Well hell! The exhaust manifold, which had an elusive leak somewhere and I
could never find it, finally gave up the ghost, so to speak. I was driving
home (Taz, my '79 Midget) weekend before last and suddenly the roar from the
front got louder and I noted serious backfiring when I lifted my foot from
the 'celerator. So I spent the weekend welding that sucker back together.
The 4 pipes that descend into one were each cracked around their perimeters
and the one they descend into was broken completely off. Sooooo I MIG welded
it all back together.
BUT I must have missed a crack in my welding because now that it is remounted
and running, I can hear that little "pfft pfft pfft" coming from the welded
area. Here is what I am gonna try, being a Valentine ordained, Clarici
authorized "We Cheap" club member. Remember (if you'uns is old enough--ED is
for sure!) going in those old country stores with the pot bellied stoves?
The hot pipes above them were smeared with this cement stuff, as well as any
cracks in the pot belly, and it churned along merrily and hotly? Well I
stopped by my local old time hardware store today and procured a small
($2.29) plastic jar of FURNACE CEMENT, good to 3000 degrees F. I am gonna
smear and force that stuff into and onto the manifold and see if'n it works.
I will post to the list the results in a couple of weeks.
Anybody ever tried this????
--David C.
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