exhaust

My exhaust pipes seperated today. They aren't broken , but have come apart I checked the opposite side and it looks like the yslide into eachother and are sealed with a clamp. The problem is there is a three inch gap between the pipes. Like I said, they are not broken, just sepersted. I was thinking of getting a coupler from an auto parts store or even Home Depot and putting them together and then sealing with clamps. By the way the pipes are on the side of my car on the mufflers. I have an extracor off the exhaust manifolds which my mufflers are connected to. My mufflers are long and sit on the side of the car. Any advice is appreciated


Thanks,
Chris

I'm assuming it's a Beetle engine? If you're not set up to put one piece of pipe over both segments and tack or clamp them together, I'd say take the car to a muffler shop and ask them to do it. You'll be in and out before you know it, for probably less than fifty bucks.

You might be able to just unbolt the header and take it in -- as long as you measure how long the replacement piece needs to be first and provided it doesn't need to flex a lot to fit into the ends of the heads. If it does, maybe ask the shop to weld a flange on the replacement segment, making it two continuations of the same pipes with a planned separation point in the middle. (Kind of a joint in the middle of where your gap now sits.)

Plan C: Just go with the sleeve and clamp method so you can remove the header without having to break welds. Carbon should seal any tiny gaps pretty quickly and then you could take it to a pro at your leisure.

Hope all that makes sense.