Big package, small car

So I had bought a Supersprint muffler some two years ago, and waited for my stock muffler to take the piss. Finally after some 157k miles, it was rattling so bad I couldn't take it.

I proudly took my muffler to a muffler shop and found that it wouldn't fit.

I placed it in the classifieds over at MBWorld.

Within 24 hours I had secured a buyer and payment. Not bad? I sold a system that retails well over $1,200 for $425 plus shipping.

I had initially thought I didn't want to ship at all, but a good guy on the board quickly stepped up and we came to a price agreement.

The muffler started out looking like this:


I kind of like process oriented work. You can see a beginning, middle and end. Sometimes in working for yourself, you can't tell when you are at the beginning or end. Really sounds silly, but so true. You finish a marketing/sales drive, and soon began another, or you create a new product that you think is ready for market, and it is not. So, manual labor is a welcome respite for me.

I figured that protecting the stainless steel of the muffler was job one, and insuring a square fit to the box was job two.




I built up a squaring system using styrofoam boxes.




Doesn't look all that impressive, but I was able to have the muffler assume a square shape. And no matter the angle of a potential drop, the muffler would never hit the sensitive bits like the mounting flange or tips.

I pieced together the best aerospace grade cardboard boxes to make a long box, and started the insertion.


After filling the empty space with starch peanuts and old issues of the Wall Street Journal, I sealed the boxes with German Aviation tape, and sealed her up.


Now the issue was to deliver her to Fedex.


After seeing it like this I decided that any self respecting Fiat buddy would Bitch slap me for this act of treason, and I decided to go ahead and wait one more day for Fedex to come pick up the box. Sorry John. But she is on her way.