> except that it won't fit with brand new vw backets and hold-down
> straps. period. the heat shield prevents the left/driver side bracket
> from even beginning to fit. to fit the dansk muffler into the space
> available, the left/driver side bracket has to be left off. the
> muffler may be stock somewhere else, where only one bracket is used to
> hold up the muffler. but on my 87 camper and my 88 bus, it simply will
> NOT fit with the two brackets that came standard on those buses and
> that are pictured on the parts microfiche.

I have one on my '89 Westy, complete with heat shield AND both factory
muffler straps installed just like the original. Since there were no
muffler/mount differences between the '86-91 model years, I'm not sure why
you had difficulty on an '87/88.  However, I have had a couple of people who
started to install the muffler backwards and found that the muffler straps
did not clear the heat shield. I told them to flip the muffler around and,
sure enough, it fit. The muffler looks almost symmetrical end-to-end, but it
is not. The only other possibility I can think of is that the factory turned
out some mufflers with incorrectly placed heat shields, although I am not
aware of this having happened.  In such a case, I'd imagine you could simply
cut away a part of the heat shield with tin snips and end up no worse off
than with a stock muffler (which lacked the shield anyway).  But you really
shouldn't have to, since by design the gaps in the heat shield do allow for
the use of the stock straps.

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  http://www.busdepot.com
  (215) 234-VWVW