I bought one of the S&S units from Vanagain a year ago, the issues I
had were as follows:
- mechanically a pain to install, required a lot tricky adjustments to
get it to fit.
- have some extra gaskets in case you have some slighly larger spacing
between flanges.
- I just removed mine as I had the engine rebuilt, so to prevent it
rusting fast like mine did when I first installed it from the factory
I ground all the rust off, treated the metal, then primed, painted and
clear coated with vht high temp exhaust paint rated for 2,000 degrees.
Then baked it in the BBQ 3x at varying temps. Came out great. Nice
hard, chemical resistant surface. Took me 1 full day to paint. 5 days
to prep.
- per Ken at Vanagain he suggested using the exhaust goop when mating
the parts for the tightest fit.
- it's definately louder than stock but sounds beefier.
- the only physical defect issue I have had is with the exhaust
mounting bracket on the exhaust as it cracked off 2x and I had send
one unit back as the systems internal componenents were ratling. I got
a replacement unit and the mounting bolts that connect to the frame of
the van both sheered off from vibration.

Overall for an inexpensive exhaust its a good buy.

Regards,
Robert
NY
On May 8, 2009, at 11:15 AM, Jeff Lincoln wrote:

> OK, gang I've seen all the pros and cons from you all about the S & S
> systems - however I was able to aquire an entire used system
> (headers,, Cat,
> Muffler) in great shape at a great price (seller is doing a subie
> conversion
> so didm't need it). So my question is this (because I haven't been
> able to
> find the answer) - can I use the stock exhaust gaskets with the S &
> S stuff?
> Looks like the stock gaskets will work but I thought I'd hear it
> from the
> collective :)
>
> --
> Thanks,
>
> Jeff
> '90 Carat (Grover)
> '86 (We call this one Parts)
> '78 Bus (Melissa) Patty's Bus