Decided to change the rear box on my 1990 saab 900i (8v) myself - how hard
can it be... I thought.

Purchased a bosal rear exhaust section from german and swedish, I pointed
out the new unit had an oval silencer wheras the existing one is round but
was assured it was the correct part for my model and that different
manufacturers maybe produced different shapes.

After a lot of work finally got the old exhaust section off, low and behold
that was also Bosal, quick inspection showed the two to be very similar bar
the different shaped silencers.

The new section easily slid onto the center box and all looked fine - from
my position under the center box, that is until I got round to see where the
tail pipe was. Instead of somewhere in the region of the bumper cut out, the
tail pipe was sticking out the side of the bumper, I managed to get it on
the hanger by forcing it but it was still pushing against the edge of the
bumper to the side of the cut out, but worse still now the inverted 'v'
section of the exhaust that goes over the rear axle was touching the rear
suspension part and causing a rattle with the engine running.

As a temporary solution I have clamped the rear section on only just over
halfway along the sleeving (i.e. the exhaust is not pushed on as far as it
should go). Like this is it is away from the suspension and the tail pipe
when on the hanger is just touching the outer edge of the bumper cut out - I
then used a piece of wire to pull it over towards the cut out so it doesn't
melt the bumper.

So not an ideal solution and hopefully a temporary measure, any ideas what I
can do? Does it sound like the wrong part? Was thinking of maybe trying to
heat a section and bend slightly but dont want to risk damaging the weld to
the silencer.

Has anyone had any similar experience? Any help much appreciated.

Regards, Gwilym.