Has any one come up with a solution the the exhaust clearance with the TOM's middle brace? Ive tried moving the exhaust around and even bending the front bar a bit to gain some clearance. I don't know what the small expansion in the pipe is that is causing the clearance problem. Its not shown on the JDM layout pictures. I don't want to just cut this out an add in a piece of pipe without knowing what it is. Does the TOM's cat back fix this issue? I'm really ahppy with all the other braces, but I'm getting ready to take this one back off because of the noise David
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dpower @ Dec 24 2006, 07:22 PM) [snapback]366398[/snapback]</div> Check either here or priusonline. Someone --- and I can't remember who --- installed this piece and found out after the fact that it (I believe) only works with the Tom's cat-back exhaust pipe. As I recall, the pieces working against each other caused some pretty significant wear in only a few days operation...not to mention a lot of noise in the process!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dpower @ Dec 24 2006, 04:22 PM) [snapback]366398[/snapback]</div> Hey David, I have the same brace on my car. It took a little sweat but, i made it work. I hammered a dent into the cataletic (not sure if i spelled it correctly) converter and now there is enough clearence. All is fine, no rattles and no change in milage. Hope this helps
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Dec 27 2006, 05:09 PM) [snapback]367348[/snapback]</div> The Toms cat back won't fix this problem, it doesn't reach far enough up the exhaust pipe. I've had this in a couple of shops now. The US exhaust has a secondary cat that ends up right over the middle brace and bumps into or lays on it during some acceleration. I bent the front bar down a 1/4 inch or so by having 2 of my mechanics hang on it, of all things. The weld at the rear of the converter is just touching the rear brace so I'm going to try bending it down just a bit (same method, have a couple of guys hang from the middle and bounce around). Lowering the brace by making some new mounting bolts and adding a washer between the rail attachment will be the next thing to try. Unlike most Toms parts this one was not made to work with a US style prius. I did have a recommendation to just "flatten "the bottom of the converter with a hammer. I am hesitant to do this because the converter material is a cast ceramic and I don't want to end up with a pile of broken mush in my exhaust stream. David
