Re: Shorty vs. Long-tube headers (kinda long)

From: Jon Steiger (stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu)
Date: Mon Jul 20 1998 - 15:29:15 EDT


On Sun, 19 Jul 1998, Sam Parthemer wrote:
[...]
> People asking about the Y-pipe: there's no clamp for the center section.
> It
> is a slip fit style connector. I didn't like that, so I put a 2.5" exhaust
> clamp on it,
> and shaved the bolts flush (makes it stick down as low as the rear diff).
> The
> clamp I bought was a piece of junk, and rusted out/and a nut fell off.
> Currently
> I am 'clampless' but have ruined the slip fit by clamping it-- can you say
> exhaust leak-- I am going to replace the clamp and that should fix the
> leak.

   I've had some clamp problems recently myself. :-) The standard exhaust
clamps that came with my Gibson cat-back crimped the pipe. I wanted
to take the exhaust off a couple of days ago (to get some extra room to
work), but I couldn't, so if I want to take it off, I'm going to have to
cut it out and get an exhaust pipe expander to clean up the pipe ends where
the clamps crimped them.

  Anyway, I'd like to propose an alternative to those stupid clamps. Summit
and JC Whitney sell stainless steel "band" clamps. This is a 3 inch wide
band of stainless steel with hardware connected to it. You wrap the band
around the joint and tighten up the bolts. It won't crimp the pipe, and it
is supposed to provide a great seal. I have a couple for a piece of pipe
I bought to replace part of my exhaust, but I haven't actually tried them
yet. I'm planning on using these from now on instead of the usual "u shaped"
exhaust clamps. Summit has them for about $7-8 each, JCW is $6-7.

   Anyway, a band clamp like that sounds like it'd be perfect for the
DT headers where that "slip together" connection is.

                                              -Jon-

  .--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ------------------------------------.
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