Fabspeed rubbing on rear tranny crossmember

[M3PO]

Has anyone else had this problem? This is all I could find:

Originally Posted by novablackm3

The right side was VERY tight to the transmission mounts about 1~2 mm clearance

Btw what were the extra screws and short 3~4 inch round pipes for ?

I installed my Fabspeed HFC and x-pipe the other day and the HFC sections rub on the rear transmission crossmember where they angle in to head down the tunnel to the x-pipe. It makes an awful sound during start up and causes a LOT of vibration during acceleration.

I can't figure out how to fix it either because there isn't any adjustment in the front pipes/HFC sections. If you could slide the header flanges down the collectors (essentially pushing the whole system back 1/2" or so), you could solve the issue but you can't because the passenger side is welded to the collector. Rotating the pipes down (toward the road) could solve it also but you can't do that on the passenger side (again because the flange is welded to the collector) and even if you could, the pipes would hang down really low compromising clearance with speed bumps and such.

The only solution I see is to either cut them and add in a 1/2" or so at the outlet of the cats (to push the bends behind the tranny back) or bang a dent into the pipes with a hammer.

Any help here guys?

[Dave07997S]

Originally Posted by M3PO

Has anyone else had this problem? This is all I could find:




I installed my Fabspeed HFC and x-pipe the other day and the HFC sections rub on the rear transmission crossmember where they angle in to head down the tunnel to the x-pipe. It makes an awful sound during start up and causes a LOT of vibration during acceleration.

I can't figure out how to fix it either because there isn't any adjustment in the front pipes/HFC sections. If you could slide the header flanges down the collectors (essentially pushing the whole system back 1/2" or so), you could solve the issue but you can't because the passenger side is welded to the collector. Rotating the pipes down (toward the road) could solve it also but you can't do that on the passenger side (again because the flange is welded to the collector) and even if you could, the pipes would hang down really low compromising clearance with speed bumps and such.

The only solution I see is to either cut them and add in a 1/2" or so at the outlet of the cats (to push the bends behind the tranny back) or bang a dent into the pipes with a hammer.

Any help here guys?

You take it to a muffler shop and they will put a rag around the exhaust and crossmember and take a crow bar to it. It may just need a little "adjustment".

Dave

[M3PO]

Grinding the aluminum crossmember will work too but I'm not about to do that because of a shitty design by Fabspeed. I see no reason why they couldn't have pushed those bends downstream by an inch or so.

[Dave07997S]

Originally Posted by M3PO

Grinding the aluminum crossmember will work too but I'm not about to do that because of a shitty design by Fabspeed. I see no reason why they couldn't have pushed those bends downstream by an inch or so.

I should mention that I bought these used to Fabspeed couldn't care less.

Believe it or not the crowbar fix will work, it just needs to be adjusted a tad. Did it look like there was rubbing before from the previous owner there?

Not to bash Fabspeed, but any aftermarket exhaust that puts the primary cats in the primary OEM location fitment in my eyes will always be an issue as you have to deal with a 4" round cat in where the OEM cat was a flat oval cat. I had a Riss Racing catted xpipe and the cats hung low and they rubbed on anything. That is why I went with the TTPs and did a tune.

Dave

[M3PO]

Originally Posted by Dave07997S

You take it to a muffler shop and they will put a rag around the exhaust and crossmember and take a crow bar to it. It may just need a little "adjustment".

Dave

Thanks for the reply. I suspect that you are are correct that it needs some aggressive "persuasion" it just pisses me off that this is a $2500 part that doesn't fit correctly due to shoddy design and/or construction.

[M3PO]

Originally Posted by Dave07997S

Believe it or not the crowbar fix will work, it just needs to be adjusted a tad. Did it look like there was rubbing before from the previous owner there?

Dave

I don't remember there being any but I didn't inspect it very closely either. Either way, it seems it's a game of millimeters because the picture in the post that I quoted in the OP seems to have the same problem but the owner didn't report any rubbing. So I don't think it's an install issue.

[Black Gold]

I had the same exact issue, and no amount of bending / massaging with a crowbar / pick would help at all.

I removed the part, sold it, got turner parts and am much happier. No fitment issues at all.

Good luck, hope you can get it to fit.

[M3PO]

Originally Posted by KennyPowers

I had the same exact issue, and no amount of bending / massaging with a crowbar / pick would help at all.

I removed the part, sold it, got turner parts and am much happier. No fitment issues at all.

Good luck, hope you can get it to fit.

FML, that's not what I wanted to hear!

[M3PO]

Originally Posted by steveljohn8

Not to bash Fabspeed, but any aftermarket exhaust that puts the primary cats in the primary OEM location fitment in my eyes will always be an issue as you have to deal with a 4" round cat in where the OEM cat was a flat oval cat.

The cat isn't the issue. Once I bent the heat shield with my fingers a little bit, I got about a half inch of clearance between the cats and the heat shield.

The problem is caused by a poorly placed bend about 2+ feet downstream of the cat where the two pipes converge to feed into the x-pipe in the tunnel. Had that bend been moved an inch rearward, there would be ample clearance.

[Singletrack]

I can check my setup next time I have it up...if it is rubbing, I don't think it is making much of a noise, because I don't really notice it.

[Malek@MRF]

Brent,

We can check it out together when it's on the rack this afternoon. Maybe there is some room for adjustment.

[Malek@MRF]

Brent,

We can check it out together when it's on the rack this afternoon. Maybe there is some room for adjustment.

[M3PO]

Originally Posted by Singletrack

I can check my setup next time I have it up...if it is rubbing, I don't think it is making much of a noise, because I don't really notice it.

If it was, you'd notice it. It sounds awful.

Originally Posted by Malekreza11

Brent,

We can check it out together when it's on the rack this afternoon. Maybe there is some room for adjustment.

[ScottMaganay]

I had the same exact issue, and no amount of bending