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I just put a new catalytic converter on the wagon. It was a royal pain in the ass but it's done. Well, there's one more thing I need to do but I'll leave that for last.
I'd been meaning to do this for some time because I became convinced the catalyst was loose in it's housing. I bought the parts and then kept putting it off as I am wont to do. Then, a couple of weeks ago, it broke. At that point I had no choice. Still I procrastinated. Today I finally took action.
I went to remove the clamp at the resonator. On about the third turn of the wrench the bolt broke. The rest of the removal should have been so easy. Needless to say, the cat pipe was stuck fast. Not from rust but from the place where the clamp had bit. I took a cold chisel and began to seperate the inlet from the pipe. By the time I had it to where there was some play, the inlet sleeve was pretty gnarled and I didn't hold any hope of putting it back in shape. In the meantime, although the catalyst housing and pipe were no longer one piece, the housing was preventing me from bringing the pipe far enough forward to remove it. I thought about dropping the resonator but since the housing needed to come off anyway I set about doing that.
I knew it was useless to try and turn the nuts on the flange bolts, but gave it a shot. You never know. After about 30 seconds of that nonsense I got out the reciprocating saw and had my way with them. It was awkward but do-able. I also anticipated that the oxygen sensor would probably not come out without my tearing it to shreds and, in fact it, was stubborn enough that my attempts at removal were starting to damage it so I didn't jack with it any further. I had got a fairly decent price on a new OEM Bosch unit and planned on using it anyway since I didn't know the history of the existing one.
With that out of the way I was able to work the pipe out of the resonator leaving me wondering what to do about the inlet. I quickly reached for the reciprocating saw again and cut the bent pieces away to where I still had a had a couple of inches of inlet to work with. But that was not going to be long enough for a good installation. To be certain, I put the new cat up in place and made a mark and it there was about 5/16" overlap. Definitely not enough to my way of thinking.
Then I had this idea. I started scrounging around my spare parts looking for an item I had left over from the turbo exhaust I put on the 242 a few years back. I found what I was looking for; a 2" to 2-1/4" reducer. I figured it would probably not work but I checked it for fit and the big end just slid nicely over the inlet (I thought it would be a little loose but it was darn near perfect) and the small end was made for 2" pipe so now all I needed was a 2-1/4" clamp, which I did not have. I decide to assemble it and add a u-bolt as soon as I can get one.
At this point I did have to remove the rubber hangers for the resonator to get a straight shot at it without interference from the headpipe. What the hell. I had to finish up. And it was not going on any other way. Not easily. I'd struggle with the hangers in a bit.
I put it all together and used the stainless finish fasteners, which had been previously recommended by a few board participants, with a generous application of anti-seize paste, tightened the clamp on the small end of the adapter and all that was left was the rubber hangers which presented no real problem. I still need that last 2-1/4" clamp. After running the engine for a minute I think I could get by without it. It sounds perfecly normal. But I'm getting one anyway.
In fact, I have to go now to the NAPA store where I bought a battery for the 242 a couple of years ago. That battery will not hold a charge. I'll get a clamp while I'm at it. And that will be that.
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'80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon
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