Should I add a brace between the exhaust and the transmission?
 

If so, in front of or behind the flex piece? At the bellhousing or further back?

http://www.boost-instruments.com/mia...8t-exhaust.jpg

sure why not

if you want to rip a hole in your exhaust, go for it.

thats what im sayin

like this

http://www.flyinmiata.com/index.php?...umber=06-97575

In for your vibration mitigation.

I had one and it kersnapped. I think the flex pipe and the first hanger under the car is sufficient for supporting those parts- especially since you've got that beefy manifold.

I'll have to try and snag pictures of how the GTX braces its turbo/downpipe. There is a brace supporting the weight of the turbo against the block and also a brace supporting the downpipe to the block pre-cat. The area of the "strap" that goes around the pipe is wide so it covers more surface area and in 240something thousand miles it doesn't look like anything has broken. Also it has no factory flex pipe.

Edit: The manifold is broken, but that is a common GTX thing and i'm sure its from thermal expansion/contraction, not from movement or vibrations.

MSMs are braced in the same fashion with no flexpipe.

Brace on the turbine:

http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/q...icture3003.jpg

Brace on the downpipe:

http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/q...icture2999.jpg

I've made the hardware fail on my sister's MSM on the track in 3-laps. She was not happy.

Look at this crane:
http://the16v.com/plm01/roc/images/1....fullmotor.jpg
copy it.

What the hell is that on?

judging by the watermark on it... a lemans car of sorts

Ok, thanks for the pics. I'll do something similar to the MSM mount to the bellhousing flange. Rather than weld a tab to the pipe I think I'll fashion a clamp out of 2" x 1/8" bar stock if I can figure out how to roll it, or see what I can find in the auto parts store.

Well, here's what I whipped up from crap lying around the garage. We'll see if it holds up...

http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/...655-Medium.jpg

I guess that's the original exhaust bracket bolted to the bellhousing -- I found it in my bucket of miata parts. The bar is 1" x 1/4". The clamp is a POS exhaust union that didn't seal. It's thin gauge, so hopefully the downpipe wins if there's a conflict.