We began assem­bly and instal­la­tion down the pas­sen­ger side of the vehi­cle now that we have the flanges.  We took a con­sid­er­able amount of time mak­ing sure every­thing was just per­fect.  As we got to every hanger, we pulled it down cleaned the metal parts and installed new rub­ber that we cus­tom made in the shop using the old ones as pat­terns.  The only dif­fer­ence between the orig­i­nals and ours is they were riv­eted together and instead are now bolted.  The sys­tem ordered from Cadil­lac Inter­na­tional appears to be of very high qual­ity and every junc­tion lines up at a hanger just as it is sup­posed to.  The pas­sen­ger side is now com­plete and rock solid.  Amaz­ing factoid.…it took 9 muf­fler clamps to assem­ble just that one side, from the man­i­fold to the muf­fler, to the res­onator and then out to the tailpipe.

Now for the driver’s side, the real fun begins.….. Here we have not only the exhaust flange but the heat con­trol diverter valve, plus 2 gas­kets.  Well it seems the new flanges are much thicker than the orig­i­nals and now the man­i­fold studs are not long enough to get the nuts to grab.  No way around it, the studs have to come out and be replaced.  The first one came out easy as  pie and we then spent an hour try­ing to remove the sec­ond one (Murphy’s Law strikes again!).  We finally decided the only way to get it out was going to be to remove the man­i­fold (and ruin the new gas­kets),  I was sure we were going to break it off and have to send the man­i­fold out to be drilled and tapped.  Once on the bench in a vise and with a pipe wrench it finally gave way and came out.  New studs are in and the man­i­fold is re-installed and finally we are ready to go.  Time to call it a day.

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