Hilton

meh, drop the exhaust and grind off the welds until you can move the clamps. (its what I did ) There's no substitute for sheer bloodymindedness.

(altho' to be fair, it was much less weld to grind in my case)

17prospective buyer

I only glanced at the pic Sean, didn't realize the weld is thick on that one. Looks like it's leaking a bit anyways. Sawzall the bolt ring off and clean it up, finish the weld job since it was welded anyways. I never understood why some shops do both when they do exhaust work. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever, either lap weld, or clamp and sealing paste, but not both. That's stupid. How much more sealing assurance does that provide? None more, unless the pipes are put together sloppily. With slip joints if they're made well you technically shouldn't even need a clamp and will seal without it. The clamp is only there to keep them together over vibration and heat cycles.