muffler autopsy

[james accordino]

I did the same when I replaced the exhaust on my 85
5kt with an Ansa system.  The replacement was more
rusted in 2 yrs. than the original.  When the small
hole appeared in the middle bottom of my rear muffler
on the 200 I used some sheet stainless from a local
supplier($6.) and some 1200* silicone along with 6
stainless pop rivets to repair it.  It's been fine for
over a year, and I expect it will last at least 5 more
years.  All the rest of the metal in the entire system
is sound and unrusted.

Jim Accordino

--- Dave C <conner at cfm.ohio-state.edu> wrote:
> Dan,
> Maybe it would be worth considering a simple repair
> of the muffler on the
> car.  Copied below is a post I sent to the Q-list a
> couple of years ago
> (12/18/98 I think) ...describing my investigation of
> a similar small hole
> in the muffler.
> ----------------
> Dave C.
>
>
> I recently replaced the middle (front) muffler on my
> 87 5ks at 127k miles.
> It had a small hole and was noisy so I thought it
> was the thing to do.
> Part of my concern was that the insides might be
> disintegrating and causing
> problems.  In the name of science I decided to take
> a peek inside the old
> muffler to see what it is made of.  I opened it up
> with a cut-off wheel on
> an angle grinder.
>
> This muffler consists of a straight thru perforated
> pipe wrapped in steel
> wool 1 cm thick.  There are two cavities and one is
> stuffed with some kind
> of insulation which looked a little tired in spots.
> The other is empty
> except for the 1 cm thick steel wool on the pipe.
> There was no serious
> looking corrosion on the inside except for the hole
> which was at the lowest
> spot, where condensation would have collected.  It
> appears that I could
> have welded this crack and the muffler would have
> lasted another twelve
> years.  There is a layer of thin sheetmetal covering
> the outside of the
> muffler which was half rotted off, but I believe it
> only served a cosmetic
> purpose.  I could have torn it off entirely with no
> effect on the function.
>  The inner primary layer of metal is >much< thicker
> than the outer one.
>
> Overall I am very impressed with the quality of this
> muffler.  If I were
> doing it over I'd probably have welded the hole shut
> and got more
> additional years of service out of the old one than
> many of the new
> aftermarket products would provide.
>
> Dave C.
>
>
>
>
>
>


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send your FREE holiday greetings online!
http://greetings.yahoo.com