Generic Exhaust work?

[combhua]

1999 V70 spent most of its life up north and the exhaust parts are all rusted pretty bad. Recently something broke off and now it's deafeningly loud. I've been told by a few places now that I need the 'whole thing' replaced, but all three places are quoting me ~$1000-$1500 to do it. The cheapest place says the parts are about $700. Looking around at fcpgroton (for example), the parts only appear to come out to be about $400.

Someone advised that I try a shop that specializes in muffler work, which tell me they can do it for much less using 'generic' parts or cutting their own tubes, etc. Prices were in the $250-400 range.

I wonder if it is foolish of me to try one of these muffler specialist shops? How important is it to have the right muffler parts or can I trust a place like Midas to do the work for half the price?

Thanks in advance for your advice

[jimmy57]

You need to know if they said you need catalytic converter or just complete aft of of cat. con.
The made onsite pieces range greatly from mild steel rusts fast pipe poorly shaped and not suspended on hangers correctly and rumbles and vibrates to longlife rustfree steel made by a caring craftsman with expertise and fitted just like OEM.

[JRL]

I wonder if it is foolish of me to try one of these muffler specialist shops? How important is it to have the right muffler parts or can I trust a place like Midas to do the work for half the price?

Thanks in advance for your advice

Not at all. If the CAT/DP is OK you should be easily be able to find someone to make up the rest of the system for $400 or so.
Bear in mind that you probably will have a slightly louder system

[combhua]

Thanks for the insight everyone! I'll take it to a Midas shop and see what they can do for me.

[combhua]

The Midas shop put the car on a lift and showed me what's going on. Everything after the catalytic converter is rusted to hell. It looks like the rust caused things to snap right at the clamp (after the catalytic converter).

He quoted me almost $900 to replace everything That makes me very sad since the muffler itself only costs $250 from fcp:
http://www.fcpgroton.com/product-exec/p ... ory_id/130

It seems like I need a couple clamps and a tailpipe also and I should be all set. Is this something I can do myself?

- If the pipe on the catalytic converter side is showing rust, how simple is it to clean up and attach the new muffler assembly?
- Is it just the clamps that connect the assembly or do I need to do something special, like welding?

Thanks for your insight!

[precopster]

Exhaust work is not easy unless you have a good set of ramps, a flame device to heat joins, some leather gloves, a tube cutter or chain cutter and plenty of patience.

Get some more quotes or obtain/borrow/rent the above and order the muffler. Does the muffler include the tailpipe?

That's a very good price if it is everything back from the cat and you'll have the experience behind you.

[jimmy57]

Since you are replacing all that stuff the removal can be easy by sawing in one or two places with hacksaw(hard) or sawzall(easy) and not having to deal with torch and heat. Your joint at catalytic converter may have to be chiseled to knock it loose.
The tough part is when you have a joint where on pipe slips inside the other. The converter joint is a ball coupling if I remember and it should be OK. The converter pipe is stainless, a low exhaust grade, but still stainless steel.
The tip on the end will be needed. It is a slip joint fit and salvaging it for re-use may be impossible.
The one tough part may be getting the new pipe over the axle. You may have to have it off the ground at least the height of a good floor jack and loosen and remove the lower shock absorber connection so the axle drops a few more inches. The unit construction makes that part more of a chore.
The garage that does your other repairs might put that stuff on for you for a reasonable charge.

[combhua]

Did a bit of investigating and lots of picture taking. I think there's a good chance I can do it myself if I can answer three questions:

1) Does the muffler assembly come in one long piece that cannot be taken apart during install?
http://www.fcpgroton.com/product-exec/p ... ory_id/130

2) Can I install the new muffler assembly without doing anything to the axle? The exhaust line goes over the axle, but from the looks of things, I can wiggle it in. I hope to answer this in the next couple days by removing the already disconnected muffler assembly myself and seeing if it will come out without breaking anything. If it can come out, then a new one should be able to go in without touching the axle thingers.

