Technical Exhaust mis-step and looking for advice

[JumpJet]

Hey fellas, looking for a little advice here. In my quest to finally add a sportier muffler to my 500, I purchased this stainless setup from D'Angleo Motori. What I failed to realize (mostly because it doesn't say anywhere in the description I guess) is that there are clearance issues with both the distributor and the bodywork. The rear primary is too close (touching) to the distributor leads and the collector assembly hits the horizontal shelf on the right side. Pics Below.

Things I wish I would've known beforehand. Regardless, it's far too expensive to ship it back, so I'm weighing my options. Speaking with D'Angelo Motori they said for the wires, I'd need to convert to a Panda distributor with the remote coil and may have to clearance the bodywork.

Now, I'm a little reticent to change the distributor over since I've been through so many iterations of it and finally have one that's working great with a lovely classic look. What are your thoughts on going this route? Is the entire distributor different or just a different cap arrangement with a lead wire? I thought a Giardiniera cap may work, but it appears the tabs are clocked incorrectly for that.

My second option is clearancing the bodywork. This seems to be commonly done, but I'd really like to keep it pretty original looking and my current situation makes it difficult to do this myself (no garage). Thoughts on doing this/having it done properly?

Finally, I guess I have the option to kill two birds with one stone if I can find an exhaust shop willing and able to modify the setup I have by cutting and rebending the primaries and adjusting the collector as necessary. No clue what they'd charge me, but I have a feeling it might all be a wash between my cost options. I'm just a little frustrated that I didn't know about these issues before ordering and didn't want to get one of the two-outlet mufflers.

So have at it. What would you guys do? What do you think?

Thanks!

 

[the hobbler]

Hey fellas, looking for a little advice here. In my quest to finally add a sportier muffler to my 500, I purchased this stainless setup from D'Angleo Motori. What I failed to realize (mostly because it doesn't say anywhere in the description I guess) is that there are clearance issues with both the distributor and the bodywork. The rear primary is too close (touching) to the distributor leads and the collector assembly hits the horizontal shelf on the right side. Pics Below.

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Things I wish I would've known beforehand. Regardless, it's far too expensive to ship it back, so I'm weighing my options. Speaking with D'Angelo Motori they said for the wires, I'd need to convert to a Panda distributor with the remote coil and may have to clearance the bodywork.

Now, I'm a little reticent to change the distributor over since I've been through so many iterations of it and finally have one that's working great with a lovely classic look. What are your thoughts on going this route? Is the entire distributor different or just a different cap arrangement with a lead wire? I thought a Giardiniera cap may work, but it appears the tabs are clocked incorrectly for that.

My second option is clearancing the bodywork. This seems to be commonly done, but I'd really like to keep it pretty original looking and my current situation makes it difficult to do this myself (no garage). Thoughts on doing this/having it done properly?

Finally, I guess I have the option to kill two birds with one stone if I can find an exhaust shop willing and able to modify the setup I have by cutting and rebending the primaries and adjusting the collector as necessary. No clue what they'd charge me, but I have a feeling it might all be a wash between my cost options. I'm just a little frustrated that I didn't know about these issues before ordering and didn't want to get one of the two-outlet mufflers.

So have at it. What would you guys do? What do you think?

Thanks!

Looking at the picture of the thermostat-housing on your engine Matt, would I be correct in thinking that you have a '126' engine in the back of the car? If you have, did you order a 500 exhaust or a 126 exhaust--they are different. One option with regard to the distributor would be to fit a "twin outlet" coil on the n/s of the engine bay. This would give you a "wasted-spark" system which would allow you to remove the remove the rotor-arm and the distributor -cap, fit a low-level cap onto your distributor and move all the ignition leads over to between the coil and plugs---away from the exhaust. If you drop me a line, I will explain the system to you. Another option regarding the distributor would be to pull the distributor out, turn it clockwise enough that the ignition cables are not up against the exhaust (and pull the ignition leads tighter so the spare cable is on the carb side of the engine) and then re-time the engine with the distributor in the new position----my distributors are turned to the point that I can JUST release the rear-most 'cap-clip'. At the same time, wrap the exhaust pipe by the distributor with some heat-wrap. Unfortunately, I think that D'angelo Motori would be the first people to point out that fitting one of these exhausts would not normally be done by somebody trying to maintain "originality"!
With regard to your side-panel that is impacting the exhaust,you may just have to do a bit of "re-alignment" of the panel so that IT doesn't impact the exhaust. If done neatly, hardly anybody would notice. I DO realise that you are "garage-less" at the moment which makes the rectification a tad more tedious.