Exhausts fitted

So one of the jobs I have been most nervous about doing is cutting the holes in the body for the exhausts.. I had already gone through the process of fitting the exhaust brackets to the chassis and temporarily marrying up the exhausts to where I thought they should be (see one of my previous blogs for info). Now it was time to measure up and cut the holes in the body. I started with the drivers side and after measuring and marking up numerous times I finally felt happy to cut the hole! After cutting and a bit of fettling where necessary the exhaust slotted in to place. More or less a perfect fit and I am certainly super pleased with this, I just hope I get the other exhaust on as well as this one!

   

So I tackled the passenger side exhaust the following day and for some reason I found it so much more difficult. I must have measured twice as many times as the drivers side, and even when I started cutting I wasn't completely convinced that the hole would end up in the correct place! I decided to cut a smaller hole first and then open this out once I had measured up a further time. I am fairly happy with the results on this side too however I will need to take a little more off the bottom section to stop it rubbing on the exhaust, and also take the exhaust a few mm further away from the body at the far end.

Now both holes are cut I intend to take a little more off the top of the drivers side hole so both sides match up better, not that I think anyone will ever notice!

I am also fairly certain I don't want to use the escutcheons that I purchased. Instead I will look to round off each corner similar to the side vents just above, thus enlarging the holes a little more.