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The car is a 2001 Mazda Protege LX with 175,000 miles on it. I bought it as a project car for only $250. The engine ran well it just really needed some maintenance. Sadly I’ve already thrown over a grand worth of parts at it. I’d like to avoid dropping more money into it but then I came across this 🙁
From what I can understand those are studs that are permanently attached to the second cat and not removable bolts. One of the holes on the connecting pipe is broken. The other looks to be quite stretched and the stud looks to be bent. I was thinking of trying to find one of those pipes at a wrecker in decent shape. Then just swap them with new seals.
I don’t really have any exhaust pipe experience so I have a few questions. If I get a replacement pipe what are the chances of the holes lining up if that stud is as bent as it looks? With how rusty that exhaust system is would taking it apart just asking for trouble? Am I be better off just leaving it as is? I REALLY don’t want to replace the cat… I hate spending more on a car than it’s worth. Such a downer. 🙁
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Ah crap I knew I’d forget something…
The connection isn’t leaking and am I able to reuse those fasteners? The spring on the side that isn’t broken looks quite gnarly.
I would think the studs would line up ok. Personally, I would cut that end piece out of a junker and weld it into the existing pipe, unless it is easy to remove that entire pipe. If the studs dont line up, you could always straiten it or modify the pipe.
Couple of options.#1 not leaking do nothing.
#2 replace the front pipe and gasket.depending
on where you buy.50-100 bucks.#3 see what a muffler
shop can do for you.#4 If you do the salvage yard.
will you be getting anything better then what you got?Get a split flange and a longer bolt. I use lots of them and they are cheap. Never had a split flange fail me.
I guess mainly I was wondering what the risk of damaging the cats on either side of that pipe are. Be it the threading on the studs, the mating surfaces, etc. It seems pretty cut and dry on how to replace that pipe. I just don’t know if I’m going to cause damage to the rest of the system once I try beating on those nuts with am impact after they’ve been rusted in place for over a decade.
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