Jason:
I had a pretty similar experience to Marty's; we both have 75 B's, so that's
not surprising. I just completely threw away the extension pipe from the
headers to the pre-muffler, as not only was it the wrong length, it was the
wrong shape, too.
Marty's right: they're made in Mexico.
And as for that rear bracket ... pain just doesn't come close. After a year,
I still haven't gotten it to fit right, and the cobble that I made to make it
work broke on a highway speed bump last week. (Yes, I said 'highway speed
bump'. Some lopdick highway crew worker decided to patch a bridge seam that
was sinking by creating a 3" speedbump in the middle of US 1. Go figure.)
I've saved all the components from the original B rear mounting bracket, in
hopes that someday I will be wise enough to buy some other sort of muffler to
use it with.
The 'centre' bracket, the one just forward of the rear one, didn't line up
precisely well, either, and I had to use a cobble on that one, too. The
forward bracket, the one attached to the sump, is too small on the stock
model to fit the Monza (sort of to be expected with a free-flow exhaust) and
that one, too, had to be redesigned a bit to make it work. In short, I spent
a LOT of time figuring out how to install what should've been a 'bolt-on'
type of application, if you believe the literature.
The entire installation put the pre-muffler directly under the driver's seat.
Very close to the floor pan, there. After a while, it keeps you nice and
warm in the winter. Not so pleasant in summer, though.
As with Marty's, the paint is all gone and rust has set in. The chrome tips
still look nice, but not as nice as they did with the black paint. :(
They're starting to discolour a bit now, too. I don't expect this system
will last through this winter.
On a positive note, the exhaust note is nice, very nice. I suspect that note
can be achieved with other exhaust systems, as well. I wouldn't buy one
again, and I'm actually looking forward to this one crumbling so that I have
an excuse to get a new one.
Corey
75 MGB 'Rags'
#373750
|