mmmmdonuts Posted April 5, 2002 Posted April 5, 2002 My exhaust mounting (the bit at the back with the rubber shock absorber) has just fallen apart for the second time in a year. I think this is because the exhaust is too close to the body, so is putting a lot of sideways pressure on, and the rubber bit pulls away from the metal. This time the metal part snapped in half too. Last time it broke westfield repaired it, but it seems that they just replaced the rubber part, and didn't sort the exhaust out. Anyway, my question is - how would I go about getting my exhaust further away from the body. Is it just a matter of bending it slightly? Someone at my work said that I should just get someone to put a boot on the front end while I bent the back end out a bit. However we are a bunch of programmers, not mechanics, so i thought I'd better check here. Quote
Blatman Posted April 5, 2002 Posted April 5, 2002 Unless the exhaust is actually touching, or damaging the body of the car, I wouldn't say it was "too close". There should be enough free movement at the collector to allow a gentle adjustment of the mount, but without actaully seeing it, it would be difficult to give an accurate answer. There are so many different ways of mounting the exhaust that I would hesitate to give you a "this is the fix" answer.... Is that your villa? Quote
Ian Podmore Posted April 5, 2002 Posted April 5, 2002 I had trouble with the mounting of my exhaust (Zetec, manifold with collector integral), as there is no longer a separate collector so you can adjust the angle of the single outlet pipe to the silencer. Took car into Westfield who 'adjusted it', well actually they said 'fitted it' but it wouldn't fit as supplied! Please note - service received from Westfield was FIRST CLASS as it has always been over the past 6 years. As far as I can see, they flexed the inlet pipe of the silencer to acheive the desired position. That is so that the end plate of the silencer is no longer perfectly 'flat'. It worked, and you can only see the slight distortion on the plate by looking very carefully. They don't appear to have bent the pipe at all. That would be very difficult without warming it up - not a good idea with all the fibreglass around. It is most important that when the rubber mount is finally installed, that no strain either up, down or sideways is put on it. There will be enough strain from the movement of the silencer when driving. Hope that helps. Quote
Matt Seabrook Posted April 5, 2002 Posted April 5, 2002 I am not surprised you exhaust dose not fit have you seen the shape of the body of you car from your avatar Quote
shaun Posted April 5, 2002 Posted April 5, 2002 Stuart Had a similar problem with my sport carbon. First the heat shield mount tags failed one by one. This was replaced free of charge by Westfield. I then had two support links to the rubber mount fail, then finally the weld failed between the front pipe and silencer. Seemed to solved the problem now. Dismantled the exhaust, had the fractured weld re-welded and finally replaced the original Westfield square rubber mount for a round curved in side rubber mount. This new rubber mount allowed for more movement in the exhaust. In the last 8 months I have had no problems at all. Replace the rubber mount (available from Kwik Fit or other standard exhaust fitters - was given mine FOC) with a more flexible one to allow the exhaust free movement. Also fitted a standard zinc passivated metal bracket link between the exhaust and rubber mount to body (bought from B&Q for £1.29) Take a look a my car when we meet next Sunday. Shaun Quote
smayo Posted April 6, 2002 Posted April 6, 2002 I have got the exact same problem. The square Westfield mounting broke on mine. I have replaced it with a "centre section of egg timer" shaped mounting, but this is still under stress. I "thought" that this was probably due to the engine not being at quite the right angle and that by loosening up the mountings that I would be able to adjust it a fraction to allow the exhaust to sit at a better angle along the car. The exhaust only needs to be about 5mm further out from the body, and this would equate to a very small engine movement. Can I do this? Or am I talking B*****ks? TIA smayo Quote
brianm Posted April 6, 2002 Posted April 6, 2002 It is not unusual to have to fit a spacer under one of the engine mounts to align the exhaust with body or chassis. Should cause no problems. Welding an aditional brace to the point where the front pipe meets the silencer was neccessary on my car. Brian. Quote
mmmmdonuts Posted April 8, 2002 Author Posted April 8, 2002 Right. Blatman - The exhaust doesn't touch the car exactly, but now that the mount has broken it rattles against the bolt attaching the mount to the car (if that makes sense). It is putting a lot of sideways pressure on the rubber mount, and slowly peeling it away from the metal. I presume that if the exhaust was a bit further out this wouldn't happen. And yes, that is my (or rather 'our' ) villa . It probably wasn't when you wrote that message, but we have just completed the mortgage, so it is now! I'm off there on Wednesday to check it out. Shaun - sounds like you have had all the same exhaust problems as me. The mount tags for my heat shield broke as well. Maybe this was a problem they had around the time of the sport carbons? Westfield did sort that out. I would love to take a look at your car next Sunday, but unfortunately I will be in Florida (or should that be fortunately?) It will have to be at the May meet. If I procrastinate as much as usual, the exhaust mount will still be zip tied together. Smayo - I did have the egg timer shaped mount for a while. When mounted it was at quite an angle. Westfield replaced it for one of the rectangular ones again when they sorted out my other rattling exhaust problem. Thanks for your help everyone. I'm sure I'll get round to fixing it soon. Summer is on the way and a rattly exhaust is bl**** annoying! Quote
mmmmdonuts Posted May 2, 2002 Author Posted May 2, 2002 I just went down to Kwik fit, who unfortunately didn't have anything anywhere near the right size. I then went to Central Tyres in Wycombe. I was hoping to just get the part and then fit it myself. They had something close, and proceededto spend about half an hour bodging it to fit, with about 4 people clustered around my car at any one time. They also didn't charge me anything. I was very surpised. So a big thanks to Central Tyres, and to Shaun for suggesting it. Quote
mmmmdonuts Posted May 2, 2002 Author Posted May 2, 2002 The new part looks pretty robust as well, so hopefully it won't go again. I'll have a look at the other cars at the May meeting to see how close your exhausts are to the car. Quote
shaun Posted May 2, 2002 Posted May 2, 2002 Stuart - Next meeting is at Hambleden - you should have received an email - if not let me know. Quote
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