| Author | Message | ||
     R. B. Bailey (Rover50987) Senior Member Username: Rover50987 Post Number: 631 Registered: 07-2002 |
I like to support local businesses anyway I can... A while back I got tired of using wire to tie up my exhaust from the muffler back after going off road. It was broken in several spots, the pipe had holes in it and the resonator was literally... just hanging there not actually attatched to anything. I figured there has got to be a cheap muffler and pipe I can buy to hold me off for a year until I can save up enough for a stainless system from NRP. I Got the muffler and the pipe with resonator for either a RR or DI for $200 including shipping. Stuck it all on, and took off for a camping trip 350 miles away. I didn't think much about it at the time, but when I pulled the old muffler off there was no heat shield, so when I put the new one on I did not put a heat shield in with it. Half way to the 4000 ft level at 85 degrees, pulling a trailer, I started noticing that the burning smell that I thought was just the shipping sticker burning off the new muffler (which it was at first) was actually coming from inside the car! The carpet over the muffler in the rear footwell was actually about to catch fire - it was all melted and literally burning and melting the rubber mats! I limped slowly up hills and stopped to cool and limped again the next 40 miles to the only muffler shop in Pendleton Oregon. I had the good ole' boy there put a heat shield on for me. He seemed to think that would do the trick, but noted that the muffler itself seemed discolored from heat. I made it through that trip, but now, a month later just driving around for an hour or so - even with the heat shield on, the floor started getting so hot that you could not touch the spot without getting burned - inside the car. Ships Mechanical has gone to bat for me, and is going to get my money back for the muffler. but in the mean time I took the truck to Portland Muffler on 122nd and asked them what it would cost to put a magnaflow in between the cat Y pipe and the existing new pipe and resonator... $200 - thats not bad after getting my money back from the other muffler. So today I called them up at 1:00 and asked if I could get it into the shop - they took me in, put the car up and did a custom job with the muffler in 4 hours. The welding looks better than new from the factory. And when I went to pick it up at 5:00 they had also cut out the right hand side cat, pulled it down from the flange at the engine, cleaned it out and reattached it with new welds! Then, when he heard the engine running he got all upset because he thought he could still hear a little leak. So he put it back up on the lift, pin-pointed the leak and made an appointment for me to come in next week to have it fixed no extra charge. A truely custom job with world class welding, 4 hours of labor on a friday afternoon with no appointment and it came out $6.00 under the quoted price! You don't find many companies like this around anymore, especially in the auto business. BTW, I like the sound of the magnaflow, not louder, but definately smoother and deeper. http://landrover.mrbaileyshistory.net |
