Ain't this some s@#&

[fionntan]

I was driving home today and heard a strange noise from under the car. I think "well I will check it out when I get home". Five minutes later the noise turns into a metal scraping concrete sound. So I pull over and look under the car to find that my exhaust has separated at the weld on the front side of the resonator.

I wonder if this will be covered under warranty? Open header FTL.

 

[reckedracing]

unfortunately its too common of an issue
are you running any flex in your exhaust? or the spring bolts?
i find broken welds alot when the exhaust doesn't have enough flex to account for the motor movement

 

[fionntan]

I am not sure how to run flex in the exhaust. I am using the oem spring bolts. They are pretty tight, but there is a little wiggle room.

 

[TurboMirage]

 

[fionntan]

I was just looking at something like that. I think I will have to get a new exhaust, because I am pretty sure the one I have now is no longer covered.

 

[reckedracing]

have that shit re-welded, any exhaust shop should be able to do it for you.
if you have the spring bolts it should allow some room for movement so as not to stress any points on the exhaust, prob just too hot of a weld burned through too much material

 

[E_SolSi]

 

[fionntan]

I just sent Apexi some pictures. They may replace it if they think it was a factory defect. I am over the warranty, but the guy said they take things on a case by case basis. If they will not replace it then I think I will just go and have a shop build a new cat to muffler section. The Apexi always fit slightly off so this may be a good time to get one that will fit properly.

 

[reckedracing]

its commonly referred to as a B pipe or mid pipe, just a heads up the next time you talk to them

 

[fionntan]

Thanks

 

[CAFROG]

By the looks of the weld....it seems like it never made it to the pipe that leaves the resonator. It loks like its only on the resonator and never made contact with the piping

 

[fionntan]

I think it does make contact...maybe not good contact. It looks like the pipe broke more than the weld. I have no welding experience so I may wrong.

 

[Briansol]

Those tapered joints that allow flex are a PITA all the time. My stove exhaust has the same style connector and it's such a pain in the ass to seat correctly. I can't imagie it's an easy thing to weld correctly, especially from the outside only.

 

[fionntan]

I am not going to repair the damaged exhaust. I have ben looking into the flex piping and I have a question. Where does it go? Does it replace the resonator, or is it just put somewhere inline?

Added a few more pics up top.

 

[Briansol]

usually it's right by the cat (basically right where the spring bolts are now)

 

[double0Si]

Yea I put em just ahead of (or in place of ) the cat.

 

[UNDR8D]

Just put in a small 3" long flex pipe like the one turbo posted. Re-weld and move on. That is a stress/fatigue fracture. That weld is fine but the metal next to ANY weld becomes brittle and will become the first point of failure.

 

[efhondakid]

^ What he said.

 

[fionntan]

Just put in a small 3" long flex pipe like the one turbo posted. Re-weld and move on. That is a stress/fatigue fracture. That weld is fine but the metal next to ANY weld becomes brittle and will become the first point of failure.

The break is less than two inches from the spot where the hangers are mounted. Some of the pipe would have to be cut off to make room for the flex pipe, which would mean the hangers would have to be moved back. I dont know if it would be a problem, but extra long hangers seems like a bad idea to me. What do you think?

I have had an issue with how this system fits since I put it on. Now that it is sitting on the floor of the garage I can see that it bows out slightly right after the resonator where the resonator and rear section connect. It seems like they did not bend the pipe enough. This is the area that taps against the car when I hit a bump or get high in the rpm's. The whole b pipe section sits too far over on the drivers side (less than an inch from the exhaust groove). I dont know if the system is defective or if that is how they all fit, but I dont like it. If they give me a new one I will take that. Otherwise I will just get a new b pipe made that fits better and be done with it. I am not going fix the break because it would still fit poorly and I would still dislike it.

 

[UNDR8D]

I could have it done in under 30 minutes at work but you live in Georgia...take it to a decent custom exhaust shop and they'll take care of it for you in < 1 hour