Broken exhaust

[ga.spyder]

I was tooling along yesterday and out of the blue it sounded like the hounds of hell were under the car.My exhaust pipe had broken where the 2 pipes become one ,under the pass. side firewall.This is the 2nd time this has happened,the first time 8 months ago ,I had it welded back together.It broke at the weld.I rigged them together w/ a couple pieces of steel flat strap and 2 rad. clamps to get home.Has anyone had this problem or know of a permanent fix?I noticed w/ my ''rig'' in place the slight up and down movement of my cat. has stopped.Would welding these straps in place work to stop this from happenig again.It is a really hard spot to weld back.I would love to replace the manifold w/ one of Marks systems,but that isnt in the cards(wallet) right now.
thanks for any advise,Craig

[pope]

I am assuming it is the second pipe that attaches to the header your talking about. At the Y portion of that pipe there is a hole off to one side. It is for a bracket that attaches to the under-side of the body and holds the pipe in place. Is that connected on your piece? If the weld broke, It means that the metal wasnot clean enough to weld and you did not get full penetration. A weld should never break.

I dont know if the pipe was supported at the bracket hole, but that would be my suggestion for supporting the pipe. Also, look over the rest of the exhaust and see if there are enough hangers to support the system, it sounds like you are getting flex in the exhaust and the Y point is the weak spot.

[ga.spyder]

Hey Pope ,the pipe that has broken is after the ' y ' where it becomes 1 pipe.The y bracket is supported by a flat bar that mounts back to the bellhousing(stock ).You are absolutely right about the flex in the system ,and the break being the weak point.I am thinking that I may have my welder go ahead and weld my jury rigged flatstock onto the top and bottom of the broken pipe.It really takes the flex out of the cat.I am going to have to go over the whole system as it was changed from the cat back by the p.o.He eliminated the center muffler,and the rear Ansa isnt installed right either.
thanks ,Craig

[pope]

Craig, are you saying that it broke somewhere in the middle of the round pipe after the Y, not at the square flange where the 4 bolts hook to the cat? My pipe is off the car at this time and I examined it and that pipe is thick (a little less than 1/8") at that point. I cant believe it could crack, so I am thinking that yours is rusted and thinner than normal? Why dont you ask around if someone has one.
If you fix it with the contraption that you have devised, just remember...I know its there...now everyone else knows its there. And every time we come and look at your car, that will be the first place I look and just shake my head! LOL. Just kiddin. What ever gets you back on the road, but that is a pretty car.

[ga.spyder]

Dont think I havent considered that people would look there if I brace the weld in that spot!That thick area is exactly where it broke.There is obvously way too much flex in the system.Today I added a clamp and also took off the cat springs and tightened them.This combined w/ my ugly rig has made it rock solid.I should have done this 6 months ago and I wouldnt have this issue now! There's no way I can see to make a sleeve or anything in that area.
Craig

[So Cal Mark]

I'd check the motor mounts too. If you have a broken one the engine will lift quite abit and flex the pipe

[ga.spyder]

Hey Mark ,the mounts seem fine .The whole exhaust system seems to have a lot of flex,but especially at the cat.Those springS seem to have stretched some,so the area getting the worst of it is where it broke.I really should have caught this before now,especially since it happened before! I assure you it will have zero flex when I get her back on the road this time.I drove it the other day and my daughter asked me what that funny noise was and I told her ''just a vibration from the exhaust pipe''.......DUH!
Craig

[So Cal Mark]

don't make it too solid, it needs some flexibility

[stefhahn]

I second what Mark says.

Actually I think you need a lot more flexibility in your exhaust system. If you fix/harden it it cannot react on the small movements of the car body or engine.

I never had the bracket between the downpipe and gearbox attached - and if you leave that one out, you allow the downpipe to move (which it does - around 3-8 mms at hard accel).
In addition I have a strange system of flex bolts between downpipe and cat (actually test pipe instead of cat) - the four bolts are about 4-5 inch long and have a spring, which allows small movement there, too. This was stock for 83 Spiders allowing flexibility as an upgrade from the experience made with the always-cracking pre-DS exhaust systems.
I can post a pic if you like.
In addition I cannot recommend to fix/replace the cat springs either, as the whole system from cat backwards needs to be attached rather flexible, otherwise resulting in cracks/breaks before or after the middle resonator pipes.

... I run this system for 17 years now and I never had cracks at all....

ciao,
Stefan

[ga.spyder]

Thanks Stephahn ,If you could post a picture it would be helpful.Not having another Spider to look at is at times a disadvantage to me.The p/o had changed the exhaust from the cat back ,so none of it is stock.There's also no exhaust shops around ,so I am pretty much on my own to get this fixed properly.That is the down side to living away from any cities.On the bright side ,if there are more than 2 cars at the 4- way stop(we have no traffic light),it is considered a ''Blairsville traffic jam''
Thanks again ,Craig

[ga.spyder]

I took the car to the local exhaust guru(works on John Deere and International Harvester) and put it on his lift.The pipe going into the muffler and the mount were broke,leaving muffler hanging by plumber strap!Anyway ,he welded muffler pipe ,mount and my broken pipe at the ' y ' all back together and the system seems right.He wanted the ungodly sum of $20 for all his effort.I gave him $30 ,and promised to buy 3 bushels of his corn this fall.Gotta love it.
Craig

[pjspider]

I have a 80 Spider that I've replaced the muffler from Vicks - Model: 27-8327, the first one broke after a couple months where the center pipe joins the muffler. Vick's replaced it and said the the pipe must be binding and that the muffler shop didn't know what they doing. I took my new muffler to a different shop did a little research (International auto) and they suggest adding additional support. They installed and welded additional support but this caused vibration around 2800 RPM's so I had it removed. Well I've just broken my second pipe same place, after 4 months maybe a couple hundred miles! Any suggestions?? I don't think Vick's will send another replacement for free