The final task to hopefully make as rust proof as possible the underside of my vehicle :)
What are the best products or substances to apply to rust proof the centre and back box sections of an exhaust please?
These two sections are after the cat converter so don't get as hot.
I collect the sections tomorrow and they are being fitted Monday at Kwick Fit (best price I could get and beat everyone else down from a max quote of £160 (ATS) to £120 with a three year warranty.
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Cosmetically you will feel better if you give it a coat of any decent heat resistant silver paint. BUT they tend to rot from the inside outwards.
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I'd have gone the extra distance and bought stainless steel. The one on mine is at least 12 years old and no signs of any rot.
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I have some practical expertise in this filed. SWMBO's 106 is on its original back box after 15 years..
Heat proof aluminum paint by brush on all welds, all seams ( note pipes are rolled and welded along the length so treat that... taking especial care on the weak points: i.e. all welded joins .
Repeat every three years. (wire brush lightly all rust away..treating it with rust converter, is imo a complete waste of time as the treated areas flake under heat)
I expect my Yaris exhaust to last the same .
Son''s 19993 Fiesta passed away last year after 10 years on original rear system and original cat.
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Hi Madf you time traveller - your typo made me chuckle!
Son''s 19993 Fiesta passed away last year after 10 years on original rear system
Heat proof aluminum paint by brush on all welds all seams
Thanks for the info on this and can you give a trade name or supplier please?
I know the likes of Johnstones paints (Huddersfield) will probably do something like this so I will contact them tomorrow.
Edited by Tron on 18/09/2008 at 19:35
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tinyurl.com/5x2b8n
Johnstones paints (Huddersfield)
At 150c this product is just not going to stay put or would it?
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Fullchat,
It is at the joints that the rot is at its worst (all flaked and puffed up) and the outer skin cover on the back box - well that is just a fine dust in your hands!
The two silencers concerned seem to be pretty solid - externally!
The 2 joints concerned are very badly flaked and the bolts holding all together are just as corroded and have thinned out considerably.
My worry is that one of these joints will fail and knowing my luck that will be at motorway speeds.
Martin I asked about stainless and was told that I would pay in the region of £600+ & right now I simply cannot afford that!
Edited by Tron on 18/09/2008 at 19:29
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"Martin I asked about stainless and was told that I would pay in the region of £600+ & right now I simply cannot afford that!"
What car is it for?
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Marc,
Astra 1.6 16v Estate 52 plate LPG/Petrol
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£600.00 what are driving. I have just replaced my dealer supplied exhaust with a cat back stainless steel £340.00 all in. My car is 406 Coupe V6.
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Wouldn't something like this do - tinyurl.com/3fapws - ?
I should think that painting stuff on the outside is a lot of trouble, probably for no real result.
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Do your cars do a lot of short journeys Tron ? Reason I ask is that I have not had to replace an exhaust in years despite having cars which are run to very high mileages. Twist in the tale being that they are rarely used for journeys which do not get the engine and therefore exhaust fully hot. Think I read somewhere, possibly on here that short journeys, especially in petrol cars can leave moisture in exhaust systems and this is what kills them.
In other words if you do get the engine hot most of the time you may not need to treat the exhaust at all.
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Looks like you can get a full (cat back) s/s Magnex system for £367.19 from Roadrunner :
www.roadrunnermotorsport.co.uk/index.asp
Obviously you will have to pay for fitting yourself. It's bankrupt stock so no warranty but they're a good product IME
Edited by Marc on 18/09/2008 at 20:42
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Marc thak you to you too for the link but I just cannot afford the products at £400 inc fitting for a Remus (the only people that make a stainless steel one from that link that will fit the Astra Estate).
Going back to and with the Kwik Fit 3 year guarantee one (£120) black matt VHT painted outside (as I have since purchased the paint, wet & dry cloth and solvent cleaners...) and I will just hope it lasts longer the previous one!
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In other words if you do get the engine hot most of the time you may not need to treat the exhaust at all.
I've heard this as well. It seems to be working on the Volvo, which is 7 years old in a few weeks, has done 134,000 miles, and is still on its original exhaust system. Looks in fair nick still, too.
The car was owned by a friend prior to my taking ownership, and I know it's hardly done a short journey in its life. It gets a 25-35 mile run twice day every working day of the week, and his commute was 20 miles each way too. It really seems to help.
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I use any old paint I've got hanging around. If it's hot enough to burn it off, I guess it's hot enough to keep moisture at bay. I don't think there's anything you can do about internal corrosion. This seems to have worked on couple of cars that had the tail end of their exhausts near the rear wheel spray. It seemed to stop the tail pipes falling off.
Edit: It does pong a bit (carcinogens, what are they?).
Edited by bathtub tom on 18/09/2008 at 20:56
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I used to drill a small hole(about 2mm diameter) at the lowest point on each box where the car is usually parked. This was on a Hillman Avenger used as a second car, mainly short journeys. The water which dripped out was amazing. A self tapping screw was inserted to cut down on the leaking at M O T time but I'm not really sure that it was needed.
