misaligned exhaust

[seattle_Jerry]

just figured out why po had exhaust attached with bungees. The clamps don't line up and there is a welded piece right where the bolt on ones should go.
Suggestions? Cut the pipes shorter?

[Cees Klumper]

If the system is clamped rather than welded, there is a lot you should be able to do to correct and improve the alignment. I recall reading in the past that it may even be possible the PO installed one set of the intermediate pipes backwards, which would also frustrate proper alignment. Can you cut off the incorectly-welded piece?

Alternative could be, as I did about 5 years ago, to replace the whole system with a new, good quality stainless one. The old system on my car was welded front to back, hung very low, and the front downpipes just would not fit snug into the manifold. So with the change to new, I corrected several problems and now have a system that will probably never need to be replaced again.

[Jonny B]

As you go through the alignment and re-alignment process, be careful to watch the stress you put on the exhaust manifolds (ask me how I know about this one). The manifolds are cast iron, and can crack. They are very difficult to repair (close to impossible) I ended up purchasing a new set.

[seattle_Jerry]

Good tips. I'm pretty sure the whole thing is bolted together.

[johnshenry]

I'll tag on to this old thread in the interest of having one place for future owners to find info on exhaust alignments.

Troubleshooting a rattle/bump noise that just started happening on my '69 280, I found that the center (forward of the first muffler) clamp and rubber rings are missing.  But the larger issue is that the whole exhaust is mis aligned in the floorboard "channel" for the pipes.  The noise is from the pipes hitting the inboard "ear" on the floorboard that the missing clamp is supposed to hang from via one of the rubber rings.  The forward part of the system is too far toward the center of the car.  Farther back, the alignment is even worse.  What is odd is that the rear muffler is fitting near perfectly in the rear quarter "pocket", all mounts and rings in place.

There is no evidence of hack work, the whole system looks fairly new (I only bought the car last Nov) and at least the forward muffler is stainless.  All of the connections are U bolt clamped, nothing welded.

Oh, and one other piece of pertinent info, last month my wife turned into a drive way and dropped the right rear wheel into a hug pothole.  The rear muffler took a good what but I can't see anything bent, gouged or torn.  And the rattle didn't start until last weekend, but the missing clamp could have only fallen off then (if it was ever there to begin with)

Anyway I don't enjoy doing exhaust work at all, but my pipe dream is that I can loosen all of the U clamps and maybe wiggle the thing back into alignment.  I'll make note of the tip above to watch the exhaust manifolds up front.  Hopefully all of the joints will at least loosen up enough to move around a bit. 

Anyone experience/fix such a thing before?  Common problem?  If I have to remove sections/mufflers, I'd probably just unbolt it from the exhaust manifold and drop the whole thing down and out from under the car to work on it.  How much clearance is typical where the pipes pass under the rear swing arm? 

Any tips appreciated.  Not sure when I will get around to messing with this, but I will take pics and post em up in this thread...