Hi All -

So now that I've had a few adventures in the van, I created my first
misadventure this weekend, and am looking for a bit of advice.

I recently replaced the collector pipe on my van, but when I put the
cat/muffler/tail back on, I made the dreadful mistake of pointing the tail
right at the bumper plastic.  Needless to say I discovered this when I
pulled over and smelled burning plastic after the exhaust had pretty much
burned a hole right through.  I'm kicking myself, but no biggie - will only
cost 10$ to replace, and could be much worse.....

.....however - when I go to fix it yesterday, I notice that the heat shield
(I'm assuming that's what it is) on the catalytic converter has disconnected
on one side of the cat and is flapping around and making tons of noise.   It
looks like the two welds broke.  It looks like I could either weld this back
on or strap it down with pipe tape.   I was tempted to originally just use
duct tape, but I thought I should hold off on that one and do it right....

I have two questions:

1 - Is it worth welding, and if so, how do I weld it without hurting the
cat?  I've never welded before, but the van has been a learning process so
far, so why stop now.....

2 - Will pipe tape work (the metal strips with holes in them every inch or
so) or will this just hurt things more?

Thanks all.

-eric

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'85 Vanagon GL Westfalia Camper (Moby)
San Francisco, CA