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Quite HB. I was going to say that the way to rusproof the exhaust was to drive far and often (as I gather you do with a bootful of fashion footwear and the like).
I wonder whether LPG conversions, which produce water without anything else to speak of, rust exhaust systems more quickly from the inside?
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Exhaust trivia - Friend of mine recently sold his 02 Mondeo diesel estate. It had 228,000 miles on it. The original exhaust had lasted until 225,000 when the back box needed to be replaced. For further trivia this car had never needed any other repairs for anything. Oil changes and very occasional services were all it ever had. I think he began to see it as unreliable when the exhaust went........
Sometimes you just get a good 'un
;-)
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Thanks to all for the help and the links.
I have emailed the Ebay one and I will get in touch with the other company concerned tomorrow.
Halfords do a Very High Temperature engine enamel paint (650c) and if I cannot afford the products or they are not available then this tinyurl.com/3hmlsm
will be the product I will use.
As correctly said by others, due to the LPG conversation a lot of water is produced so rot from the inside (probably explains the really corroded joints) is the issue here and is something (unless I can afford stainless steel) that is really out of my control.
Going with the drilling & inserting a self tapping screw is a very good idea and I have heard of it being mentioned before.
I will have to think about that one though.
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Wasting your time. The box will rust through from the inside, and you will end up paying more for keeping the outside looking pretty than you would renewing it in 6 years time.
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Have also heard about the hole drilling....I also read somewhere about putting oil down the pipe and letting it "bake" on the inside hence stopping corrosion from the inside.
I look on exhausts as consumables...ust like tyres/spark plugs/ etc.
Tho if I planned keeping a car a long time I would go down the stainless steel route.
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02 Mondeo diesel estate ... had 228,000 miles on it. The original exhaust had lasted until 225,000 when the back box needed to be replaced. For further trivia this car had never needed any other repairs for anything. Oil changes and very occasional services were all it ever had. I think he began to see it as unreliable when the exhaust went........
Never had any exhaust parts replaced on the Octavia - 267k - mind you it always did at least 200 miles between cold starts. :-)
Edited by Webmaster on 21/09/2008 at 13:32
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>oil down the pipe and letting it "bake" on the inside
Have heard of that too.
Both internal as well as externally but I cannot see you being able to drive very far without so much blue smoke drawing the attention of the police!
I can see the headlines - Astra seen on the M1 doing a very good impression of a red arrow smoke trail!
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Humber Galvanising Ltd.
Hot dipping service not electroplated and for a mere £30+ vat
Will this affect the internals of the exhaust?
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If it's a clean component (no rust, grease, paint, etc.) then it'll make a big difference. If it's not a clean component, they may refuse to do it, and the galvanising won't work anyway.
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A plain pipe could be galvanized. But I would think a pipe with a silencer box would not because of all the silencing material in the box.
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The LPG conversion would be less likely to rust if the emissions are mostly water. It's not the water that's the problem as this will mostly disappear from the system as vapour. The main corrosive is the acids resulting from the impurities in oil derived fuel resulting in nitrous oxides, sulphur dioxides etc which combine with the water to produce acids.
Similarly with chimneys, oil powered plant produced far more corrosive emissions than gas fired but were considerably better than coal.
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The drain hole idea has been used on motorcycle exhaust systems for years. Many motorbikes have a pin hole at a low point on the silencer or collector box to allow water to drain out.
That said, with the monkey metal that some of the Japanese manufacturers (particularly one beginning with a K) make their exhausts out of, they need all the help they can get.
Cheers
DP
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I've done the "old oil in the tailbox" dodge some years ago, it doesn't make any significant smoke. On the other hand, I have no positive evidence that it makes any difference to the life of the exhaust!
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Thanks for the info FT but I have called and asked and they don't do an exhaust to fit the Astra Estate.
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they don't do an exhaust to fit the Astra Estate.
Oh. What a pip.
I can't see why the original pipes on new cars can't be stainless. The difference in cost wouldn't be much, & it's recyclable (and doesn't lose itself easily in the form of rust).
The problem is, perhaps, that S/S components would last too long.
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Volvo OE exhausts used to be stove enamelled inside and out. They were well known for lasting well. For anyone with access to a serious paint shop it might be possible to do something like that with aftermarket exhaust parts, but would it really be worth the trouble (especially if you had to unpack glass fibre or similar from the boxes, stove enamel them and then put them back together)?
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I poured engine oil down the downpipe of a 1953 Rover 75 I owned to stop internal rust.
(about 0.5pint of used engine oil).
I left a trail of blue smoke after 200 metres - and it lasted 3 miles and covered an area 10 metres wide and 5 high.
Not a good idea in towns... that was in darkest rural Scotland and the cows did not complain....
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