Hi gang. Had to start another thread because nobody was going to look at the old one.

Here's my problem. Have the old exhaust out, and I have a REAL problem with the 1/4" difference from the mid pipe's flanges to the muffler's one. The muffler flanges are wider by that 1/4", and I'd like to widen the mid pipe to precisely match the pipes.
The factory mid pipe only has one brace at about 1/4 of the way (from front) on the 'bullets', which are resonators (the blitz bullets are fake, as empty inside). The Blitz has 2 braces, but much further down stream, with the last one almost right on the 2 flanges. These braces are a joke, as they're welded with one point each; hardly meaningful. The stock brace has about 1-1/2" weld on each side. My guess is those welds are just to prevent damage from shipping, as these creeps send the darn pipes with ZERO protection. Oh, excuse me, I'm wrong: they were heavily protected by a PLASTIC BAG.

Anyway, what I want to do is to cut those braces, and push open the pipes that 1/4". The pressure would be exerted at the 'V' where the pipes separate, right after the front flange. It's quite a bit of distance and I only need 1/4", so I think it can be done safely without busting any of the welds.

Since you can clearly see those flanges from the back, plus not to mention the turbulence, restriction, or whatever else happens with the pipes overlapped a bit, I want to do this right.
I could weld the braces back at the right length, but I honestly don't see the need for that.

Your opinion on this is very much welcome. And yes, I thought about returning them, but the majority of them seem to be built the same way, so I'd be wasting my time, (more) money, etc. Take care.

 

Never mind. Just going to install it with the 1/8" offset on each side; shouldn't affect anything. That way, if I can't line it up properly, I can return it. Later.