First the recap:

this is my first weekend home in probably three months, so it was high time i did some work on the car. It needed a new battery, summer tires (yes, i've been running snows in june. sue me), AC recharge, an oil change, and the exhaust had been getting ever louder. The first three problems were nothing new. The fourth was uncharted territory. After briefly looking under the car and seeing two fairly rusty mufflers, i bit the bullet and just bought the entire exhaust kit from FCP Groton for $110 or so.

I woke up early this morning, drank the requisite pot of coffee, and got to work. I'll skip the details on all the prep work on the new exhaust (it sure is pretty, though), and just get on with the story. As the paint on the new exhaust was drying, i jacked up the car and started tearing off the old one. I was surprised at how effortlessly the cat and front muffler came apart. I pulled off all that was left holding it, the muffler hangers, and hauled it out into the driveway. Feeling proud of myself for making such short work of that stupid old exhaust, i decided to break for lunch and a trip around town to buy things i would need for the afternoon. As i returned, i noticed the jagged edge at the end of the old front muffler. Yes, that effortless removal (and all of the noise, by the way) had been the result of the cat pipe simply breaking off inside the muffler flange. damn. foiled again.

so i got back into the company car (the one that's only for company business. stupid company had better understand), and made my second trip of the day to advance auto parts. i had the expected deja vu talk with the clerk and went looking at exhaust parts. I bought some sort of a changeover that was about 4 inches long, and fit into the front muffler, as well as over what was left of the cat pipe. I went home and started assembling. the changeover fit so tightly into the front muffler that i didn't clamp it, and i clamped the hell out of the X-over/cat pipe interface. Fast forward to 7:30. . .Everything was installed, oil was changed. The only thing left to do was to start it. and what happens? I hear the thump-thump-thump of the exhaust hitting the underside of the car during startup. It turns out that the extra clamp, the last one i mentioned, is making the contact, because clearance at that point drops off to almost nothing.

So what do i do?

I'd love to hear any solution (besides 'give up and let someone who knows what they're doing work on it' I get that a lot). Here's what i'm thinking: I figure that the only permanent solution is to oder a new cat and gasket and replace. That may happen in the next month, but i need to drive this car tomorrow!! My plan is to weld the bottom 1/2 to 2/3 of the cat/x-over interface. This should give it enough strength that it won't need a clamp for integrity. Then, i'll seal the top with the POS-Fix epoxy putty that advance sells for leaking catalytic converters. When i replace, i'll still be able to pull the two apart at the other joint, between the x-over and front muffler. If there still isn't enough clearance, i'll crunch the sh*t out of the pipe with a pair of channellocks, and try to make a flat spot.

Sorry for the long winded post. I needed to vent on the whole experience. Perhaps another beer. . .