3) What is the proper way to attach the new muffler assembly to the existing line from the catalytic converter? Is there torch work involved? Does it need to be air tight? I've done some very minor torch work with copper pipe for fixing some plumbing in the past with one of those temp torches you can get at home depot, though I'm not sure if that's even the right temperature - I would do some research to figure this out.

4) Are these the correct parts for everything needed from the catalytic converter back to the tailpipe?
As a reminder, I have a 1999 V70 non-turbo
Starting just after the catalytic converter:
- Volvo V70 Non Turbo Exhaust Clamp Kit 1998-2000 (Bosal) from FCPgroton
- Volvo V70 Non Turbo Muffler Assembly 1998-2000 (Bosal) from FCPgroton
- Volvo V70 Non Turbo Tailpipe Wagons Only 1998 - 1999 (Bosal)

For bonus points, I may replace the things that attach the exhaust to the rest of the car but I've only found the rubber hangers.
- 2x at the muffler; Volvo V70 Muffler Rubber Hanger 1998-2000 (OEM)
- 2x for the tailpipe; Volvo V70 Tail Pipe Hanger 1998-2000 (OEM)

(I'm not sure if I need something like this with a new exhaust assembly)
Volvo V70 Exhaust Hanger Repair Kit

[combhua]

Hmm. Browsing around at another site led me to find something called a 'resonator'. It seems like this mitigates additional noise. Is this something I can use on my non-turbo station wagon (I'm under the impression it's found generally on turbos). There are two reasons it sounds appealing

1) The resonator part detaches from the rest of the muffler assembly, surely making installation easier.
2) My #1 priority is reduction of noise and vibration as my wife has terrible spinal cord issues that make her sensitive to vibrations.

Here are the illustrations that piqued my curiosity:
http://www.myvolvopartsonline.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=getJointLocator&siteid=215507&chapter=&Sectionids=7,2489&groupid=2490&subgroupid=3563&componentid=15448&make=36&model=V70&year=1999&graphicID=9711200&callout=7&catalogid=2&displayCatalogid=0


www.myvolvopartsonline.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=getJointLocator&siteid=215507&chapter=&Sectionids=7,2489&groupid=2490&subgroupid=13207&componentid=0&make=36&model=V70&year=1999&graphicID=9711205&callout=6&catalogid=2&displayCatalogid=0

[combhua]

Turns out the one with the resonator wasn't available so I went with the original assembly. To fit it over the axle, I had to make a cut after the muffler and reconnect it.

I'm going to double post another bit of info in case someone else finds this later and wondered how this amateur wound up.

I had a bit of an issue with a rusted clamp, so I asked a local muffler shop to cut it for me. They were very kind and did it for free. Here's the thread about dealing with that and reconnecting it. https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =9&t=36128

Autozone and Oreilly had lots of options to finish up the job.

* Connectors: These were short lengths of pipe that were usually the same size all the way through. I chose a connector that fit *inside* two pipes. There was some exhaust cement stuff I used to keep the pieces in place (they fit pretty snug already) and then some exhaust tape to wrap up the final joint and keep everything sealed.
* Adapter: There was also another way to fit two same-sized pipes together using an adapter. This was also a short length of pipe with one end flared to fit around the outside of the source pipe and the smaller end meant to fit inside the destination pipe.

There were two big challenges to doing this sort of work.

Fit. Since it's metal, there's not much flexibility to things so using a connector or adapter that you wanted to overlap a bit was challenging in some places. If I left too much length, there was no way for me to position things to get it onto the source piece.
Measuring pipe diameters - There are two diameters you need to be aware of at each pipe; four+ at each connection. Each pipe has an inside and outside diameter. When connecting two pipes, you have 4 diameters to be aware of. If using clamps, you'll find manufacturers for clamps measure differently. A 2" clamp from one company may actually be a 1 7/8" clamp from another. Then you have to consider the connector or adapter itself. If the connector/adapter needs to go around the outside of the pipe, you need to ensure the inside diameter of the connector matches the outside diameter of the pipe it's going around.

Hopefully that saves you a few trips to the store