C34 Stagea Exhaust - Advice Please !

[suko]

Just back from an interstate road trip, and got defected in Victoria because the muffler was 10mm too close to the ground (Highway Patrol initially stopped us because "your number plates have a black background", but then went over the car until he could find something/anything to defect).

I've had my Stagea for 3.5 years, and the coilovers (set to max. height), wheels, and exhaust (HKS 3") were unchanged since import.

To get the clearance to the minimum 100mm, I had the HKS muffler removed, and a hotdog fitted in its place. It's a little noisier from the outside, but now I've got nasty resonant vibrations inside that are making my teeth grate....

Any suggestions ? I suspect I've made a big mistake in doing the "quick fix" and destroying what was a well-tuned system.

[SMOKEYV35]

You couldn't just get the exhaust hangers reset to bring the exhaust up closer to the underbody? If its only 10mm you should be able to do that without too much fuss.

[suko]

You couldn't just get the exhaust hangers reset to bring the exhaust up closer to the underbody? If its only 10mm you should be able to do that without too much fuss.

Yeah, sorry, should have mentioned that that is what the exhaust shop tried first. The hangers were tight as, and really close to the floor. He even tried putting a stand under the muffler, heating the pipe either side, and attempting to add some extra bends, but everything was already really, really tight under there.

[GTSBoy]

Wipe arse with Victorian defect notice and mail back to them?

[suko]

Wipe arse with Victorian defect notice and mail back to them?

This is not that different to what Legal Aid Victoria said, "Ignore it, and wait a couple of months until you get a letter from Roads & Maritime NSW".

[KiwiRS4T]

Don't know about Victoria but in NZ the minimum clearance (without a cert) is 100mm to any solid part of the body or chassis and this excludes things like skirts or exhaust. Have you checked the regs for Victoria?

[GTSBoy]

In Australia they have a 100mm diameter ball on a stick. If they can poke it anywhere under the car and it stops, then the car is too low, regardless of whether it's exhaust, dangly handbrake cable or a zip tie.

[Ben C34]

Hot dogs dont quiet much at all. A small Berkley straight through muffler will flow plenty, and actually quiten down the exhaust. It would fit in either mid or rear position, and they cost less than 100 bucks. Why didn't your exhaust shop just put one of them on ?