Ford / Borla Exhaust Alignment


Anthony

GT Owner
Dec 28, 2011
34
Arlington, Va
My first modification to the GT was to add the Ford cat back that came with the car.

It was a fun project to get acclimated to the GT! The only issue I have is the alignment out the rear bumper is low and very close to touching on the bottom. Any tips on how to properly align it? Feel like I've tried adjusting all the attach points on the exhaust but no luck getting it any higher.

install time lapse:

Thanks!
 
Last edited:

fjpikul

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jan 4, 2006
11,475
Belleville, IL
As I remember, they are supposed to be a little low so that when the system heats up, they center themselves. Need to talk to the GT Guy what's his face.
 

GT101

*UK Support*
Supporting Vendor
Jan 20, 2010
380
Colchester, Essex, UK
If you loosen the two bolt spherical joints from the manifolds to the cats you should get all the movement you need.
With those loose, position the muffler and associated brackets where you want them then tighten the spherical joints last.
You should be able to get good, relatively central, alignment with a Borla/Ford Racing part.
 

HighHP

GT Owner
Jun 3, 2019
434
Spokane, WA
I second GT101's steps, that is how I aligned my Heffner pipe. With the Heffner, I used an end mill to slot the bracket holes a bit in order to get the perfect bind free fit. A round file would work also.
 
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Anthony

GT Owner
Dec 28, 2011
34
Arlington, Va
Thanks all. Might have to slot the brackets a bit.
 

nota4re

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 15, 2006
4,177
As I remember, they are supposed to be a little low so that when the system heats up, they center themselves.

As the exhaust system heats up it will stretch and become longer with the tips protruding more through the opening. It will NOT move up/down with thermal expansion. Note: The band strap is what allows for the thermal expansion length-wise.
 
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GT@50

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Dec 14, 2019
852
Issaquah
GM special tool 4-H36-52 works well in other applications too. Ken Miles used it on the Cobra in Ford vs Ferrari.
 

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Ravage

GT Owner
Mar 24, 2007
83
ABQ
Old thread but I'm not on here much so I figured I post my experience in case anyone else comes across this issue.
This drives me nuts when I see the alignment but to some I guess it's not a big deal. When I did my bumper delete I had the same
issue too. I got the Heffner exhaust and unlike setups like on a GT3s, the tips aren't adjustable. My remedy
was simply to add a couple flanges between the exhaust and header to raise it up slightly.


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nota4re

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 15, 2006
4,177
We've installed easily more than 50 Heffner Exhausts. Of those 50, we've NEVER had an up/down alignment issue. Did you loosen the 15mm nuts at the exhaust manifold to allow the cats to pivot freely? It's also possible that you may have the brackets on upside down - with the sides reversed?

Anyway, I DO like your creative solution and we had to do the same thing to get an owner's home-built exhaust to align.
 

Ravage

GT Owner
Mar 24, 2007
83
ABQ
We've installed easily more than 50 Heffner Exhausts. Of those 50, we've NEVER had an up/down alignment issue. Did you loosen the 15mm nuts at the exhaust manifold to allow the cats to pivot freely? It's also possible that you may have the brackets on upside down - with the sides reversed?
Forgot to mention, my set up has long tubes with the FRPP muffler. Collector apparently does not replicate the OEM manifold dimensions.