The 1st problem I encountered when I fired up the FA-180 was that the 90 degree exhaust adapter would allow the exhaust muffler to move outboard. No mater how many times I adjusted it & tightened down the jam nut it would still move outboard. The puzzling thing is, the rotation was clockwise so the adapter was actually screwing itself tighter! This was a very bad omen as it was obvious that the aluminum was stretching & would soon fail.

This ended up being a blessing in disguise.

I modified a stock Saito exhaust pipe, increasing the bend to about 80 degrees. I cut 2 notches with a hacksaw 3/4 of the way through, bent the pipe to close the gaps & widened the notches/bent the pipe again until I got the angle I needed. Some acetylene welding & grinding gave me a finished product. The stock exhaust pipe on top, the modified on the bottom.



The resulting angle was an improvement over that of the adapter set-up allowing easier access to the ignition module hatch screws.





The picture makes it look like the muffler is against the firewall, but there's about 1/4" of clearance.