[ZFreakMX6]

Well, $85.92 with tax, 2 gaskets, and some RTV silicone sealant, my exhaust leak is fixed.... so I thought. I'm moving the intermetiate pipe around to take the old resonator assembly off, and I hear a crunching sound (as in the intermediate pipe is rusted on the inside of the piping and i just make it worse (see picts))...

Anyway, the "resonator" assembly was like $70 from O'reilleys and they had to order it obviously...

It's got a "heat jacket" instead of a "heat shield" so it said I didn't need to use the existing head shield. The new resonator is a lot smaller, and has an extra set of hangers....unless my car just didn't have the hanger braskets there (or taken off at one time). The old resonator as soon as I stood it upright, a bunch of crap came out of it (rust, etc)...

It looks as if someone had tried to "patch" it before with J.B. weld ot the like and it came off. It's like that on both sides of the resonator.

Now I'm off to order the $30 intermediate pipe!

I think it was bubbling up already, but I made it worse... it's on the other bend as well.

New installed resonator assembly...

That's where the larger of the leaks was coming from... My guess is that if it's not the original resonator, it's the second one... but with 193k miles, who knows...

It's nice to have a quiet car now... it still going to be quieter in a week or so when I get the other part fixed, but it's nice to not have my car "sound" like a POS running around now. Sounds normal.


I think it's a car thing when you fix one thing, something else had to be fixed too. You can't Just fix the one part.

 

[ZFreakMX6]

heh..... 30 views and not one response.

 

[1990/\/\x6]

haha well props for gettin her done...
theres a post

 

[mx6GT91]

What a difference in the look from the old one and new. Did it all line up perfect or did you have to adjust some stuff??

Does it sound a little louder but not as loud as before (if that made sense ) It kinda looks like an upgrade from the stock pipe

 

[ZFreakMX6]

it lined up great, it took me a total of 20 min off and on......


my car doesn't even know what rust is, so the bottom of it (see picts), is spotless... the nuts on the exhaust just came right off.. not snapped bolts, etc... made it VERY easy.... I used a jack to hold up the cat so it didn't hang down and mess up the flex-pipe (just in case)...

It is smaller, and I think it's the same loudness (very quiet), but I think since I knocked the intermediate pipe, it still sounds like I have a small leak, but it's a LOT quieter anyway.

I was thinking that myself... the only trouble I had was the gaskets that o-reilleys had didn't match up perfectly (the holes for the bolts to go through), so I filed them down a little and all is well.....

 

[magik8]

my car doesn't even know what rust is, so the bottom of it (see picts), is spotless... the nuts on the exhaust just came right off..

You texans are lucky...you should try working on some northern cars (me and my car are from Wisconsin)...it sometimes takes an hour or more just to loosen/drill out/torch off rusted bolts, especially on exhausts.

Also, the extra set of hangers on the new exhaust is typical. You may even have mounting points for those hangers; you just need to buy some insulating rubbers.

 

[Jon]

Yeah, the angle grinder is my hero...Washington and Oregon are always raining...at least we don't have to deal with bad snow though.

 

[ZFreakMX6]

I just moved here from Omaha, NE, so the feeling's mutual.

I remember drilling out the bolts for my cat on my old maxima when it was like 20 degrees out (in my garage, but still cold)....and it's a PITA.....

I like the whole 20 minutes thing... honestly, that's only the 2nd time something's gone that easy. The only other time was taking the original exhaust manifold nuts off my SR20DET in my 240sx... none snapped, all came off easy....

every other project exhaust related has ended in "snap (that's the sound a bolt makes)" or "damn" or.... "fill in the blank"


Thanks for the advice about the hangers.... for now, I just left them there.. they aren't hurting anything... if they start hitting the bottom of the car (which they shouldn't) then I'll grind em off.