Rattling Flexibles

[richard btype]

Gents

Sorry to be hogging the posts at the moment but I'm going through a list and rapidly ticking the boxes as a result of the depth of knowledge and experience found on this forum.

It is slowly becoming quite a civilised vehicle and is very nice to have things working as they should but one of the final annoyances has become the flexible sections on the down pipes.

I expressly purchased mild steel items a year ago and recently they have started to fizz and vibrate when changing down the gears. I have contacted the supplier who does not want to know.

From the underside there does not appear to be anything wrong and even tapping the sections with a hammer I cannot replicate the noise meaning that they are not so loose and I'm not aware of any more than usual exhaust gasses.

I'm wondering whether a little blob of weld might tighten things up between the coils?

[Moeregaard]

Richard, have you checked for any witness marks left on adjacent components? I've had problems with leaks developing where the downpipes enter the silencers, but have never had a problem with the flexible bits. I did eventually remove the entire system as a single unit, and weld the downpipes to the silencer, but this is a big pain in the neck and worth avoiding if possible. The flexible sections are there for an obvious reason, and I suspect that welding them up would cause leaks elsewhere due to engine movement.

[Heuer]

Richard

You can use a couple of Norma style clamps on the flexible bits to eliminate the buzzing - they act as a sort of damper and you can move them around to hit the sweet spot. Available on eBay e.g. : http://tinyurl.com/qztzgcr Just make sure you order the correct size range for your pipes.