Putting a new exhaust system on my N/A 850: manifold, converter, and everything else.

Concerning the joint between the converter and rear of the system . . .

Most exhaust joints I have ever encountered are of the slip or flange variety. This joint is a spherical arrangement (with the converter having a ball and the rear pipe having a flared socket), so it does not offer the integrity that you might find in those other joints.

Is this joint designed to allow for maximum flexibility when assembling the pipes, and allow you to adjust for a greater degree of misalignments with out stressing the pipe? And, what you are supposed to do is align everything as you want it and then crank down on that clamp, like you would any other exhaust clamp?

After you crank down on that clamp, the system then will not be flexible at that joint and, likely, over time, the rear half of that joint (the rear pipe flare) will stress and crack (as it did on my original).

Or, is this joint designed to slip a bit in use?

Can I tighten the joint to the point where it has the slightest bit of slip, allowing the flar to slip on the ball of the converter. I'm not talking about loose, I'm just talking about not being "solid tight."

I'm kind of bothered by the fact that Volvo did not offer any support to the system at this critical point. The catalytic converter is catilevered off the exhaust manifold, which itself is cantilevered off of the head, so that is a long, long catilever all the way back to that joint.

In my mind that joint is under a tremendous amount of stress.

Does anyone have any thoughts about how this joint should be handled?