On 23 Aug 2001 at 7:35, Karl Wolz wrote:

> Replacing the front (driver's end) pipe is actually a piece of cake, and has
> no bearing on the difficulty of replacing the rear pipe.  I've always only
> replaced the broken pipe and have seen no evidence that "if one pipe goes,
> others will soon follow".
>
> My vote: save your money and just have the one done.  Odds are that before
> the next pipe goes, you'll have to pull a head or something anyway.
>

This has been my experience also, more or less. My entire exhaust
was replaced by PO in 1991 along with new engine/trans. 8 years and
200k km later, the first sign of trouble was the J-pipe into the cat broke
at the collector end. I took the pipe off and had a new end section with
flange welded at Midas, then re-installed myself. A few weeks ago, the
other end of this same pipe went, but Midas told me it was too difficult
to weld due to the extreme bend in the "J". I bought a new pipe for
$100 from a FLAPS, German made.

Although the rest of the exhaust is looking *very* rusty, I can't say it
looks much worse than it did 5 years ago. I would far rather replace or
weld one pipe every few years than do the whole shot at once. But then
I am also planning to do a TD engine conversion someday, so I will do
anything to avoid buying pipes that I can't reuse with the new engine...

ps: One thing that may have helped prolong the life of my pipes: When
I got the van 5 years ago, I wirebrushed all the pipes and coated them
with "Rust-Mort", a phosporic acid solution, in the hopes it would slow
down the rust somewhat. It probably should be redone every few years,
but it did seem to help at least for the first year or two, when the black
coating was still evident.

========================
Shawn Wright
Computer Systems Manager
Shawnigan Lake School
http://www.sls.bc.ca
swright@sls.bc.ca