How close should Stillen CBE be to crossmember?

Lee123

I decided I owe a further explanation to Issam and any others who read my comments above about how the exhaust was perfect now that it had been adjusted. Tuesday, the day after I posted that, the rattle returned. It was a very small rattle and couldn't heard if the radio was loud, but it was there. Yesterday I called Stillen and Chuck told me what should be done if it proved that the rattle was from the pipe hitting the crossmember. This morning I took it back to the shop. We got it on the lift and found that the pipe had once again settled down and was no more than 1/16" from the crossmember. We loosened all the bolts and clamps and the piece between the cats and held the pipe up as high as possible with a screw jack, but no matter what we tried the pipe ended up no more than 1/8 - 3/16" from the crossmember when everything was tightened. I don't really see how that could be changed since the front of the y-pipe is bolted to the cats which are solidly attached to the engine. We ended up putting washers between the crossmember and the frame to increase the space to about 1/2" That should take care of it, but I'm not real happy with that solution.

It seems that some people have this problem and others don't. Perhaps it's due to manufacturing tolerances on the frame? I saw that another member who had this problem owns a roadster that looks just like mine. Perhaps the crossmember sits a bit higher or further forward on the roadster? Maybe that's why the OEM and Nismo pipes have the flexible sections in the front.