much the suspension really moved.
I left the shop basically happy. The exhaust sounded much more to my liking - deeper, less rasp, more of a full sound. Best of all, my bones didn't rattle in my 1 hour drive back home. After I got out of the car I noticed a drip of fuel from the plastic shield. I thought the fuel hose band aid had come lose. I called the shop back and they said that they would replace the line and while they had the car they would go ahead and redo the driver's side of the piping so I could forget about it bumping the PHB. I made a point not to drive the car during the next week since I was leaking fuel. The day came when I planned to take the car back, so I went down to block to get some fuel before making the return trip to the shop. When I got back, as soon as I opened the door, I could hear the fuel hitting the floor of the garage.
The flow was about half the diameter of my pinky. Unfortunately, I had to leave the car as it was because it wouldn't stop leaking before I had to leave for a week long trip out of town.When I came back, I noticed that the car had lost about 1/3 of a tank, but it wasn't dripping anymore. I had my brother follow me as I tried to drive the car back to the shop. I made it less than a mile before my brother called me to pull over because I was leaking badly again. I called the shop owner, and he gladly sent me a tow truck at his expense.
The guys at Autofab spent the next week working on the car. They found out that what we had thought was a sheet metal shield to the tank was the tank it self - there was no gasket inside. Even the slightest bit of air hammering can cause a leak, so don't make the same mistake I did. Since the tank was leaking, they replaced it with a new one along with all the hoses. To overcome the problem of that part of the tank, they slightly pinched the passenger side tubing just a hair. They also started over with the driver side exhaust so now it is tucked out of the way of the PHB. Maybe this is part is overboard, but they also put header wrap around the piping that is near the fuel tank - no complaints here. Everything works perfectly now and there are no leaks. They did all this at no additional cost to me.
Here are some pics:
1) Driver's Side - from this pic it looks like there is no way the PHB could come close to the piping, but at full bump it is close.
2) Passenger Side
3) Passenger Side - in this picture you can see where the lower left edge of the tank come close to the piping
4) Passenger Side- this pic shows just how tight it was to make it over the axle and through the chassis mount of the PHB.
5) Rear View
All in all this shop has surprised me. They made an honest mistake, but then they went way above and beyond to make things right and to make me happy. I know that they must have absorbed a pretty decent loss to do the right thing, (60 miles on a flatbed tow truck, new gas tank, several labor hours). The difficulty in getting this done has only made me appreciate it more, and I got a chance to get to know some cool guys. I would recommend Autofab Motorsports to anyone, especially if you need a catback for a PHB since they could crank it out pretty quickly and easily now that they've done one. The sound is better than I remember it, and I am completly satisfied.
Autofab Motorsports 877) 482-2221
Sorry this got to be so long
