[alfa] Flex pipe joinery (was: 164 questions, already)

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Richard advised Joe Elliott, for his parents' 164 exhaust leak, "to repair the flex pipes in an economical manner, you need to buy flex sections (available from www.epiflex.com) and have someone competent cut out the old and weld in the new." He went on with "it's best if the mechanic surveys the job and tells you what size he wants. i researched the flex pipes on the digest and via google, bought some, and then my mechanic advised me he didn't want to do it that way, and asked me to go longer and larger with the pipes."
 
For a different flex pipe situation (on RWD fours, to obviate header cracking) George Schweikle had earlier (AD10-0072) discussed using band clamps rather than welding. That option put all of the choices- cutting, dimensions, joining  back under the control of the owner, which could be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on your judgement. George also mentioned J.C. Whitney as a source for the flex pipe  probably cheaper, but the descriptions on the Epiflex website list are very impressive.
 
Earlier, (in AD9-1098) Eric Storhok discussed 164 flex coupling failure "which lead to a nice sized leak in the exhaust, and to dilute the O2 sensor into thinking that the engine is running lean, so it ran richer  and richer....  From a professional standpoint, that design is a disaster- putting a flex pipe before 1) the only exhaust sensor and 2) the entire catalyst system is a system waiting for failure.  Add to that, the horrible quality of the coupling....  Which is odd, since the rest of the system seems like very high quality (for production) stainless. We managed to find a new, and modern, coupling.  Our local hot rod exhaust house fabricated it in for me.  Works perfectly."

I haven't had either problem, yet, but the clumping of alternate sources, methods, and consequences is part of what makes the digest so interesting as well as useful. Thanks to Richard yet again.

John H
Raleigh, N.C.
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