Exhaust Repairs

Posted by matt

September 2008

My exhaust was blowing at the back of the centre section, just before the flange to the rear silencer. In taking it off, the flange separated completely. As the pictures show, it was well rusted, despite the front part of the centre section being in fairly decent shape. 
 
 
So, not wanting to buy a new centre section, I scrounged a suitable piece of tube and a doughnut gasket from the helpful guys at ETB in Evesham. I made a jig out of scrap wood to align the flange and pipe, then cut off the rotten part and tidied up the flange. Since the new pipe was a larger diameter (to fit over the existing pipe). I also rounded the flange edge to avoid a sharp step reduction in diameter.
 
The final picture above shows what the shiny new section looked like when welded in place. Now fast forward two years...
 

September 2010

(1)
 
(2)
 
  (3)
  (4)
 
The part that looked a bit rusty in 2008 had gone into holes a couple of months ago. I had bodged it with an exhaust bandage. At the time, I needed the car for work and didn't have enough time to take the exhaust off. However, the bandage was now blowing through and more holes appearing. The MOT test was due in December.
 
This time the bendy section would need replacing. I had a couple of pieces of scrap pipe which I'd picked up previously, but they were not enough on their own. In Evesham, we managed to pick up what looked like a complete centre section, except for one flange which had rusted off. I don't know what car it was off, but it had some really handy bends and was exactly the same diameter as my existing centre pipe! In picture 2, the ends of the pipe are clamped relative to each other, and the replacement sections are being prepared.  In picture 3, the new sections are welded in - a mix of butt joints and overlaps. This should have been the end of the job, but when I tried to refit it, it fouled with the chassis. All the bends needed shifting a couple of inches to the front of the car to make it sit nicely in the channel. Picture 4 shows this modification.
 
 
Finally refitted in the picture above and job finished. I'll be happy if I get another couple of years from this repair.
 
So why am I messing about with scrap exhausts when I could have just bought a new centre section?  Several reasons as it happens...
 
First, I'm trying to avoid putting any more money into OE replacement mild steel exhausts, and have been planning to fabricate a stainless system when I have the time. So this exercise made good practise for the welding that will be required. Secondly, you may notice in the pictures, that I left the catalytic converter attached to the centre section. That is because the nuts are seriously rusted on. To fit a new centre section it would have to be separated, and in doing that, I think there is a good chance I would end up needing a new cat.
 
Thanks to:
 
  • ETB in Evesham, for being so helpful back in 2008.
  • HiQ in Evesham, for the scrap centre section.
  • Emiko, for coming round on Saturday morning and helping.
  • My Dad, for picking up parts, etc. 
Tags:

Reply to comment | www.mattday.net

A family member linked me to this site. Thnx for the details.