other '73 stock exhaust hanger

[Posaune]

Going through the new '73 and it looks like stock exhaust hanging by a thread.  Did some searching here but havent found which parts i need to fix this..  Looks like a rubber strap with holes in it with some recent jankiness added.  Looking at realoem etc it looks like the replacement of for this is the round rubber exhaust hangers.  That seems fine for the muffler but I cant tell what kind of metal piece would bolt to the body to put the hanger on.  Anyone have a pic of what this is supposed to look like?

 

 

 

[Mike Self]

You've pictured a typical jury rig, probably by the PO's muffler shop when they didn't have the correct parts to do the job.  Go to REALOEM.com and look up the exhaust system so you'll see what's required.  There's a steel hanger on each end of the muffler, shaped like an inverted J.  A half-round plastic spacer clips onto the J, and a figure eight-shaped rubber mount goes onto the plastic piece (bottom of the 8) and over a half-round shaped piece of metal (top of the 8) that hangs horizontally from the underside of the body.  Much easier to see in REALOEM than it is to describe.  Looks like you need two plastic spacers and two rubber hangers.  From your picture it appears that the hanger bracket that's welded to the body is intact, but there should be two, one at each end of the rear muffler can.

 

So install you're gonna need strong fingers and some silicone spray to help slide the rubber hanger over the plastic and metal hangers.  

 

The only other exhaust system support is up by the transmission, a U-bracket that bolts to a flat bracket that's in turn fastened to the rear of the transmission via two rubber mounts.  If the rear mounts were kludged, I'll bet the front one will be too.  Might as well order at least the two rubber mounts; they dissolve from their constant bath in hot transmission oil.  Check whatcha got vs the REALOEM exploded diagrams, you may need more pieces.  

 

cheers and happy tinkering.  

 

mike

[Posaune]

Thank you so much for the detailed response.  I believe I'm missing the horizontal metal piece that bolts to the underside of the car.  I see the bolt only.  That's the piece I can't seem to find on realoem.

[Mike Self]

The 8-shaped rubber hanger and the plastic piece that clips to the muffler bracket are both located on page 18-2 in the parts book, P/N 18 21 1 105 638 and 18 21 4 490 157 respectively.  All the pieces for the front support are listed on the same page, in case you need any of those pieces.

 

Like you I can't find the bracket that's spot-welded to the body that the rubber hanger hangs from.  It's not listed with the exhaust parts on page 18-2, nor is it listed with the body sheet metal in section.  If the part was available separately, it should be on page 41-8, which shows the complete trunk floor with spare tire well--that's the part those brackets are welded to.  

 

It's difficult to tell from your pictures exactly what is still welded to the floorpan, but what should be there is a bracket that's kinda T-shaped, with the T's crossbar curved downward (to conform with the curve of the 8-shaped rubber hanger) with a lip to keep the rubber hanger from slipping off.  The upper side of the bracket is a flat plate that's spot welded to the floorpan's underside. There should be two--one at each end of the muffler to align with the C-shaped brackets that are welded to the muffler's top side.  

 

I'm sure someone on the FAQ has a parts car that he could cut those pieces off for you; then you could either spot weld or use steel pop rivets to secure the brackets to your trunk floor.

 

Cheers

mike

[bento]

This is from my 74. I believe they're more or less the same but I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will chime in if that's not the case.

My exhaust was hung similarly with strips of old tire. Fortunately, they just ran sheet metal screws into the original mounts. The rear strip is still attached here.

Hopefully that's all they did on your car, but it looks like the mount is cut out in your photo.

[nbcbird]

I think I can decipher the rear bracket defined by the ridges on the plate welded to the body.  Remove the bolts and you should see an extension of a bracket with curved ends.  There should be some space between the bracket and the trunk floor to allow the donut to slip on (requires a bit of stretching).

Edited December 28, 2015 by nbcbird

[bmdubl02]

I think I can decipher the rear bracket defined by the ridges on the plate welded to the body.  Remove the bolts and you should see an extension of a bracket with curved ends.  There should be some space between the bracket and the trunk floor to allow the donut to slip on (requires a bit of stretching).

And a few choice words will help things stretch out a bit more..

[Posaune]

I think I can decipher the rear bracket defined by the ridges on the plate welded to the body.  Remove the bolts and you should see an extension of a bracket with curved ends.  There should be some space between the bracket and the trunk floor to allow the donut to slip on (requires a bit of stretching).

Thanks for all the answers.  That's what I was trying to see.  It looks flush to me but when I get back under will see what I can do .  At least the bolt is there so it wouldnt be hard to make a Z type bracket to hold the rest.