torn exhaust

[78Suburban]

appearantly my exhaust manifold caught on something as I pulled the motor out. I was ready to lower my new motor in, and I noticed it was torn, at the base of the exhaust manifold. so I fought the exhaust manifold's studs and took it off. I guess I need to take the the other exhaust manifold off (the passenger side,uhh, looks like it'll be fussy to get off ), and then I need to take the whole exhaust off. I hope my rusty studs will seal back up properly. is there anytype of gasket that can be used between the stock exhuast manifolds and pipes?
AND Most importanly of all, does this lool like it can even be fixed??

thanks,
James

 

[trailblazr81]

Get some headers!!! Those look like the type that dont use gaskets. When you tighten em they just compress enough that no gasket is used. That ones toast. Unless you want to try n push it together n weld it. But if its rusty that wont happen.

 

[78Suburban]

. Unless you want to try n push it together n weld it. But if its rusty that wont happen.

I'm way to broke for headers, lol.. I was thinking of pushing it together and welding it. The inside is not all that rusty. The weld wouldn't need to be super strong, just good enough to hold the gasses in the exhaust system, and not in my cab . I hope its possible to weld that. I would like to hear from anyone who has welded old, junky exhaust pipes.

thanks,
James

 

[bigbadchev84]

wire wheel it until nice and shiny and weld at VERY low heat!!! id say go for it, you have nothing to lose

 

[erik59]

You should be able to get a set of headers from summit for about 90 bucks. That's were I got mine. There's not much material to weld with there, so I vote headers.

Erik

 

[pvfjr]

I vote for headers too. You can try and weld it if you want, but it's gonna be hard. That material will just blow out with any heat, and even if you get it to stick, it'll probably just fall apart later.

I know you're strapped for cash, and I understand, I've been there. I know it's hard to hear everyone tell you to go buy something, seems like it's easy for them to say, maybe they have money...

But if you have to get a new pipe made cause you can't get the old one fixed up, don't spend the money on a new pipe for your exhaust manifolds. That would be a good time to just go with cheap headers, cut down your exhaust pipe down low where the material is good, and clamp it back on. I picked up some cheap dynomax headers from summit a year ago, wish I would've done it a lot sooner. I think there's even some cheap headers you can get from autozone with a lifetime warranty. That leaves no more reasons to not get cheapies. Who cares if they rust out, the next set is free!

Anyway, if you really can't swing the cost of them, you might be stuck with a bad exhaust leak. It would suck a little, but not the end of the world.

 

[Tominator II]

Get a better end than that from another pipe and weld it on. The one in your picture could be welded with oxy/acetylene but would not be easy to do well. I tell you this as someone who has welded a lot of exhausts together out of used pipe. Headers can suck, cheap ones always tweak and loosen up and leak at the head and sometimes they make spark plug changes a lot harder than they should be.

 

[mudhog]

id say go to your local bone yard and cut one out of another vehicle and weld it into yours. should only cost like $10

 

[bigbadchev84]

you could go to a muffler shop and have them make you a new one like 6-8" long and flare the bottom to slip over you existing pipe and clamp or weld.......i doubbt it would be less than $20.00. Plus IMO headers suck monkey balls, unless you are running a mild-wild motor then manifolds are a lot less headache and you never have to change colloector gaskets every other month. I took the headers off my truck in favor of manifolds because of that reason and havent looked back, i didnt notice any power loss either. so i say go to the muffler shop, chances are your gonna put a bandaid on it if you get one from a junk yard. Good luck

 

[78Suburban]

you could go to a muffler shop and have them make you a new one like 6-8" long and flare the bottom to slip over you existing pipe and clamp or weld.......i doubbt it would be less than $20.00. Plus IMO headers suck monkey balls, unless you are running a mild-wild motor then manifolds are a lot less headache and you never have to change colloector gaskets every other month. I took the headers off my truck in favor of manifolds because of that reason and havent looked back, i didnt notice any power loss either. so i say go to the muffler shop, chances are your gonna put a bandaid on it if you get one from a junk yard. Good luck

this cost me 5 bucks for the muffler shop to make. And my girlfriend's dad was nice enough to do some gas shielded welding on it for me
James

 

[pvfjr]

Looks pretty nice. Good job getting it done on the cheap.