hi people, finally we have Danielles beetle in a yard we can work on it, and first thing was remove the old very leaky exhaust system.

problem 1, the new genie extractors had no J pipes, and the old pipes had the round clamp joint on them, that was solved easily when we realised the old bits slide off

anyways, it now all seems to fit over the J pipes, and goes up flat against the heads but again we have a problem.

do the original fixings for the manifold preheat pipe onto the exhaust use bolts with nuts, or the bolts just screw directly into the manifold flange?

I need to know what thread is into the manifold, because if I cant find one to match, I will just have to recut all 4 and go with a set of bolts from my mazda bits :P

I'm not sure whether they are fine or coarse Metric.. I usually drill them out & use a bolt & nut.. as they usually don't line up too well.... Its easier to use a long bolt , do it up then put a small bolt & nut in the other hole, then take the long bolt out & put a small one back in...
I hope that makes sense...
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has trouble with pre-heater pipes...

Lee

ahh thanks, not what I wanted to hear, and just had a quick look, no way is there enough room for me to use a bolt and nut. the ends are cast pieces which are way too thick to use a nut on the back of, at least for the inside bolts

I did notice that they dont line up particularly well too when I dummy fitted them.

it looks like a trip to universal fasteners to get some coarse thread 6mm metric bolts is in order. I tried some 'normal' fine thread metric bolts I stole from my mazda, and they binded up or like I said, other option is to retap the threads to the fine metric thread and hope there is enough meat to hold

Have you tried some off a bug at the wreckers?

tried other bugs at the wreckers, only one still had preheater pipes, and I got the bolts from that, and still fukn wrong.

I dont know if its old germans didnt know what they were up to and used odd threads, or stupid genie headers decided to use some kinda dodgy imperial thread, cos after all they are australian and aussie cars use aussie threads.

eaither way, this car is taking a shitkload longer to put the exhaust on than it should.

These bolts are 6 X 1.0 X 20.

Don't forget to smear some molycoat or coppercoat heatproof grease on the threads, before you tighten up the bolts. It just makes it easier to undo anything associated with an exhaust system, down the track.
Regards,
Mark:thumb

Ryan here,

thanks for the info, I'm hoping that it is the correct thread on the aftermarket pipes :o

not going to be very happy if its not.

as you can see I was getting a little stressed, and thats even with me being in the trade

yeah great idea to use moly coat or copper coat, Fit all the nuts and bolts loose before you start to tighten any on of them. Makes it easier to push and shove around a bit to align things

RotaMota ,
Well My Muffler sounds similar to what You have, with a caste piece on the LH side and the pipe on the RHS. I had trouble with both, so I ended up using short very coarse threaded roofing bolts without the rubber seal.. naturally... I had to cut the bottom off them to stop them bottoming out.

Lee Noonan

thanks guys, but I found the problem, was wondering why standard Metric 6 mm x 1 threads werent working, they seemed to be ok but would bind up after a couple of turns.

it turns out that the dodgy makers of the headers didnt tap the holes properly, and after giving it a quick run through with a tap, it then all bolted straight up, with very little aligning needed.

sorry I cursed VW's, please forgive me.

Maybe mine were the same... didn't really look that close... I just used those roofing hex head metal coarse threaded bolts... If they come loose with the heat I guess I will tap out the holes...

Lee