Mending without hammers

"SaigaShooter - He's got an Impreza" (saigashooter) 10/11/2015 at 18:51 • Filed to: mended, ghettorepair, repair

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Some of you might remember the gaping hole I had in my exhaust, well the parts came in this week and a I was able to spend Saturday morning laying on the garage floor repairing the rotted section of pipe.

Here is what we started with:

I ordered a flared section of stainless steel pipe with the flange and hanger bracket welded on, a lap joint coupler and picked up some new stainless steel hardware.

First order of business was to remove the old flange. I gave the rusty bolts a half hearted effort with the spanners, but quickly decided “Screw this” and busted out the angle grinder. Seconds later the old flange and trashed hardware were removed. Man, that pipe was rotten.

I also sanded off the surface rust on the rest of the pipe and gave it a coat of 1200 paint. No I didn’t bother to mask the underside of the car. The car isn’t worth the effort anymore.

To cut the pipe I decided to rent a tail pipe cutter from AutoZone, $52.75 to rent, but as long as I don’t break it, I will get everything back.

The cutter worked really well, and was a much better choice than a swazall or trying to get a hacksaw under the car.

I removed just enough pipe so that the end of the existing pipe would fit on the shoulder of the tapered section of the replacement section. This took two attempts because apparently I am an idiot and made my first cut about 1 inch too long so the replacement pipe didn’t fit in the gap.

A nice clean cut indeed, far better than I would have managed with a sawzall or hacksaw.

I then slid the lap joint over the old pipe, slid the new section into place with the old pipe well inside the flared section. Installed my new gasket with some Ultra copper RTV. tightened up the flange bolts and installed the rubber hangers. Finally I slid the lap coupler into place and cranked the bolts down. Threw on another coat of paint and waited for everything to dry. Started it up this morning and it is much quieter.

I know it wasn’t the most difficult project, and probably not the right way to repair it (No cat on this car, really should have installed a cat and an O2 sensor) but I don’t suspect the rest of the car will be along much longer, and this was the least of it’s issues, but certainly the most obnoxious.

Maybe someday soon I can replace it with something newer, or it will just burn up on the side of the highway. I’d be pleased with either of those possibilities.

MM54 > SaigaShooter - He's got an Impreza 10/11/2015 at 19:06

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That pipe cutter is really neat, I’ll have to look in to that

LongbowMkII > SaigaShooter - He's got an Impreza 10/11/2015 at 19:06

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The rear muffler on the Murano fell off yesterday. I’ll likely just replace it with a section of pipe to the rear bumper.

Birddog > SaigaShooter - He's got an Impreza 10/11/2015 at 19:12

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You got one of those tools to work? Really?

Really, Seriously?

Respect!

I’ve owned 3 and wound up using the Sawzall every time.

SaigaShooter - He's got an Impreza > Birddog 10/12/2015 at 13:39

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I may have gotten luck, it was brand new when they pulled it off the rental shelf. I’ve heard these either work great or are as effective as using an extra soft toothbrush.