I've been doing a little research on exhaust systems lately and during this research I've discovered something pretty interesting; The factory exhaust hanger.
The factory exhaust hanger is a pretty sophisticated piece of mechanical hardware. At first glance, it looks goofy and unusual. But look closer and you can see that the design of this thing is very deliberate. Take a look at this picture:
You can see many pivot and adjustment points. Some of these connections tighten up, some retain a little compliance to allow movement.
The most interesting bits, in my opinion, are the isolators at the top of the hanger. If you take a close look at them, you will find that they're stuffed with coarse steel wool. They allow the rods inside to turn and/or move slightly in or out of the isolator. I've taken mine apart and snapped some pictures for you:
While examining this I also noticed that these parts appear to be made of stainless steel. A quick magnet test reveals that I'm right. Not only is it stainless, it's a pretty decent grade of stainless, one that contains nickel (that makes the steel non magnetic and it greatly improves its corrosions resistance).
So why all of the sophistication? Is this Porsche's way of minimizing drone? Is it their way of eliminating vibration? Has this mount been created so the exhaust can expand and contract with heat cycles without fatiguing and/or cracking? Has this bracket been created with adaptability so every car can be dialed in for a perfect fit despite their own alignment differences? I say all of the above.
The next question that pops into my mind is, why would you want to remove this hanger? Some aftermarket exhaust manufacturers utilize it, others abandon it.
I'm a pretty curious guy and I love to work on my car, so I think it's time for the next Gator Bite exhaust experiment. I've decided to remove my
Borla system and try another. But I want to try one that uses the OE exhaust hanger. So this weekend was a good time to start.
My OE exhaust hanger was very grungy. It's hard to believe that with only 5,962 miles my hanger looked like this:
Yuck....! "So, what's with all the grease" is what you're probably thinking. Well, that there ain't no grease...
That's cosmoline, a protective coating that Porsche sprays onto our cars to protect them from corrosion while crossing the ocean. It's the source of that smell that we all love so much and the beautiful crud on the inside of our wheels that's so hard to remove. Try to rub it off with a rag and you'll discover that it's like glue. Nasty.
There's no way that I'm putting that hanger back on my car in that condition. I just can't do it. So I guess I really should clean it. But hey, it is stainless steel, and I do have a buffing wheel in the basement. Hmmmmmm...... I've got an idea......
So my first task is to completely disassemble the bracket. But before I do that, there are some angles and alignments that I will want to duplicate on reassembly. So, out comes the center punch so I can make some semi permanent markings on the ends, like this:
That will help me realign the end clamps on reassembly. These were the only connection points that would require this. Once both ends were marked, out came the Snap On CT96 electric impact gun and before long I had a pile of parts that looked like this:
No, those are not handlebars.... That's the crud covered pile of parts. A quick bath in engine brite and the cosmoline softened up and melted away. That left my parts looking a little brighter. More like this:
That's nice and clean, but not bright enough for my taste. So, since we've come this far, out comes the buffing wheel.
