Well, I installed a whole new 2" exhaust on the Monty this weekend. I bought a bunch of 45's, 90's and some tailpipe turndowns (which were 30's) and fabbed up a home made exhaust on the cheap (the new cat was the most expensive part). I also used a Thrush super turbo muffler (I had put one of these on an old Mustang II 2.3L when I was in high school and it didn't sound 1/2 bad). I'll try to post up some pictures later tonight. Nothing hangs below the frame so ground clearance is improved over my stock setup.

In total, I spent 1/2 of what a stock direct replacement 1 3/4" system would have cost HOWEVER...now that it's hung, coupled with the amount of time spent...I won't do it again. If I were to add in mine and my brother's time...I should have just dropped it off to an exhaust shop that bends exhaust...would have cost more but I wouldn't have used up an entire Saturday afternoon and evening (didn't get to bed until almost 4am last night). My brother and I love challenges and love wrenching on cars and gaining that "I did that" good feeling when you accomplish something, but both of us last night learned a good lesson...leave this crap to the experts! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

So now it's back up to the garage to tweak some bends and hangars (I have a slight body to muffler rattle when lugging up a slight incline). On the plus side, the engine feels like it rev's a little easier, can pull in 5th a little lower in the rpm band and overall just seems to be breathing better (little snappier gas pedal action). Of course the stock system on there was in really bad shape...original cat (which showed signs of localized collapsing of the ceramic substrate...oh and I found the missing pieces of my jet valve and the remains of an O2 sensor) and I think it's second muffler (which you could just push your finger through in places), so I'm sure it had some internal restrictions.

Anyway, for those wanting a slightly larger exhaust system...save up a little extra and let someone bend you a nice exhaust system...also, the super turbo oval muffler is a tight fit, but if you are going to use one, get the double offset muffler and not the center/single offset muffler I used (I had to mount mine in flat then use pipes to go over the axle...but with a double offset, I could have mounted it on it edge and just come down and out; I may still do this...for $20 for a muffler, no big loss...at this stage in the game).