Exhaust gaskets

I'm experiencing some problems in my car with the exhaust clamps/gaskets that connect the heater boxes to the exhaust system. My car has the VW Mexico/EMPI header with larger dual pipes that loosely resembles an original 356 exhaust. It worked fine for the better part of the year that I've had the car but I always noticed a small leakage at the connection to the left heater box (that heater box had soot coming back from the exhaust system). Last week it started leaking pretty bad so that the car sounded like it was on its last legs. I went to a local VW auto parts store and bought two replacement clamps which I installed last weekend. They worked fine until a couple of days ago when I did some freeway driving. When I started the car today, same sh**tty sound....and sure enough, looked under the car, left heater box sooty again so I know the leakage is still there. Any tried and true ways to stop this from happening? Should I just tighten the clamps to the max?....

Ricardo,

This is a common problem that has bothered VW owners for 30 years. Many have gone to a bolted/flange set-up, requires cutting and welding the muffler and heater box, best done off of the car, but should resolve the old VW exhaust donut problem?

You probably can buy something all set-up to do this on a regular Bug, but no exhaust is all that regular on these cars that I'm aware of.

At least I hope it works since that was one of the mods just finished on my winter re-build!

Boston Bob

Ricardo.

First off, make sure that you're getting the quality mesh type exhaust donuts. Then grab a drill, a bit, and some stainless pop-rivets.

Put the new donuts in place first, then have a couple of buddies push hard against the header so as to drive it as far onto the heater tube as possible. Drill the hole where it goes through both header and heater box tube, put in the stainless rivet, push the donut into the header flange, install the clamps and tighten REALLY good.

Then do the same on the other side.

Re-tighten the clamps in a doy or so.

This is the best way that I've found to hold everything together.

Luck,

TC

Thanks for your ideas guys...do you think I can re-use the ones I have even though they're all sooty or have they been burned out?

Ya sure! Do it . . . I encourage all my buddies to use stuff that's "all sooty . . . and . . . burned out" whenever they repair their $20,000 toys.

Seriously, the sootier and more burned out, the better . . .

OK TC...I banged out the header with a rubber mallet; pushed it all the way in and while holding it there tightened the hell out of the clamps holding the donuts. I plan to drive the car tomorrow to a place about 25 miles from here and back mostly through freeways. I'm crossing my fingers and hope it doesn't get loose. We'll see what happens...

Hi guys; it worked......

Son-of-a-gun!!!

TC's idea worked!

OK, got a "Newport Storm" waiting for you at Carlisle.

You staying with the "Speedstah Guys" or the Limey's??

gn

TC's coming to Carlisle?

Yeah, he's going to secretly infiltrate our ranks whilst posing as one of the Triumph TR-8 guys.

I've met him, so I'll expose him when he get's close and we can all give him a hard time about taking pictures of our cars, as the PCA crowd in Bosstown do to him at PorscheFest!! Maybe I can find a recent picture of him on-line so we'll all know who/what to look for!!

gn

Hey TC, tell the other Triumph owners about the Friday morning cruise. The Museum is worth the trip and we're looking to increase the number of people taking advantage of the special opening. Info is posted in the Events section.

Found a muffler repair compound/sealant that I used around the donuts (main problem seems to be leakage around them and the heat exchanger tubes). Will try it for a while and will report back. I got it at Western Auto/Advance Auto Parts (Advance bought out all Western Auto stores here but they kept their name) and it was cheap ($1.99) for a toothpaste sized tube.

Ricardo,

You shouldn't be having this cronic problem with your exhaust. It's a simple system. The exhaust pipe exiting from the heater box slides into the open/flanged end of the extractor and is held in place with an exhaust donut and a clamp that goes over the flange and crushes the donut against the outlet tube.

If you're having any problem at all either the exhaust pipe from the heater box is too short and isn't going deep enough into the extractor to allow sufficient clamping force, the clamp is a crappy aftermarket one and not tightened enough, possibly even bottoming out on the edges and not even reaching the pipe, or the extractor wasn't made correctly and is tweaked in a way that doesn't allow the heater pipe to fully enter the flanged tube.

Forget the goop, fix it right . . . there's NOTHING TO these systems, really, they are almost too simple/restrictive. That's why they respond so well to the little tweaks here and there. If you don't take correct care if it, you might run into trouble with exhaust fumes in the "cabin" later on.

Luck !

TC

Well, TC; this time I bought the German clamps as opposed to the Brazilian. Believe it or not, the Brazilian donuts look suspiciously made out of asbestos (!) while the German ones look like fine compressed metal wire. They even fit better over the heat exchangers. Gene Berg has a pointer for installing the donuts; if they seem too large for the heat exchanger, cut them with a hacksaw and use some RTV sealant too. I was feeling uneasy about using RTV sealant on the exhaust (might be too hot) so I found that Victor brand (from Des Plaines, Ill.) muffler mender/sealant. We'll see how it works since I haven't used the car yet.

Update; as of yet the Victor muffler mender has worked fine on the donuts. No more exhaust leaks; it's inexpensive too; look for it in your local auto parts store. I bought it at Western Auto/Advance Auto Parts (they're merged here).