Date:         Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:22:32 -0400
Reply-To:     Allan Streib <streib@CS.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Allan Streib <streib@CS.INDIANA.EDU>
Subject:      Re: exhaust part number/info needed
In-Reply-To:  <71d9cdf90804210840o54908752q592d3d94afa30138@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

When I got my '91 GL, the brackets were totally missing and the muffler
was supported on the tailpipe side by a rubber donut attached to a
hanger that someone had tack-welded to the body.  This of course is
WRONG on the vanagon the exhaust should be rigidly mounted with respect
to the engine; the setup I had cause the exhaust to flex whenever the
engine moved in its mounts.

I priced some brackets and, after studying diagrams in the Bentley
manual, decided to try fabricating my own out of some steel mending
plate.  My welding skills are definitely in the "amateur" class but I
was able to make it work -- and turned out to be necessary as I seem
have some kind of non-stock exhaust as well and the slots in the muffler
heat shielding where the straps would normally go did not line up with
the mounting bracket positions.  Considering the time I spent and the
cost of materials, I did not save any money making them myself but the
stock brackets would not have worked for me anyway.

Once I got everything to fit I used big hose clamps, as others have
suggested, to actually hang the muffler on my homemade brackets.

Allan


 "Jake de Villiers" <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM> said:
> Van-Cafe has the straps in their catalogue as
> http://volkscafe.com/vanagon_parts.jsp?pa=p&p=546063738
>
> You might ask them if they have a used mount they'd sell you - they have
> other used parts on the website.
>
> On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 6:05 AM, craig cowan <phishman068@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Mine came to me with a big hoseclamp on there, i've never had the
> > opportunity to use "the strap". The problem is though, there is soo little
> > material left on my "retainer" that the hose clamp is quite literally,
> > going
> > to come through at any time. These things REALLY rust.
> > I see Frank Condelli has them listed on his website.....but no price.
> > Stainless Steel anyone? There's a market for it........
> >
> > -Craig
> > '85Gl
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 9:02 AM, Mike Collum <collum@verizon.net> wrote:
> >
> > > craig cowan wrote:
> > >
> > > > Assuming your talking about the bracket that fits atop
> > > > the muffler, is attached to the three "support rods"
> > > >
> > >
> > > That is called a "Retainer" and its part # "Was" 025 251 519.  It's
> > listed
> > > as NLA (no longer available).
> > >
> > > As long as the part that bolts to the support rods is still there, you
> > can
> > > go to a hardware store and purchase a large stainless steel hose clamp,
> > like
> > > one for a dryer exhaust hose, and use that in place of the regular
> > strap.
> > >
> > > I did that, as a temporary measure, on my '84 7 passenger 5 years ago.
> > > It's still there and doing fine.
> > >
> > > Mike
> > >
> >
>
>