I need to replace the cat and muffler on my '87 Vanagon (2.1L). I've looked at the units. I have a generic cat welded to the muffler inlet pipe. The cat is connected to the flange of the original cat which was cut off. The muffler (Made in South Africa) is attached with 2 large clamps, one of which is attached to an exhaust pipe.
In replacing the cat with a correct one, there is no way I can retain my muffler since it no longer has a flange. I have a replacement cat (Borsal) and muffler (Dansk), the flange gaskets and a tailpipe mounting kit. I'm hoping to reuse my existing tail pipe. I don't have any new bolts and nuts as I don't know what I will need.

Am I right in thinking that if I release the 2 muffler clamps and detatch the cat at the 3-bolt flange, I should be able to slide the whole thing sideways and out the passenger side? I'd like to leave the large clamps in place as it would seem to be a big job to remove them completely.

David ('87 Wolfsburg)

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