[fasteract7]

Remember where I read someone here or on other Forum had opened up his resonator at the seam and tack welded the loose innards back in place so thought I'd give it a try before AR25ing it or getting new OEM piece ($325 + mucho shipping) since I had the piece off.

Couldn't see myself splitting the case so I used my mini sawzall with bimetallic blades to cut a 6" x 6" x 6" flap (3 sided so I could bend it back). The case is 1/8" thick stainless so get 3-4 spare blades. Drilled 1/2" holes to get the blade started, the blade would fit in a 3/8" hole probably..used plenty of WD40 to keep the blade happy as I cut..pretty tedious but doable.

I bent back the flap not pressuring the outside edges so they stayed even. Inside resonator tubes was a pile of rust for the most part and very movable..this was what was vibrating against the outer shell along with the fiberglass packing being compressed/burnt/shot. No way anything would lend itself to tack welding.

Removed the free pieces of the guts and repacked with new fiberglass making everything nice and snug..had a good amount of fiberglass on top of the opening and using a rubber weighted hammer, beat down the flap compressing the fiberglass.

Bought some of the black 2" wide muffler bandage tape (Tiger Brand) at AutoZone ($4.00) and laid strips, doubled up, on the cut seam lines. Heated the tape in a microwave for 12 seconds which made it sticky so I could apply and form it to the surface irregularities ( I entered the resonator from the top side).

Bought a sheet of aluminum from Tractor Supply ($6.00) and cut out three strips to match the muffler tape, drilled 1/8" holes through the aluminum, tape, muffler body and pop riveted the metal strips. Everything looked nice and snug.

The front 2 bolt/springs only came off after I broke off the nuts..22 years of rust will do that. Bought 2 M8 x 1.25 x 60mm bolts (Loew's) along with the correct size washers (1 larger to fit under bolt head and 2 smaller that fit the cat flange hole so bolt was snug..looking at original bolt you will see what I mean) and appropriate nut/washer. Original bolt has a 1/2" diameter barrel so found same diameter metal tubing to act as spacer to keep the spring from laterally distorting as you tighten.

Other hints..removed the front hanger fittings from underbody rather than trying to wrestle the rubber hangers off. Rear hanger comes off with a large screwdriver and lube. The rear clamp needed lots of Kroil in my case but bolt came undone with some loud groaning...with front off, noted my donut gasket was in great shape and reusable. Took a couple of whacks with my soft mallet and penetrating oil to get rear seal to break free..again this gasket was reusable.

Wire brushed the rear metal pipe mating surface and front cat pipe flange so red hi temp RTV would have a good surface and applied thin layer to these areas, let set up 1 hour, and rebolted everything back together. A set of jack stands helped a lot in getting the pipe up and in position for rebolt..attached rear hanger rubber to help here but left passenger side front hanger off so I could access that upper flange bolt more easily.

Rear clamp to rear muffler was a bit tricky to get tight...I had marked the clamp so as to put it back in same orientation, placed clamp over joint but then needed to use a pry bay to move pipe backwards so I got a snug fit. Place pry bar right in front of the rear hanger fitting and you can pry against rear diff. area perfectly.

End results after 24 hr. RTV cure...no more buzz at 1,500-2,000 rpms as before !! Don't know how long this shadetree fix will last but had fun doing it and saved a bit of money in the process.

Sorry for lack of photos...my digital camera is Kaput.