With my car on a lift for the first time, I naturally noticed a few things...

Are these anything to be immediately concerned about or just "when I get to it"?

hole in exhaust
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cracked almost all the way through
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That line you have circled in the 2nd picture is a seam where the heater "horn" bolts to the heat exchanger. One bolt on the bottom, one on the top. As for picture #1, the shock looks like junk. Oh, and there's a hole in the muffler. The Cap'n

"Carbon Monoxide..That ol' Detroit perfume". You'll go to sleep peacefully behind the wheel and won't feel a thing.




Ok, it ain't that bad but exhaust systems are designed to move exhaust gasses away from the cabin so the above doesn't happen. Leaks can get ya.

If ya gots a welder you can patch it so it lasts for another month of so...time for a set of Stainless Steel heat exchangers and a new muffler or Bursch.

and a set of quality shocks!

The rear shocks are KYBs. It'll be awhile before I can put Bils or Konis on.

I guess I'll just have to keep the top off for CO venting, as my 914 spending has been frozen by bosslady. Paypal donations accepted

I thought I saw somewhere that 1.7/1.8 SS heat exchangers were somewhat compatible with the 2.0?

not the muffler!! you will need one for 1.7/1.8 hes. disregard the pm with the wife rules in place.

k

Can I tape up the seam or something?

a muffler hanger too. the he to muffler gaskets are sized differently. mismatching the stuff is the wrong approach imho.

k

Maybe someone on here has a used a/m exhaust you can have. I got the worst head ache, nausea and burning lungs from a simular situation.

When I gave up and paid someone to replace my rear brake lines, he removed the piece pictured below and didn't reinstall it cuz "I didn't need it anyway"... What is it?
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So I have 3 options at this point:

1. Leave it as is until I get around to it sometime, and save some money.
2. Spend $150-200 and get a used driver side stock H/E and a used Bursch
3. Spend $450 and get used SSI 2.0 H/E's and a used Bursch

I've read nearly every thread and it seems that SSI/Bursch setup is a good value solution, but I hope it's not too loud.

My wife is open to the expenditure IFF this is something I really should take care of sooner rather than later.

Is this something that's ok to live with for now in terms of safety, reliability, roadworthiness, and save the $ and wife's goodwill until the next involuntary jackstand session? Once again, please advise

The pic is of a heat flappers which controls the heat either going into the cabin or being dumped to the outside air.

I would seriously look into good SS heat exchangers and a Bursch. They aren't too loud or for quiet you can get a Dansk banana muffler.

So I guess need more pipes/plumbing than just the H/E's and muffler. Flapper boxes, some gaskets, what else?

#3. The 2.0 SSIs are a good upgrade. Get an engman 2.0 muffler hanger. A used Bursch is always good too. If the muffler part explodes on them (as they so commonly do) you can switch to a glasspack for fun, or replace with another shoddy muffler. I'll be going to straight pipe...

I am in a similar situation = leaky HEs and cabin fumes. I have solved this probelm by removing BOTH of the pieces like you showed with the heater flaps extending into the cabin. This entry point for the heater air is how the majority of fumes get in the cabin. HEs without a good seal (read most 30 yr old steel pipes) will leak exhaust into the "isoalted" hot air tubes which head through the flapper valves and into the cabin. I plugged them both. No heat, but also less CO.

Okay, wait a sec. Those flappers allow air that is bled into the HE's (head exchangers) to exit i.e. there's always a flow of air through the HE's. This helps keep that part of the system from getting too hot. Air-cooled VW's use the exact same system.

When you 'turn on' the heater, air is sucked from the engine bay then pushed through the HE's. You cannot get CO or CO2 or NO or other engine exhaust into the HE's unless it's from the car in front of you. If the HE's are like mine and not fully sealed to the exhaust pipes then you'll simply lose air flow out these leaks and receive less air into the cabin since the HE's will be PRESSURIZED with the air coming from the engine bay Any smells you're getting would be coming from stuff burning off within the engine bay. Again, if your HE's are like mine and you have oil leaking from your engine then you can get oil inside your HE's and this will cause a bad smell (as my g/f told me once, "You smell like car."). Also, oil leaking on the exhaust and HE's will burn off and cause smoke/fumes. If such fumes are generated at the front of the HE's, like the area where the lower engine tin ends, or oil leaks on the engine itself that are under the engine tin, then those fumes can get sucked in to a leaky HE where the air enters the HE from the fan housing. It doesn't take much at all to create a bad smell.

On replacing/re-installing those parts, YES, put them back in even if you don't use your HE's! And that's not only my opinion but that also of a certifed VW dealership mechanic of 25+ years (those years of air-cooled VW's, BTW). If you don't want to use your heater, fine, remove the flexible hose that connects to the firewall. Of course, if you run a header (no HE's) then this arguement is moot.

BTW, my engine and new tranny are no longer dripping oil so I now have a non-smelly -- but still leaky -- heater

If the exhaust pipe portion of the heat exchanger has rusted through you will get exhaust gases into the warm air flowing through the exterior portion of the heat exhangers. I think the exhaust gas pressure is greated r than the heater air pressure so an exhaust leak will enter the heat exchanger.

I agree that oil dripping onto the heat exchangers will add its own fragrence to the heater air supply. I've been aware of this in my clothes after a long drive with the heater on.

An obvious observation and correct. With such a situation I would imagine the HE's would be extremely loose and the whole system in dire need of replacement.

The muffler, other than that one hole, is solid otherwise.
The HE's aren't so good, and they are pretty loosely fitting at this point.

What can I use to plug/cover the flexible heat hose that won't burn or melt?

Maximise your budget and minimize your problem by installing a set of headers with no HEs; that is, if ya don't drive it it the winter.

Purify, minimize and enjoy; thats the Purist Minimalist approach!

I guess I will be looking at Brians cars for parts for you tomarrow

how about the flapper box that you took off?

why did you remove that in the first place?
Andy

The local VW mechanic removed the flapper box when replacing my rear brake lines. He said I didn't need it. I was hoping my trust in him would build.

It looked to me like part of pipe on it or to it was rusted through, but I will try to put it back on tomorrow.

Would these exhaust issues affect how the motor runs?

After taking a closer look, the flapper box is solid. Not pretty, but passed the screwdriver poking test and did my muffler apart from the hole and a very small part of the surrounding area.

The rusted through piece is the warm air elbow.

Since you have a spot in the muffler that has rusted through, it is probable that the internals of the muffler could be rusted too. If internal baffling breaks away and restricts flow, it could effect the running of an engine. Fully plugged flow, the engine will not start.