The crossover pipe from cylinder 1 to 3 has developed a crack right where it is supported by the flat metal plate that bolts onto the front part of the engine by the transmission, Those pipes are original (91 GL with 188 k) and my wife and I really are not sure how much longer we are going to keep the van, so although I am going to fix the leak I decided to go the inexpensive route and bought the S & S headers from Ken at Vanagain. I have been researching some muffler options while I wait for the headers to arrive from Arizona. I can get a Dynomax 6 inch round, 19 inch long muffler for $45. It has a 2 inch pipe that will mate with the 2 inch pipe from the Cat, which I am going to have to replace as well since the flanges there are pretty well rusted away, The parts guy at the FLAPS that has the Dynomax muffler suggested cutting the triangular, 3 holed flange off of the new Cat and welding the 2 inch pipe from the Cat to the 2 inch pipe from the new muffler. he seemed to think that this would be a better solution than trying to find and weld a 3 holed flange to the new muffler. Any disadvantages to his suggested route of welding the Cat to the muffler, other than the obvious future disassembly problems? Also is he right about the difficulty of finding a 3 holed flange that will fit and getting it welded on correctly? I know the majority of you out there recommend and have gone with the OEM setup of exhaust pipes and stock muffler or the Stebro setup (been to the archives and drunk from that goblet of knowledge), but I made the decision to attempt this repair with the S&S headers, and read some pretty negative reviews of the S&S muffler, so here I am searching for alternatives. Advice is appreciated. Dan Erlandson |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.