Merged collector hittin rear apron on a 74 super

[Koji2528]

Hello, I am new to this forum and believe its one of the more enthusiastic groups on the net. My little brother just recently bought a 74 Super Beetle, its got a built engine, and aftermarket exhaust. But the exhaust is resting against the rear apron, right before the flange connects for the muffler. I have checked the tranny mounts, but they are all good. It's making the car a lot noisier than it should be, and I would like to remedy the issue asap. I've tried standing on it, lol but the stainless isn't even budging. I didn't want to try too hard, to avoid breaking the studs off into the heads. Here are some snap shots that I took:




Has anyone else had this problem before? I'm not sure of what brand the exhaust is, I would just really love to be able to fix it, instead of replacing the exhaust all together. Oh and yes, that is rust on the upper right hand corner, another problem I have to fix when I get to it lol.

[Kafer_Mike]

I don't think you are going to bend the collector. The only thing you can do is clearance the apron. I've seen guy cut and graft one of the pea-shooter cutouts in the center to clear the header...

[Koji2528]

Yeah, I might end up just cutting out a hole in the middle just like the ones on the sides, and perhaps later patch the other two with some sheetmetal~

[beetle1303]

common practice is to make a third cout out for the collector to clear the apron.
specially if ur running the engine in a different position (forward)

Chris