BooBoo231

So I bought a Y~Pipe from magnaflow. They say the exhaust is supposed to be 19" 1/2 on center. My headers are like 21" 1/2 on center. Has anyone else had this problem?? Please let me know. They said in ten years they have only had this problem once....and it was two days before I called. My car is a one owner car with less than 50,000mi. What is with my big factory headers???? Anybody know of a reason why my headers would be different? This is blowing my mind. I am new to the Corvette community but this is weird for any car. I know GM was known to do some funky stuff when they had to, but this to me is a little out there.

leesvet

not sure what you want to hear...

yes, I bought a Y pipe online. Arrived in a BIG box and really pissed off the 'ol lady at the UPS store...

No, it did not fit. Why would I expect something to fit that was jigged up 3000 miles away?
It took a few minutes with the sawsall and some welding and it fit. The old lady could'nt have cared less when I told her.

OK.
I guess i could have paid a local muffler maker to build a Y pipe but then I would have had to hump it to the post office so it could be shipped to the UPS store for pick-up.

No win situation for sure..

BooBoo231

Yeah I guess I am screwed. I am very particular. They say Turbo Buick ownersy are the worst, but now I own a vette as well and I am still just as pickey! I guess that is my only option. Magnaflow pretty much told me they cant do anything. I am just curious why my headers seem so far out of whack¿? They arent even in the ballpark. I wonder how many other Vettes have the headers mine does. I was hopeing somebody else would say they too have freak factory headers... Thank you for the reply.

Joe C

pretty sure, your factory headers are not out of wack, its the magnaflow y-pipe. i bought a magnaflow front y-pipe for my 90, and had similar issues. it's been about 4 years ago, and i don't remember the exact details, but it seems that the distance between the pipes was off about 3/4 inch (center to center, narrower than the exhaust manifolds). i was able to tug on the y-pipe several times to increase the distance between the runners. after a couple times, i was able to get it to fit. another issue i had, was the holes on the two flanges were over sized, so much, that the exhaust manifold stud-nuts would damn near pull through. i had to buy special sized, thick, s/s washers to complete the installation. i also bought a magnaflow hi-flow main cat, and the ID/OD, cat to y-pipe, didn't match (it was all cataloged for a 90, so i guess it was supposed to fit). i had to take one of them (i'm thinking it was the y-pipe) to a muffler shop, and had them expand the flange about 1/8 inch so i could get a fit good enough for the 3 inch c-clamp. i contacted magnaflow about my issues, but i never so much as got a reply to my emails. it was a tough installation, but i did manage to get everything to fit. i connected the magnaflow pieces to a corsa cat back exhaust. the corsa system fit like a glove. i've got to say, that my 90 magnaflow/corsa system sounded great!

BooBoo231

Mine is off by about two inches. Also the drivers side down tuble is welded crooked by 20 degrees. My cat section is also over expanded and fits the Y pipe outlet like an XL t shirt on a frail 10 yr old;(

leesvet

Stuff like this....a crap shoot at BEST.

I wonder how many time that customer service guy told OTHER customers that THEY were only the 2nd one in...EVER that had fitmant issues! ? ?

I will demand and EXPECT that a bracket fit right. Or an oil pan. Or even a new radiator...something that is so generic that it can be built in the dark and still come out close 'nuff.
But pipes welded together meeting another piece that is welded together and nothing that is OEM to be the "constant" or the "fixed reference"....just ain;t gonna happen when you place 2 variables together and expect to make a constant. Actually, it can;t happen based on that formula. So nothing lost...nor gained! About where it all should be !

Cliff Harris

I have a Magnaflow Y pipe on my car. I didn't have any other choice, as Magnaflow is the only California legal front Y pipe. Issues I had:

The flare on the front of the pipes was too small. It took a lot of pulling and messing around to get them to line up with the exhaust manifold outlets.

The holes in the flanges were too far apart. I had to grind the inside of the holes in the flange to get it to fit on the exhaust manifold studs. The holes in the flange are WAY too big. The flanges were "upside down" compared to the stock flanges.

The pipes are just a little larger diameter than stock. The clamp for the A.I.R. pipe to the catalytic converter wouldn't fit. I used a hose clamp.

