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Hi all. Previous owner left out some brackets when installing a fabspeed exhaust. And as a consequence, I think I may have some bent exhaust manifolds.
My problem is with the fan speed maxflo side exhaust specifically ,but the car also has fabspeed center x-pipe.
The fabspeed cat exit tubes have vertical brackets welded to them that hang on the tabs where the original center muffler straps would have attached.
Both of these brackets have broken off of the tubes and I’m trying to figure out what to do about it.
With the tubes attached to the cats. I can’t get the assembly up high enough that the brackets will touch the weld line where they were originally attached.
In other words, with the brackets hanging in their intended position, and the cat tubes connected to the cat outlets, there’s 1/4” gap between the broken off brackets and their weld lines.
If I weld these brackets back where they originally were, I’ll need to put a jack under the exhaust to get it up where the brackets will hang on the muffler tabs.
Previous owner left off the rear muffler brackets, and with these two other brackets broken off, I think the exhaust has been basically just hanging off the exhaust manifolds and they might be bent down.
Any suggestions on how to fix this? If I weld the brackets back where fabspeed originally placed them, I’m afraid I’ll need to put a jack under it and bend everything back up so the brackets will hang as intended.
Or I could weld the brackets on where they seem to want to be (exhaust hanging 1/4” lower).
Either way, I’m inclined to scrap the original flat brackets (butt welded to tube) and make new hangers that go all the way around and under the tube instead of welded to the tube. I’m thinking that fabspeed probably designed the brackets to work with the original center muffler (slipped behind it?) and I don’t have that constraint
Thoughts?
Mine are installed with stainless T-bar clamps. Looks like maybe you're missing the bracket plate (cyan arrow) that has sections that stick out to the sides. Those side sections are actually covered like the exhaust piper and I used the clamps around the exhaust and the bracket sections (yellow arrows).
Mine is a 997.1 though, so could be quite different since we never had a center muffler.
Mine are installed with stainless T-bar clamps. Looks like maybe you're missing the bracket plate (cyan arrow) that has sections that stick out to the sides. Those side sections are actually covered like the exhaust piper and I used the clamps around the exhaust and the bracket sections (yellow arrows).
Mine is a 997.1 though, so could be quite different since we never had a center muffler.
Yeah, .2 is somewhat different. The 'bracket plate' there. That's what the broken cat exit tube bracket attaches to.
And then another picture of what the cat-pipe brackets are supposed to look like
Here's a better picture from this thread: Fabspeed x pipe install ... maybe - Rennlist - Porsche Discussion Forums
The problem is, if I but the brackets up where the welds broke and re-weld them at that location, there's no way the 90-deg bend on the top of the brackets will 'hook' onto the top of the plate that they attach to.
I'm afraid my headers are bent. I'd need to put a jack under each header and bend everything up a bit. I need to lift the x-pipe about 1/4 for those brackets to sit in their intended position.
I would not try to bend the headers. I'd have an exhaust shop weld new brackets onto the pipes at the appropriate position for where it naturally sits now so it's supported where it currently sits
Hi all.
Just closing the loop in case anybody has a similar issue and finds this post.
I would up replacing the original welded-on tab brackets with some b-shaped clamp/brackets. Instead of but-welding to the pipe, my brackets go around the pipe and clamp it to the backing plate.
I don't understand the apparent differences that I saw between the original left and right fabspeed brackets, and don't have a good frame of reference to measure. But the final brackets that I made were marked and cut with the center pipe installed and clamped, and the final bracket dimensions came out almost identical left and right. The left side is maybe hanging 1mm lower than the right.
04-20-2024, 03:52 PM
997.2 Fabspeed exhaust bracket problems
