Rep Power: 319

My Thermal R&D Rear Section used to rub agains my RSX sway bar only when the car was cold or if I had a heavy load in the rear. The rubbing is side-to-side, not up-down as one would think. Here's a pic:


I fixed it so that the exhaust is a little higher, but that wouldn't give as much clearance then if I pushed the exhaust to the left a little bit.

It was possible for me to raise my exhaust because I think the Thermal rear section was designed on a coupe, so it dosn't fit on a sedan quite right (different trunk lengths). The top of my exhaust tip was almost an inch from the bottom of the bumper. There was clearly room for moving it higher.

I went to the local AutoZone and purchased one FORD exhaust hanger. This sucka was a little bit shorter than our stock hangers, and twice the thickness. I decided to double the value of my purchase by using a hacksaw to make two exhaust hangers from one.

I tried out my new 'shorter' hangers. To my dismay, the hangers stretched to the point where the exhaust hung down to what it was with the longer Honda hangers. Pfft. That's FORD for ya. My solution was to utilize some stainless steel cable ties I have laying around to restrict how much the hangers stretch. Well, with a little elbow grease and the help of some slip-joint pliers, I was able to reduce the stretching to zero (and maybe even negative stretch )




I found out that the hangers were so tight on the the mounting points, I could push the exhaust to the left a tiny bit and it would stay. It's been fine so far, but the more permanant solution would be to use another longer stainless steel cable tie to tie the left exhaust mount on the car to the right exhaust mount on the muffler. That would essentially pull the exhaust to the left and away from the sway bar. I know, it sounds kind of ghetto, but it's pretty much out of sight.



Again, like I said, I'm not sure how well this will work for everybody. It worked for me and I thought I'd share.

 
Rep Power: 413

Thanks bro. I don't think that will work for people with the TCS because it already is so close to the bumper. I will figure it out one day and get back to ya about the fix for a coupe with the TCS. But good thinking on your part!!