Kingfish
100 MW
OT – Speaking of exhausts…
I once had a run in with a disreputable muffler shop: The first time I had the truck motor overhauled, I had custom high-performance headers installed. Months went by; it took a while but the sound was getting progressively louder and eventually it was sounding quite obnoxious. One Saturday I took it into Midas and let them borrow my truck for an hour. When I came back for the report, this is how it went:
There’s three guys in the shop, each one takes up a corner in the room, backs facing the wall, arms folded, and the only corner not covered was the entrance which I came through. I was slightly hung over form the night before, but I sensed a setup instantly, like I was about to get mugged. The leader says that my entire exhaust system is buggered, that I have a crack at the wye, and “a rattle” in my muffler. Let’s forget for a moment that I’m mechanically-inclined, an engineer, and had the new exhaust system built a year ago by professionals. I wanted to know more about the rattle cos I never heard that term used to describe an exhaust leak before. But the crack in the wye did appeal to me, though the $1,100 replacement cost did not (which also meant replacing my HP headers with stock OEM shite). Nope, this was classic FU-mechanic rape & pillage apparent from the moment I stepped through the door.
I thanked the leader for their time and collected my keys and walked out, which apparently took them by surprize. I decided to have a second opinion by the people that did the original work, but they were out of business. Took the truck home, and after it cooled down - crawled underneath with a bright flashlight and inspected the muffler; no rattle hear. Moved over to the wye to look for the crack: No fracture or fatigue here of any sort; all welds look perfect with no sign of weeping moisture or gas or searing. But in digging around the wye I did spot something odd about the header and took a closer look: One of the header bolts to the head is missing! Drove to the local auto place and had to purchase a complete set to get one bolt; < $9. Used Red Lock-Tite and torqued it down: No more exhaust leak. Done.
I found out later that HP headers need periodic adjustment. I checked the torque on all the bolts and they were fine; it was only one that fell out and it never happened again.
Many years later I had the system replaced once more, this time with 3” pipe from the new ceramic-coated headers to the wye-pipe through the new catalytic to the end of the exhaust. It was like adding another 10% hp!
Know your vehicle. If an estimate of work sounds fishy, get a second or third.
~KF
I once had a run in with a disreputable muffler shop: The first time I had the truck motor overhauled, I had custom high-performance headers installed. Months went by; it took a while but the sound was getting progressively louder and eventually it was sounding quite obnoxious. One Saturday I took it into Midas and let them borrow my truck for an hour. When I came back for the report, this is how it went:
There’s three guys in the shop, each one takes up a corner in the room, backs facing the wall, arms folded, and the only corner not covered was the entrance which I came through. I was slightly hung over form the night before, but I sensed a setup instantly, like I was about to get mugged. The leader says that my entire exhaust system is buggered, that I have a crack at the wye, and “a rattle” in my muffler. Let’s forget for a moment that I’m mechanically-inclined, an engineer, and had the new exhaust system built a year ago by professionals. I wanted to know more about the rattle cos I never heard that term used to describe an exhaust leak before. But the crack in the wye did appeal to me, though the $1,100 replacement cost did not (which also meant replacing my HP headers with stock OEM shite). Nope, this was classic FU-mechanic rape & pillage apparent from the moment I stepped through the door.
I thanked the leader for their time and collected my keys and walked out, which apparently took them by surprize. I decided to have a second opinion by the people that did the original work, but they were out of business. Took the truck home, and after it cooled down - crawled underneath with a bright flashlight and inspected the muffler; no rattle hear. Moved over to the wye to look for the crack: No fracture or fatigue here of any sort; all welds look perfect with no sign of weeping moisture or gas or searing. But in digging around the wye I did spot something odd about the header and took a closer look: One of the header bolts to the head is missing! Drove to the local auto place and had to purchase a complete set to get one bolt; < $9. Used Red Lock-Tite and torqued it down: No more exhaust leak. Done.
I found out later that HP headers need periodic adjustment. I checked the torque on all the bolts and they were fine; it was only one that fell out and it never happened again.
Many years later I had the system replaced once more, this time with 3” pipe from the new ceramic-coated headers to the wye-pipe through the new catalytic to the end of the exhaust. It was like adding another 10% hp!
Know your vehicle. If an estimate of work sounds fishy, get a second or third.
~KF
