It’s been just a little over a year since I put together an Aluminum Exhaust (click for more details) Compare to what I took out (25LB), the new exhaust weighed only 6LB!! However, there is a reason why they do not make exhaust from aluminum. they get very fragile especially after getting frequent heat cycles. Being autocross car, it only gets driven about once or twice a month, I decided to gamble on trying out the “bad idea”.
Well, I started hearing bad exhaust leak a couple events ago, and then some rattle after last event, and I knew the bad idea went bad…
to my surprise, the part it broke off was not my ugly bad welds, but actually the factory tig-weld on the muffler itself. After a very short brain storming, I came up with a few options.
- Go get a bottle of Argon Gas, and aluminum filler rods and weld the crack. (~ $60)
- Ditch the bad idea, go get thin wall stainless and make stainless exhaust. (~ $600)
- Go out on highway exit ramp and hold sign “Need Money to fix my Car” and buy Titanium ($2,3k?), or Inconel (who knows how much… $$$)
- Make bad idea even worth idea by being creative
Of course, I only choose best of the best for myself and my car. Option #4 it is.
I went to the local hardware store, and looked for aluminum rivets. ($5)
I already have drill, drill bits, and rivet gun…
what can go wrong???
when I have a chance, I’ll probably blaze the crack just to seal it a little. but it’s already after the muffler, so I don’t worry too much about it…
Let’s hope this will last a little 🙂
