[ajengli]

I have an original Ferrari exhaust on my GT4 and although fairly old it doesn't look to be in too bad a shape. I have however noticed that under one of the exit pipes a small hole has appeared, about the size of a thumb nail. I have prodded round it and made it about as big as it will go.

Deciding that this small hole doesn't warrent a new system, I went round a number of auto shops looking for something to repair the hole with and came back with a handfull of products. The most suitable seemed to be some self adheasive metal tape, which I applied over the cleaned and prepared area. The result looked pretty good and off I went for the afternoon. Upon return - having done about 90 miles - I checked that my splendid repair was still holding, but there was nothing there apart from a few marks where the tape had been! I then read the packet it came in (which maybe I should have done in the shop) and it said that the tape was only suitable for temperatures upto 172C (341F). This seems quite low and I assume that the pipe gets hotter than this (esp when driven hard).

Anyway, sorry for the ramblings, my question is - what is the best way to repair this type of hole, the products I have are 'repair putty' and 'repair bandage'. I think the bandage is out of the equation as you need to be able to wrap the bandage completely round the pipe in question, which I cannot as the bracket joining it to the other pipe prevents this. Sooo, I guess I am left with the putty, has anyone had any success with this stuff??

 

[Pete04222]

The stuff you bought was probably intended for front engine cars where you have a lot of heat loss through the distance of the pipes. The pipes on your car are just too short.

I think the only way to repair your little problem would be to have someone braze it and fill the hole with brass.

 

[senna21]

Braze or weld would do the job. Any muffler shop should do it for you for under 10 pounds. If you want to do it yourslef get some JB Weld. it's a putty that'll harden and be as hard as steel. It will also be heat resistant.

Don't forget you do live in England (don't you?). This will continue to happen untill you get a full stainless steel system. Stainless isn't impervious to rust either though. It just doesn't do it anywhere near as fast.

 

[F355 Challenge]

Andy,

Let the pros handle your muffler repairs. They'll check for other rusted areas which can be repaired as well.

Barry