Exhaust Crack

[PaulW]

Started the car this evening and happened to have the door open and was looking down. As it started I noticed some dust kick up under the centre of the pipe right where the support bracket is attached. I stuck my hand under and could feel exhaust coming out right where the bracket is welded to the pipe. I will inspect it better tomorrow with a mirror and/or jack it up to get a better look.

I have heard that this does happen once in awhile but I have only had thecar on the road for 4 months and didn't expect it to occur already. Is there a fix for this or am I stuck buying new pipes?

[Bob Cowan]

Pretty common occurrence. You can weld a patch over it, no need to replace anything.

If you have 4x4 headers, you can eliminate the muffler hangers altogether. I got rid of mine a couple years ago.

[buildit]

Lots of folks (including me) only put one bolt in the sidepipe end of the hanger and don't tighten it all the way. Still supports, but let's it move and doesn't put any strain on the sidepipe. Of course, it's best to do this before it cracks! Good luck....should be repairable.

[PaulW]

Took some pictures tonight. 1 to 3 are the driver's side off the car and 4 and 5 are the passenger side from underneath.. I have sent the pictures to FFR following a conversation with them today. In the meantime I will find a welder that can do stainless.

[bucketlist]

thanks for the post, will check mine, i have hangers with rubber not solid, so its not so much stress,

[PaulW]

FFR comes through. I sent pictures on the 27th and got a response on the 28th to the effect that this should not have occured. Dan said new ones would be shipped and by 4pm that day I received the FedEx tracking notice. The pipes arrived today priority shipping pre-paid. Considering the costs to ship to Canada I am more than happy.

Thank you FFR. I continue to be one very satisfied customer.

I agree about the stress, my hangers have a full range of movement with the rubber hangers

[ram_g]

Buildit has it correct; in fact I think it is a design problem that FFR even supplies the pipes with two bolt holes. You only need one for "translational" support/restraint, which is what is needed to hold up the pipes. If you bolt through both holes, you are also providing "rotational" restraint, which is not only unnecessary but in this context is a bad thing because it leads to fatigue failure of that tab. I'm glad that FFR has made the OP whole but it would be better still if they issued an update to the design with only a single hole. In the meantime I really do urge all to only bolt the sidepipes through one hole of that tab.

[Fauxbra]

Thanks for the info, I just put my new side pipes on this week....I assume you put the single bolt on the TOP hole?

[MPTech]

Paulw, I wasn't aware that this was also a potential issue with the SS pipes.

Can I ask, what year / MK model? and are you running 4-into-4 headers or J-pips?


I ran my unfinished MK4 all summer (4k miles) without the supports (I have the 4-into-4 headers), but one of my winter projects was to install the hangers, but only run 1 bolt. Wondering if I should run the hangers at all. My side-pipes are the stock FFR, not the SS.

[CraigS]

I have 25000 miles and 7 years on my car w/o hangers. You can jack up the car by the end of the pipe. you can jump up and down (at 190 lbs) on the end of the pipe. It will be impossible to move it more than 1/4 inch. Trash the hangers if you have 4 into 4 headers.