exhaust leak near shock

[monterey1962]

'89 CV w/cat-back dual exhaust. Found a nice hole in the right side tail pipe where it jumps the axle. The hole is on the top portion near the shock. Could the heat from this cause any damage to the shock in the short term? How about heat damage to anything else in that area?

I'd probably put a new cat-back system on next spring since the car will be in storage over winter. My h-pipe is looking pretty rough anyway.

Too bad everything is welded in, or I'd just cough up the money to change up the one tail pipe. I figure I can do a complete cat-back change out myself for a little more than the price that a shop could do the tail pipe.

[gadget73]

worst case I'd say it might melt the rubber bushing on top of the shock, but thats probably the worst of it. I kind of doubt its going to get all that much hotter than it would anyway with the pipe right there. If its a concern, get a soda can, slice it open, and use a hose clamp to hold it over the hole in the pipe till you get a chance to fix it proper. Thats definitely a halfass patch but if it only needs to last a bit longer it'll do.

[monterey1962]

I took a closer look at the whole system. Everything is good except the right tail pipe. Everything else was just really dirty. Sad thing is, when I checked my records, the bad tail pipe is only 4 years old.

I hate to take the car to a shop for just a tail pipe replacement. Problem is trying to get the bad tail pipe out of the glass pack. It is clamped and has one small tack weld holding it together. If I could get the bastard apart, I could do the repair for under $40 (parts). A shop will no doubt be over $100 (including tail pipe).

Any tricks on getting the pipe out of the glass pack? Cut the weld and heat the pipe with a hand torch?

[monterey1962]

Nevermind. I completely forgot about that nifty little pipe separator tool from Summit. Still cheaper than shop labor.