1993 245 - Weld vs clamp on exhaust pipes

[billofdurham]

Anything is possible if you take your time.

The drawbacks would be:
1. You would be lying under the car for some time cutting in a very restricted space.
2. The piece of pipe you plan on using would need to be at least 4" long to bridge the existing pipes to allow for the pipes fitting into each other. The pipe from the cat should fit inside the silencer. By cutting the cat pipe to lose the weld the intended joining pipe would need to be the same diameter as the cat pipe to fit into the silencer but, at that diameter, it wouldn't fit over or into the cat pipe.
3. If you look at a new exhaust pipe section that is meant to fit over another pipe you will see that two slots are cut into the end. These allow the pipe to tighten as the clamp is tightened. Without the slots the pipe won't seal.

The solutions are:
1. Get the car as high as possible and use axle stands to support the weight, not a jack. Never work under a car supported only by a jack. If you have an angle grinder, or can hire one, using a cutting disc would considerably reduce the time spent under the car.
2. You are going to have to source a piece of pipe from either an exhaust shop or a workshop that fits exhausts.
(a) You could ask them to make up a bridging pipe that would fit over the end of the cat pipe (1/8" larger diameter than the end of the cat pipe so it fits over) and inside the silencer (1/8" smaller diameter than the stub pipe on the silencer so it fits inside).
(b) You could ask them to use the same diameter pipe and weld it onto the end of the cat pipe. A weld there is acceptable as you would never need to split the pipes at that point.
3. If you go with option (a) you would need to cut slots in the end that fits over the cat pipe. If you go with option (b) you can ignore drawback 3 but the pipe could be reduced to 3.5" in length.

I have done this on one of my cars long ago but it is difficult to explain on paper so if you have any questions, ask.

Bill.