Hi,

Working on my '86 vanagon, trying to decide if I can salvage any of my
exhaust system.  Both of the header pipes are broken.  But the system is not
leaking anywhere to the tailpipe side of the thing called the "collector."
(A cast iron thing that takes front and rear headers into one.)  It appears
that the "collector" attaches to a pipe called the "connector" which goes to
the cat.  It appears that the collector/connector joint is supposed to have
some sort of flex joint in there.  With 3 sort of spring loaded bolts.  (I'm
just going by the manual.)  Mine is just bolted together and also is
basically rusted into one solid unit at that joint.  So I am thinking that
if I don't fix the lack of flexing in that area, the new headers I buy will
just break because they will have too much stress on them.  Right?  Comments?

In other news, I am rather excited that I just brought home an '85 full
westy to transplant the camper stuff into the '86 weekender.  It also has
lots of other useful stuff like nice upholstery, good tires and wheel
covers, a working ignition lock, screens, tachometer dash, rear wiper, etc.
But, like the '86, the skylight is broken.  I found that a large size cat
litter pan fits perfectly over the hole to keep the rain out!

Edward