In a message dated 20/07/2008 2:20:53 P.M. Central Standard Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:

Hi  volks,

OK, yesterday AM I spent some quality time under my 1.9-powered  '87
wolfsburg, trying to see how to make the back end a bit  quieter.

Problem #1. The entire exhaust is all welds, from front to  back.
problem #2. The muffler and cat both have leaks from the top, where  my
welder can't reach to patch them.
Problem #3. The system has no  hangers installed, it's all hanging from
the engine, except for one  rubber-grommeted hanger off the tip of the
muffler.

So the first  thing I tried was to install a 2.1 exhaust hanger I bought
at BusFusion.  Unfortunately, I can't fit it between the engine hanger
and the 3-4  crosspipe. So I cut off the bottom section with my  trusty
angle-grinder.  Now all I need are some hardened 6" long M10  bolts and I
an install the bracket. Unfortunately brafasco isn't open on  weekends,
so that mod will have to wait.

The next thing I did was to  remove the muffler, which was held on with a
U-clamp. And as it turned out,  the muffler was about 1/8" bigger than
the pipe it was attached too, and  the U-clamp was used to make up the
difference. In the process the clamp  mangled the input flange pretty
bad, and it eventually started leaking.  Luckily, I have a spare "cherry
Bomb" muffler. Unluckily, it has the same  size input pipe as the one I
just took off. Luckily, my brother has a pipe  flanging tool I can
borrow. So I borrow the tool and flange the pipe out a  bit and the
muffler now fits snugly enough. In the process of expanding the  pipe I
had a little problem with the flanging tool and subsequently  discovered
that the catalytic converter is completely hollow, though it  still has
the O2 sensor in it. Interesting. I supported the new muffler for  the
time being with a 2" bracket that I welded to the #2 cylinder  exhaust
header.

Unfortunately the vehicle is still pretty loud. The  worst of the sound
has now been determined to be coming from the #4 exhaust  gasket, or more
likely from the lack (or failure) thereof. Looking at the  heads it
appears that it's done up with bolts all round, which I will take  as a
good sign. I tightened the #4 bolts a bit and neither of them broke  on
me, but the exhaust noise is still there. I guess I will have to  pull
the whole works down and put new gaskets in, and in that case I  will
probably switch over to a rusty but complete 2.1 exhaust I picked  up
cheap at the busFusion swap meet. I'll have to have it sandblasted  and
POR'd before then... is there a POR for high-heat applications  anyone
here would recommend, or should I just put it up as-is? Ceramic  coating
is not in the budget right now, nor is a Stebro system, much as I'd  like
one. One stumbling block there is that the 2.1 system I have has  a
straight pipe fitted in place of the catalytic converter with no  place
to mount the O2 sensor. Perhaps I can swap over the pseudo-cat from  my
current system, but it has no flanges, so that's gonna be a bit of  a
hack. Sigh.

Also, over the past few months I have had a pretty  regular 18.3 MPG (US
Gallon) gas milage with mostly lightly loaded highway  driving at 65-70
MPG. I would have expected a bit better from a non-westy.  Are the
exhaust leaks or the lack of a catalytic converter are affecting  my
milage, or is this more likely a "state-of-tune" issue.

If you  volks have some advice to help ensure people see me coming before
they hear  me coming, it would be greatly appreciated.

Greg,  Greg, Greg, you know what I'm about to tell ya !  So don't know why
you  asked but here goes.  Pull that pitiful exhaust system off that 1.9 and
bring it to the scrap dealer, down Chris's way they are getting big bucks for
scrap metal - OH wait - there's no metal left in that system !!!!   When I saw
that abomination at EveryBus I told you it needed to go away  then.  So do it
NOW.  You got a few choices and I know your not having  big bucks to invest in
this so that leave THIS option........that used 2.1  system you bought at
BusFusion is OK.  Just put it on there complete with  using the 2.1 engine
support I sold you.  Do not sandblast, do not POR-15  (it won't last 10 minutes), do
not ceramic coat (might as well spend your money  on my Stainless Steel
stuff), just clean up all the flanges so they are flat and  smooth, same goes for
the head ports, install new gaskets using Loctite Ultra  Copper High Temp
Silison RTV sealant, use Stainless Steel bolts, flat and lock  washers. and bolt
that system into place and start saving your $$$$ for a nice,  never to replace
again Stainless Steel system, _Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust  Systems_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/exhaust.htm)  .

    NOW - ONE MORE TIME !!!!  The exhaust system  on any computer controlled
FI system engine MUST BE completely sealed, THAT  MEANS NO LEAKS !!!!!!
Otherwise your fuel mileage will suffer.   Install the new exhaust system, CAT if
it's good, punch it out if not good  inside but good outside, make sure you
have NO leaks, tune the engine, plugs,  Bosch W7DTC are the BEST, cap, rotor and
wires good, MAKE SURE THE CAP AND WIRE  BELONG TO ONE ANOTHER,  we've been
over this before, ask your dad, OXY  sensor working, throttle position switch
working, air filter clean, air intake  tube in side wall not crumpled all to
hell, compression good, no leaks, oil  20w50 filled to half way between the two
marks on the dipstick, two valve oil  filter, then the mileage should get up
around 20/gal.if your lucky and you keep  the rpm down below 4000 and road speed
around 100 km/hr.

    If you need anything I'm here all day today.

Cheers,

Frank  Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy & Lionel Trains (_Collection for sale_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) )
_Frank Condelli &  Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
- Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust  Systems_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/exhaust.htm)
_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm)  a VW Camper
camping event, Almonte, ON, June 12 ~ 15,  2008