i only have just a little more clearance than that. What i did was take a metal bat, then i stuck it in a little way into the pipe and bounce it up and down a few times and it added more clearance. Havent
had any problems with it

 

It looks a little too close, I would suggest trying to keep at least 1/2 " all the way around so as not to run into problems. Try to bend the hanger rods a little to give you clearance. I believe up shoud do it.
Congrats on doing it yourself dude!

 

you are hard core my friend

 

To get mine to center the cut out, I took the muffler off a couple of times, took a short pipe and bent the hangers as needed. Took about thirty minutes to get it right. I've got a thumbs worth of clearance all the way around.

 

It looks too close. Here is a photo of mine, plenty of clearance.

[IMG]local://upfiles/32800/2353B31BB68848A1994BB8F8D0696ECB.jpg[/IMG]

 

heres what mine looks like.