Date:         Fri, 11 Aug 2000 13:58:27 PDT
Reply-To:     Gregg Howald <ghowald@hotmail.com>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Gregg Howald <ghowald@hotmail.com>
Subject:      Muffler Replaced
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Greetings!

Thanks to all who responded to my request a number of weeks ago about
replacement mufflers.  I replaced both my cat and muffler recently and would
like to share my experience with all of you who are in or will be in the
same boat.

I chose to replace my muffler with the BD $110 muffler strictly for
economics.  The folks at BD were great and shipped as promised on time.
After studying both the new parts and the rusty-in place muffler I began
what I thought to be a few hour operation.  Well, a few hours turned into 10
hours of fun and frustration.  The muffler and associated bolts were rusty
to very rusty and made for hellish removal of some of those (an angle
grinder would have come in handy).  Upon removal, I bolted up the cat to the
muffler and began to install the new muffler.  The installation went well
and the new muffler bolted right into place as promised.  The tinkering was
limited to rotating the muffler such that the cat aligned with the exhaust
pipe.  The unfortunate part of all this is that I had to break down and get
the straps as my old ones were rusty beyond re-use - stupidly expensive
leaving me feeling ripped off.

So, in the end, I could have had the Stainless Stebro muffler for about an
additional $50 and would recommend anyone who is in the process of re-doing
their muffler to look at your straps and brackets.  If you think you need to
replace those, go for the Stebro.  If your brackets and straps seem OK, the
Dansk would be an economical way to go.

The BD muffler sounds great, and there was a temporary smell of burning
paint for a few days, but since has dissipated.

Thanks again to those who offered their comments.

Gregg

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