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Exhaust/ 87 caprice

i have a loud exhaust leak under the hood of my 87 caprice, it seems to be coming from where the header meets the exhaust pipe. there isn't any visible rotting or corrosion, however you can feel a small gap about a half centimeter wide where they should connect. is there any way i can patch this or quiet it down a bit without taking it to a muffler shop?? i dont have the money to sink into it right now and its so loud that eventually im gonna get pulled over beause of it. Any help greatly appreciated

Reply to
Amber
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I am guessing you have a blown gasket, a trip to a knowledgeable parts store should get you everything you need to repair same. I'm ASSuming that it uses two studs like most cars I'm familiar with; you may need new studs and nuts, in which case you may need a torch to remove the old studs.

Honestly, this is one of those jobs that you might want to run by a muffler shop and ask for a quote; it might not be that expensive to repair, and the frustration factor of DIY may make it worth it.

Good luck,

nate

Reply to
N8N

Might be better getting a quote from a reliable service shop as the muffler shops just like to cut everything off and install new...

Reply to
Woody

You have a lot of rust there, including the bolts themselves. You could probably move the pipes back and forth because of so much play. You can remove that play and quiet it down a lot by taking two large stainless steel screw type radiator clamps and drawing the pipes together in an "X" pattern over the edges of the flanges. Yes, I know new parts are better, but this does help and is cheap.

Reply to
Al Bundy

Sounds like the exhaust "donut" that rests between the manifold and the flange of the down pipe has ended its usefulness. This should be cheap to repair at any shop as long as you are SPECIFIC about what you want done, and nothing more.

Reply to
Eightupman

The key word here is COMPETENT muffler shop. To just replace the donut would require only a matter of a few minutes with the right equipment and expertise, so the labor shouldn't be much, plus the donut gasket hardly costs anything, so parts & labor shouldn be pretty reasonable. But if the guy is inexperienced, snaps the studs, etc...now it's just turned into a much bigger and more expensive job. Take it to the most experienced guy you can find and you should be able to have it quiet again for under $50.

Reply to
James Goforth

Agreed.

Reply to
Eightupman

On an 18 year old Chevy when those donuts are rusted the bolts are also rusted down to where they are narrowed like toothpicks and ready to break. Chances are that they will not be removable intact from the manifold. A shop will probably make an expensive job of it so get a firm estimate. There are some after market fixes for the broken studs, but independent shops are not going to use them in many cases.

Reply to
Al Bundy

I had some break off flush once. I drilled them out and used nuts and bolts to hole the exhaust together. Worked great.

Reply to
Eightupman

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