• From: Baltimore, MD
  • Registered: 2010-05-20
  • Posts: 1,745

Topic: Aluminum exhaust patch

This is for a road car, not a Lemon, but the. I've got a stupid rust hole in my exhaust just forward of the catalytic converter. Assuming I can get it by the inspection shop (who will be told in advance that anything they find wrong isn't getting fixed on site no matter how hard they try to sell it, so it SHOULD pass), how viable in the long term is an aluminum patch?

I have some thin sheet aluminum (old aluminum siding) and, naturally, beer cans to work with.

Driver, Pit Monkey, Rod Buster and Engine Fire Starter
Team FinalGear
  • sergio
  • Lemons Staff Stalker
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  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 1,185

Re: Aluminum exhaust patch

Beer cans or 134a refrigerant cans(they're thicker) with some hose clamps and you're good to go. Maybe some muffler cement for good measure?

  • From: Baltimore, MD
  • Registered: 2010-05-20
  • Posts: 1,745

Re: Aluminum exhaust patch

Cool. My primary concern was "will a crappy aluminum can melt at EGT". Nice to know about the 134a cans, since I'll have a couple later on (after I've installed the conversion kit).

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Team FinalGear
  • From: Davis, Ca
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 1,843

Re: Aluminum exhaust patch

It'll melt

Gosh, my business card says 'Tech Tyrant'
  • From: Baltimore, MD
  • Registered: 2010-05-20
  • Posts: 1,745

Re: Aluminum exhaust patch

Evil Genius wrote:

It'll melt

Damn and blast.

This build is getting STUPID with the nickel-and-dime "Oh, that needs to work for the state safety and emissions inspection" items.

Driver, Pit Monkey, Rod Buster and Engine Fire Starter
Team FinalGear
  • From: Buffalo NY, help me please!
  • Registered: 2009-09-09
  • Posts: 163

Re: Aluminum exhaust patch

Get the band style exhaust clamps.  Some of them are 3-4 inches wide, should cover any hole you might have.

  • From: Wheaton IL
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 408

Re: Aluminum exhaust patch

EyeMWing wrote:
Evil Genius wrote:

It'll melt

Damn and blast.

This build is getting STUPID with the nickel-and-dime "Oh, that needs to work for the state safety and emissions inspection" items.

Aluminum melts at about 1200 degrees.  so if your egts are below that you should be fine.  Unless they make cans out of some alloy that has a lower melting point, a can won't melt below that temp.

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  • From: Davis, Ca
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 1,843

Re: Aluminum exhaust patch

Trevor57 wrote:
EyeMWing wrote:
Evil Genius wrote:

It'll melt

Damn and blast.

This build is getting STUPID with the nickel-and-dime "Oh, that needs to work for the state safety and emissions inspection" items.

Aluminum melts at about 1200 degrees.  so if your egts are below that you should be fine.  Unless they make cans out of some alloy that has a lower melting point, a can won't melt below that temp.

Ok, so it won't melt, it'll oxidize and burn through in a very short time...  Exhausts aren't built of aluminum for a reason..       It won't work. for  long.

Gosh, my business card says 'Tech Tyrant'
  • sergio
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Re: Aluminum exhaust patch

rushman wrote:

Get the band style exhaust clamps.  Some of them are 3-4 inches wide, should cover any hole you might have.

Yeah I'd try that or the 134a can. If it's just to make it pass inspection, what do you have to lose?

  • Dave
  • Dave
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  • From: PGH PA
  • Registered: 2009-10-09
  • Posts: 993

Re: Aluminum exhaust patch

Why not cut the pipe with a sawzaw and sleeve it ? (weld the ends or muffler clamps)

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  • From: Baltimore, MD
  • Registered: 2010-05-20
  • Posts: 1,745

Re: Aluminum exhaust patch

sergio wrote:

Yeah I'd try that or the 134a can. If it's just to make it pass inspection, what do you have to lose?

$14 if it fails, or if I forget to replace it before the next inspection round.

Which is more than a proper piece of tube costs. I swear by the time this thing is done, I'll have replaced every component on the whole thing that costs less than $15.

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Team FinalGear
  • From: Craphole, NJ
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 517

Re: Aluminum exhaust patch

This pic is of a track side repair I made to a friend's car a long time ago.   A can of green beans slightly larger in diameter than the exhaust pipe was found at a nearby grocery store.  I removed both ends with a can opener borrowed from a kitchen and ran a slit up the side with tin snips.  A few dabs of muffler putty from a local parts store and 4 hose clamps sealed it up.  The fix lasted for several years including at least one trip through a state inspection station.

http://teamdfl.com/exhaust_fix.jpg

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  • From: Baltimore, MD
  • Registered: 2010-05-20
  • Posts: 1,745

Re: Aluminum exhaust patch

Ended up with this:
http://pic.phyrefile.com/e/ey/eyemwing/2010/08/03/IMG_2688.JPG

Thanks for the soup can idea.

No clue if it's airtight quite yet (didn't putty it, I will if I have to) because the battery went flat (NEED a killswitch) and I attached my 1950's battery charger backwards and blew it up.

Driver, Pit Monkey, Rod Buster and Engine Fire Starter
Team FinalGear
  • Registered: 2009-05-06
  • Posts: 32

Re: Aluminum exhaust patch

You should move to Mi, I haven't had a full exhaust system in YEARS!