vange_c4s

hello everyone,

i hunted down a rear end rattle today. found it is an exhaust bracket weld that has broken. i tried to repair it but did not have luck. so some questions. in the attached photo the bracket pointed to by the green arrow has broken on the exhaust tip side under the chrome piece. i tried to remove the chrome tip by loosening the bolt pointed to by the red arrow. once the bolt was loose i tried to remove the chrome tip but it would not budge. i looked at pet diagram to see if that would help - but it does not even show the clamp pointed to by the blue arrow? i just want to put a hose clamp on the bracket to the exhaust tip side to keep it quiet. any help is appreciated.

dotframe

The same thing happened to mine. I just loosened the bracket and moved the broken part out of the way so it wouldn't rattle anymore.

healey1968

That's odd. I don't even have that bracket (green) or clamp (blue) on my '02 C2. Is it even necessary? The exhaust tip isn't a heavy load.

vange_c4s

dotframe,

so you removed the blue clamp and (broken) green bracket? sounds easy to me but want to make sure this does not cause any other trouble.

vange_c4s

healey,

no bracket or clamp for you - looks like the pet drawing? makes me think i dont need the clamp or bracket.

fpb111

Maybe just on C4? C2 tips are different.

healey1968

True, might be different on my C2 compared to a C4 - but I can't think why. What engine do you have? It looks like a 3.4, right? I know the mufflers are also slightly different (that bendy accordion piece) compared to the 3.6

However, yes, my setup looks just like the diagram.

Ben

jumper5836

I had the same problem. I got the bracket welded many times and the weld would never hold. My exhaust tip also would swivel down having no bracket to keep it up.

I ended up replacing the exhaust tip and chrome cover. The chrome cover should pull straight off when the nut has been removed. At least that is how my new one went on.

I found the easiest way to work on it was to take the rear bumper cover off. Take the exhaust whole exhaust tip off. If you can save the chrome cover it can save you a few dollars.

dotframe

I loosened the clamp (blue arrow) and the chrome tip enough to turn the bracket 180 degrees on the tailpipe then tightened it back down to deal with later (this was months ago). I don't have a pic here, but I can take one if you want. Basically the bracket just faces towards the front of the car now where it is out of the way and not touching anything.

From what I can tell it wasn't really adding a much additional support for the tail pipe. It does not move at all compared to the unbroken one. Still lines up perfectly after I re-tightened the chrome tip.

I plan to either re-weld or buy some different tailpipes at some point.

perryinva

On the '02 C2, the tail pipe part is flat on the bottom and round on top, so tip can't rotate. The red arrowed nut just holds it at the depth you want installed at. No brackets.

vange_c4s

just checking - when you say 'the chrome cover should pull straight off when the nut has been removed' you mean the red on in my photo?

jumper5836

Yes. The red nut should release a clamp that clamps the chrome tip to the end of the exhaust pipe.

vange_c4s

going to loosen clamp and remove the chrome tip. then hopefully a hose clamp around bracket/pipe. back on with the tip and done!

thanks to everyone

vange_c4s

update,
so i inspected this weekend and reviewed my pictures more carefully. my green bracket broke just where it is bent/welded to the pipe. my thoughts.
- the blue clamp is on the exhaust manifold side which is held in place by the engine mounts and can move
- the red pipe is connected to the muffler, which is mounted to the body which cant move
- i think the bellows in the blue pipe is to allow flex between blue and red, so that the
- green bracket must break in stress

solution (?) remove blue clamp and broken green bracket

jumper5836

My green bracket broke where it was welded to the pipe. I welded it many times and it never held.
I wasn't lucky that the clamp with no marking on your photo (far top left) was rusty enought to hold the exhuast tip from roatating down and having the tip scrape the pavement. So only option was to replace the whole pipe from un-marked clamp to red and green marks.