At 12:25 PM 9/19/05 -0600, Bill Robinson wrote:
"My new emergency break cable is hitting the top of the exhaust pipe by the left rear wheel. Is this correct?"

When the car is supported on the frame, and the rear axle is at full drop, the cable will touch the exhaust pipe. No problem. When you are driving this happens only when the car is airborne at the crest of a sharp hill or with a very large bump. You would be busy with other things at the time and would never notice the cable momentarily touch the pipe.

If you just installed new leaf springs, and the back end of the car sits high enough to make the cable touch the pipe, you have much more serious problems with the suspension. In recent years there have been a rash of new leaf springs with too much arch, which will screw up road handling in a big way.

In this picture the body is not on the car, so the chassis is quite light at the back, and it appears the frame is sitting at full up position with taught rebound strap. Here you can see the brake cable touching the exhaust pipe, which in itself is not a problem (as noted above). But the condition and attitude of the springs may not be known until the rest of the car is assembled with full weight on the suspension.

As a side note here, there is little or no adjustment of the exhaust system available other than to rotate the muffler out of position. The muffler should be positioned straight up with the pipes (in and out) at the lowest point, symmetrical left to right. This puts the muffler as high as possible inside the chassis, and about equal distance from fuel tank and leaf spring. It also puts the bend in the outlet pipe at about the 2 o'clock position, which may seem a bit strange until you get used to it.

This is the correct original configuration with the outlet pipe near to the underside of the bumper and near the overrider and pointing slightly upward, and it all functions well. If the muffler is turned to have the outlet pipe pointing down or slightly to the left, like 6 to 8 o'clock position, this can cause exhaust smell in the cockpit while driving, which is probably not good for your health. Find more information about the exhaust system in another section starting with article EX-101.