The Y pipe is about 1/2" longer than stock. The A.I.R. pipe doesn't quite reach the fitting on the catalytic converter. I bought a copper plumbing fitting at Lowe's to bridge the gap.

The outlet pipe is too small for the catalytic converter and I have an exhaust leak there.

My Corvette club visited the Magnaflow research center and I asked their head guy about these problems. He told me some catalytic converters are metric so that's why there is a mismatch there. He told me he would call me and have me bring in my car so they could scan the whole underside to see the fit problems. That was about a year ago and I haven't gotten a call yet...

mcm95403

They tell every person who calls that they've never heard of there being a problem. I got the same line of BS when I called:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-t...y-control.html

Joe C

i really think magnaflow needs to spend a little less on mario and a little more on quality control, and they, i mean, we wouldn't have so many issues. i thought i had problems, but some of you have had some serious fitment issues. i like the idea of mandrel bent exhaust, but i doubt if i'd get another magnaflow front y-pipe assembly. maybe their cat-back systems are better, but their cat-forward hardware SUCKS! gawd, i wish corsa made more than just cat-back!

BooBoo231

I would like to hear from people who have had issues as they said they have only had two in ten years!!? I find that hard to swallow. If anybody has had this issue....please respond.

leesvet

You can tell when a company has gone to the "bean-counters" by the way they operate.

In this case, someone at or near the top believes in "get the money" anyway you can. Having a VERY Credible Face Man like Mario Andretti stand there and endorse your product, then drive off in HIS dressed up Corvette, screams quality, credibility and 9.9 on the 'cool-factor' rating system.

Knowing that even a shiddy exhaust system will outlast the memory of a bad buying experience, they gamble on this one sale lasting a lifetime... and it often does. So their business plan is to sell ONE system to a customer and move on to the next. Since that one customer won;t be buying a new exhaust anytime soon...they couldn;t care if he's happy or not, they already got his money and by statistics alone, he would not be buying another anyway. They have nothing to gain by doing more for the sale..

The "bean counters" will inherit the earth.

Sad the way some things evolve in capitalism. Good customer service being the 1st casualty of the sharp pencil syndrome...

chris1

Same here; bought a Magnaflow front y-pipe along with the main cat converter for my 1986, and the y-pipe would not match up to the bottom of the headers for nothing; took it to my local shop, and it was no match for their 10 ton bender; would have been nice if it fit out of the box, but I guess there are worse things that could happen; paying an hour labor isn't the end of the world, just unecessary and annoying; ask Magnaflow to re-imburse you for an hour of shop labor; that should be an interesting response........

Joe C

and well put. i know, i most likey won't be buying another magnaflow system. on the other side of the coin, i've bought and install four corsa cat back systems (1990, 1996, 2000, and 2008 corvettes). i did have one issue with a flanged pipe on one system (i'm thinking my 96) - i called customer service, and explained the problem. they (corsa) sent me a new part and a pre-paid fedex label for return of the problem part. i had the new part in two days. now, that's customer service! to sum it up, magnaflow one, followed by none - corsa four, followed by more!

mcm95403

I tried that and they said it needed to be pre-approved by them - which of course couldn't happen at 3 in the afternoon on a Saturday.

chris1

Idiots.........

mcm95403

I just spoke to the head of the support/fitment center there. I sent him the link to this thread and to my original thread and discussed all the issues with him. He's going to take it to the R&D department to find out what is going on and get back to me.

corvetteronw

I am going to Corvette Central tomorrow to pick up some parts. I am only and hour plus a few minutes away from them (and I get to stop at the nearby casino on the way home).
I am going to print this off and show it to them as they sell a lot of Magnaflow products.
Might help - might not. I will post up what they tell me.

mcm95403

Feel free to print the pics from my thread to show to them.

BooBoo231

They only want to sell one system......well I have four cars. I was gonna put the Magnaflows on my 77' 400 4-spd car. I am pretty sure I will be going with a Pypes system now. Plus I am a car nut, and know plenty of car guys. Guess what story will be brought up for years to come if this doesn' go well You guessed it!!

ch@0s