[cozye]

For anyone who’s had the AWE and installed yourself, or paid attention to the install job, I have a question.
Did you end up with the passenger side last pipe section being lower than the drivers? It is now the lowest point on the car, 4.5” clearance. Thats .5” lower than drivers side. I’m a bit concerned by large speed bumps as it’s a fair bit behind the rear wheel, so it can drag or hit things. My front lip is 5”, so now this is the lowest point on the car.

I spent hours adjusting things to get clearance for everything, clearing the G brace, etc.. If I rotate this pipe to gain a tiny bit more clearance, then the outer most exhaust tip will be off and slightly lower.

[cozye]

How about this. Does anyone have an AWE switchpath installed that you can take a quick picture off from straight on back, low, where I can compare how the exhaust is lined up,, like this ??




I want to see if the passenger side section just before the muffler hangs lower like it does on mine. I have thought about this significantly, and since both outside “valves” pipes rotate on the T that enters the muffler, there is no way to have both the tips lined up, and the lowest clearance even. Either one of my pipe sections is flawed, or it was intentionally designed this way.

[specced]

I had awe exhaust on my sti and it took me forever to get the tips level, very similar scenario. theres three adjustment points basically, the pipe, the tips itself, and the exhaust hangers.

have you tried manipulating the hanger at all once the pipe is rotated to get the tip height correct?

[cozye]

Originally Posted by specced

I had awe exhaust on my sti and it took me forever to get the tips level, very similar scenario. theres three adjustment points basically, the pipe, the tips itself, and the exhaust hangers.

have you tried manipulating the hanger at all once the pipe is rotated to get the tip height correct?

I have the tips level now, but in order to do it the way I had to rotate the pipe leaves it a bit lower than the drivers side (as you can see from the bottom pic). I've studied this to the Nth degree and there is no other configuration that will keep the tips level since they pivot on the muffler. I have not modified the hangers, and I'm not sure I can without cutting, shortening and welding them up again. I wouldnt shim them as they would be even lower, and thats really the problem. After studying the setup more, considering the hanger placement is right where the exhaust low points are with just over 4" ground clearance, and that the tips are level, I think this is as good as it gets.

I contacted AWS support, which has been absolutely useless thus far, simply repeating whats printed clearly in the manual. I was hoping they would at least confirm this is expected and not some manufacturing issue with my exhaust.

I thought maybe someone here on the forum would have the setup and could compare their low spots and observations with mine to get some sort of confirmation, and maybe assure me that they are scraping on high speed bumps, etc..

I plan on doing a full install write up and review once I sort through some of this. I looked for months on this setup, including contacting others who had setups for sale, looking for data on why selling, issues, etc... I did not get any negative feedback other than it wasn't loud enough for some. (it's plenty loud enough for me.. LOL)

[mike@x-ph.com]

i installed it on my car, it takes some time to get it to fit correctly but once its done, it fits perfect.

[cozye]

Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com

i installed it on my car, it takes some time to get it to fit correctly but once its done, it fits perfect.

Mike, did you install it on a G80 and can you confirm that the outside pipe does not hang down lower as indicated in the two pics I have? Perhaps you didn’t notice? My tips are level and by outward appearance it fits perfectly, but underneath I would say it’s far from perfect. In the second pic, you can see from the circled areas that once you attach the valved side pipes to the muffler, that connection acts as a pivot. To get the tips all to align, there is one orientation. Raising the back side of the pipe would result in that tip being lower. Honestly I have no idea why they didn’t just weld this section together given that there is only one way they will all align. My main concern at this point is that the passenger side hangs down lower than the drivers side and is the lowest point on the car now with only 4.25” of clearance.

If it’s a G80 ca you take a pic of yours down low like the pic in my first post that i can compare ?

There is either a manufacturing defect in my exhaust, or this is just the way it is. FWIW, I have contacted AWE about this, they responded with a blurb from the manual and a link to the install video I watched and dozen times and followed to a T. I’ve sent back more direct questions and asked for more detail in response to my fit and they have not responded. I called them last week during the install with questions about errors in the manual as well. Thus far their support and service has been poor.

[cozye]

@mike, I think I may have answered my question to you already. I found this on your install video (I think this is you.. ).. Notice my markup of a screen capture at the end of the mid pipe install on your G82. It’s the same as mine. Lower on the passenger side. Looks like this is just the way it is..



I also may have figured out why they are leaving more “unclaimed” space on this section and why it is much lower than the factory exhaust. The G82 seems to have a factory chassis brace (circled in red in the next pic from AWE), and the G80 does not have this brace. My car is a G80 so it looks like the exhaust could come up significantly more but obviously they designed this exhaust to fit both cars. The factory exhaust is flattened out in this area.

I am very much a perfectionist, and these are the kind of details that drive me batty unless I understand the reasoning behind it.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by cozye

@mike, I think I may have answered my question to you already. I found this on your install video (I think this is you.. ).. Notice my markup of a screen capture at the end of the mid pipe install on your G82. It’s the same as mine. Lower on the passenger side. Looks like this is just the way it is..

you are correct, it's been so long since I installed it that I completely forgot how it fit.

[cozye]

Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com

you are correct, it's been so long since I installed it that I completely forgot how it fit.

And you haven't had any issues with speed bumps and dragging exhaust pipes? I'm probably just being too OCD..

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by cozye

And you haven't had any issues with speed bumps and dragging exhaust pipes? I'm probably just being too OCD..

I did not and my car is lowered