'96 Grand Am 2.4L/5Spd Highway Cruiser

[Smurf]

So I was on my way to work the other day, and I pull off the interstate, revved it up and let off the clutch. Suddenly, the car sounded like a built up 350ci... with a fart can exhaust



That's always fun. The front of the car is to the left with the cat, the rear and muffler is to the right. You guys think I could get by with cutting the pipes behind the flanges and sliding a "funnel pipe" over the cat side pipe, and inside the muffler side, and putting a lot of exhaust sealer on it? If it's an in-depth issue, I may need to farm the work out due to not having any tools here...

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Smurf

You guys think I could get by with cutting the pipes behind the flanges and sliding a "funnel pipe" over the cat side pipe, and inside the muffler side, and putting a lot of exhaust sealer on it? If it's an in-depth issue, I may need to farm the work out due to not having any tools here...

Why can't you just bolt the pieces back together with a new gasket between them? I'd try to repair it properly first before resorting to crackpot engineering that is likely to fail sometime down the road...

I'm very impressed to see an older "American" car get such good mileage.

...and thanks for the tip about the water pooling in your car. I'm selling the wife's '97 Grand Prix, and I have found a pool of water on the passenger side before and didn't know where it came from. It might also explain the electrical gremlins.

[Smurf]

The "cat side" doesn't have bolt holes, it now has half-circles. And the bolts on the muffler side are quite rusty. I'm afraid my knowledge of mechanics isn't as great as it should be.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Smurf

The "cat side" doesn't have bolt holes, it now has half-circles. And the bolts on the muffler side are quite rusty. I'm afraid my knowledge of mechanics isn't as great as it should be.

Half circles might provide enough area for a bolt and washer to grab and press onto the muffler side. I can't really see from the picture, but it's the route I would take first, before fabing a tube to connect between the pieces. If you get bolts through all of the half circles, it should still hold together.

If there is enough flange material on both the cat and muffler, you could even drill your own holes and put bolts through them.

[Smurf]

Front:

Rear:

[redpoint5]

Yikes! That is a lot of rust. You might try drilling new holes through both the cat and muffler flanges and bolt them together... I'd be tempted to remove both and straight pipe it considering how much rust is there. Of course, it wouldn't pass DEQ if it's mandatory where you live.

Your profile says you live in LA, but your pictures say otherwise.

[Smurf]

LaX, La Crosse WI. Salty roads

Got it fixed though, a couple of split flanges, a torch, and some of the old elbow grease. Still has a bit of a leak, so going to seal it up and should be good to go! Happy it is fixed though, got my toy back lol