it started last year with a quiet putting....then it slowly gets louder till your ears drone even after you get out of yer heap...probably shoulda fixed it a couple months back.....ah well i went and fixed it.
dont buy a new resonator...the oem pos that makes the buick v6 think its breathing through a crazy straw...but has the quietest "3800 blatt" youll find outside of a 3800 idling at 0 rpm.....
but enough of my rationalizing of my cheapness...
the resonators always rust out at the body seam, usually hidden by the steel heat shield if you cant see it.
if the rest of the oem exhaust is in ok shape, time to say "****it"
parts needed, alum foil, hose clamps, prybar, hammer, mullet
at this point you can both curse and thank the gods of iron oxide. your heat shield is probably already rusted away at several of the spot welds that held it to the resonator.
a bit of gentle persuasion with a prybar is usually all you need to separate the razor thin rusty metal...that seems to scream "imma cut yew" and make you wonder if your up to date on yer tetanus shots.
once the shield is off, you can fingerbang the resonator and determine how far along the seam its rotted...take note for how much reynolds to steal from the kitchen....i wrote the measurement with my finger in the dirt on the underbody....and on the countertop from the looks of the fingerprints everywhere.
now take the heat shield...if you have a vice, take a swig, and use your vise to flatten the spot weld indents around the edges...then get a ball peen hammer, and carefully beat the **** out of the other spot weld bosses to flatten em out. ****tion is greater than form in this area...take out some rage...
carefull bending will either cut you up...or close the dia of the shield so its closer to that of the resonator and fits goodentight...like a german virgin.
go back to the vice on the bench, swig, set it on vise, dont do that dummy, move crap on bench and put it where you wont be picking up glass shards due to dumbassery.
grab aluminum foil...crinkle it repeatedly so its "fluffy", crapload of layers (2 layers folded into 1/2 and other 3rds lengthwise)... roll the edges to act as the new sealing gasket.
put wide foil in shield, put smaller inside, slightly compress, slip over muffler keeping care to clock the middle spot weld holes to one side of the seam (dont dead center it...holes over holes...no bueno brochacho.)
now dig around till you find the loop of hose clamps and air intake clamps you've been collecting from the junkyard for the last 20 years...along with spare nuts/bolts/fuse/relays
WAT? you dont collect em? well **** dude, so much for a free fix...go buy some dummy...string em together if need be...maybe use some mechanics wire or some sweet vintage coathangers.
hose clamp that ****...or twist the coathanger, pick yer poison.
enjoy quiet car once more
Originally Posted by Russosaur
